expo chicago 2019: expression vs communication look #2.
above > study for homage to the square / josef albers / david zwirner (new york, london, paris, hong kong) – booth 239 / 1954 – 1960
what is the difference between art and design? i think it comes down to function. design can have many functions, whereas art has one single function. the function of art.
the question of what’s the difference between art and design often comes up at art expositions, perfect launchpads for such a confabulation. in this instance, DesignApplause submits that architecture, design, and engineering are one and the same.
> “what is the difference between art and design? as it applies to graphic design, i will say that the difference between art and design or artist and designers, is expression vs communication. … expression is about the artist and their view, design is about the audience and viewer. expression can be abstract and intangible but design has to be clear for the most part.” ~ anonymous
> “when one attempts to define art, there will be an artist to prove it wrong. ‘art is beautiful’ art becomes ugly. ‘art is emotional’ art becomes emotionless. ‘art is form’ art becomes idea. that’s the problem, art will always shatter definitions.
having said that, i will ignore my own advice and take a crack. i think it comes down to function. design can have many functions, whereas art has one single function. the function of art. digging deeper, the art concept can be portrayed in many different ways. the function of art isn’t singular, its endless.
so design is applied art? or maybe an eames chair is a design object when you’re trying to sell it or sit in it, and an art object when you’re observing it, etc. ~ anonymous
DesignApplause asked galleries if their artists in this show pursued any architectural or design studies in their background. 25 of 39 (64%) galleries point out the following:
above > elevator / gregory scott / catherine edelman gallery (chicago) – booth 167 / 2019
gregory has always blurred the lines between painting and photography, incorporating paintings he did of himself, or his body, back into his photographs. the resulting images were both humorous and odd, challenging the viewer’s perception of photographic truth. then, at the age of 49, scott decided to go to graduate school to strengthen his knowledge of art history and video making. having successfully merged his love of painting and photographs, his interest turned to video and its ability to move and manipulate still images. he received his bachelor degree in graphic design from the institute of design at iit in chicago in 1979 and his master of fine art from indiana university in 2008.
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above > horizontal obeah golio / remy jungerman / fridman gallery (new york) – booth 365 / 2016-18
remy brings together motifs from the de stijl movement with the maroon culture and the winti religion of his native suriname. he is interested in the journey of patterns and textures across time periods and continents. in jungerman’s works, the pared-down, highly stylized forms and primary colors of dutch modernism with inspiration from masters artist/designer piet mondrian and designer gerrit rietveld.
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above >jigawatts / sarah pichilkostner / josh lilly gallery (london) – booth 249 / 2019
the long-term research by sarah is focused on the representation of energy, time, space, self-optimization, productivity, self-reflection and empathy created by objects. solutions involve an interest and understanding of mechanical engineering. through a deep study of the behavior of materials, that combines effortless contemporary methods with laborious and outmoded fabrication techniques, pichlkostner reflects on the social behavior of and towards objects.
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above > tropic of cancer II / john little / mccormick gallery (chicago) – vallarino fine art (new york) – booth 255 / 1960
john started as a very successful textile and wallpaper designer. in 1933 he began classes at the art students league with george grosz, painting mainly cezannesque landscapes and then with hans hofmann in both new york and provincetown, which pushed him towards abstraction and his first serious involvement as a painter. he also happened to be a neighbor of lee krasner and jackson pollock, whom he became close friends.
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above > flow / emi ozawa / richard levy gallery (albuquerque) – booth 424 / 2019
emi strategically arranges color, form, and shadow to create compositions that shift when viewed from different perspectives. originally from tokyo, she studied woodworking at the university of the arts in philadelphia and later an mfa in furniture design from risd.
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above > sound landscape / void /galerie papillon (paris) – booth 413 / 2019
two artists arnaud eeckhout and mauro vitturini founded void to use sound as a medium to represent reality. the medium give shape to move through different fields of design in the form of installations, sculptures, objects, videos, paintings, and performances.
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above > mappings / kay rosen / rené schmitt (berlin) – booth 132 / 2019
kay works with language using words and letters and strategically lays out the content to manipulate the meanings in a very clever and insightful way. though not formally trained as a graphic designer, her typography and design skills inspire.
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above > untitled / devin reynolds / royale projects (los angeles) – booth 272 / 2019
raised in venice, ca, reynolds grew up working on fishing boats, scavenging flea markets with his mother, and surfing crudely painted boards emulating artists such as drew brophy and sean spoto, memories that have greatly informed his practice. inspired by barry mcgee and margaret killgallen, his obsession with marking his alias on the sides of boxcars moved into the studio where graffiti still greatly informs the scale and application of materials used in his work today. reynolds left southern california for new orleans, la to study at tulane university where he received his ba in architecture.
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above > rossiniére / georges rousse / sous les etoliles gallery (new york) – booth 263 / 2015
georges has been a photographer since the age of 9 and evolved into architectural photography, inventing a unique approach that shifted the relationship of painting to space. he began making installations in the types of abandoned or derelict buildings that have long held an attraction for him – creating ephemeral, one-of-a-kind artworks by transforming these sites into pictorial spaces that are visible only in his photographs. he fits well into oscar niemeyer‘s definition of architecture, “”architecture is invention.”
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above > study for homage to the square / josef albers / david zwirner (new york, london, paris, hong kong) – booth 239 / 1954 – 1960
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above > corona & bar cabaret / robert cottingham / tandem press & apex gallery (madison) – booth 262 / 2015 & 2019
although robert is known for his photorealistic depictions of signs, storefront marquees, railroad boxcars and letter forms, he does not consider himself a photorealist artist. his imagery, while derived from the photographs he takes, expands on the photographic image, it does not replicate it. he received his bfa degree from the pratt institute. he later studied art at the arts center college of design.
