Introduction
It is no secret that art has been around for as long as humans have been willing to create it. That being said, however, as time goes on, styles have changed and been created to adapt to the type of art that people produce. Art is such an amazing thing to me because it is a way of expression and can even be an outlet for some. Personally, my art replicates my mood. If I am happy my painting will be happy with sunshine and rainbows but if I am down it is more likely to be more dark and stormy with maybe even a touch of mysteriousness. After reading the article there were four main styles of art that really took my attention and those were suprematism, the swiss international style, psychedelic language, and postmodernism. Each style Is unique in its own way and stood out to me for its own reasons as they are all so different from one another.
Suprematism
Suprematism art was an art movement created by Kazimir Malevich that stands for “the supremacy of pure feeling in creative art.” This specific style of art really strayed away from what many people thought of when they think of art. Objects and representation are eliminated allowing for geometric shapes to really shine through in an abstract way. I was not really aware of this style but after reading about it I dove into looking at pictures and they truly draw the eye. Since there are no real shapes or objects it makes you think and allows each viewer to interpret it differently. Even though there aren’t objects it does not mean that people do not see different things when looking at the image. To me, that is one of the greatest qualities that a piece of art can have. Minds can run wild and creativity is allowed to flow freely and I am sure that artists who followed this style or still do use this style have a lot of fun doing so.
Swiss International Style
Josef Müller-Brockmann created a poster through a rhythm of color squares and it was this poster that would become a huge focal point when it came to talking about the Swiss international style of art. Unlike other art forms, this particular style uses mathematical organization, unification of photography, and typography to create compositions. Still using a type some abstraction, this style is another one that I was not very familiar with. I found it quite puzzling at first how mathematics could be used in art but after thinking about it, it is used more than I realized. Even something as simple as even spacing is mathematics at play that allows a piece to look unified and come together in the end. The three factors that are incorporated into this style are not ones I would have said work well together but they do. The poster by Josef Müller- Brockmann reminds me of the black square problem that we had in class. Shapes as simple as squares can still create beautiful and intricate pieces of work when arranged in certain ways.
Psychedelic Language
I think my favorite of the four that I chose to discuss would have to be psychedelic language. When you think of psychedelic you might think of mind-opening or mind-altering or even hippies and this style of art is just that. Bright, bold, eye-catching colors are definitely the star of this style and they totally catch a person’s eye. Not only are they fun to look at, but they can be twisted and because of that even puzzling at that time. It is that puzzling factor that makes me love this style so much though. It is so expressive but still tells so much about an era and I think that that is amazing that a piece of art can speak so much for itself. LSD and other types of drugs are usually associated with the word psychedelic and those drugs expand a person’s mind just like this kind of art does. Your mind is pushed to its limits and to think of the unimaginable. Overall I just truly admire and love this style not only because of its colors but because of how mind-bending it is and how far the imagination can be stretched without it being unreasonable at all.
Postmodernism
The last style that stuck out to me and I chose to talk about was postmodernism. It was described as being a style that put an end to the goal of finding truths and instead focused on the aspect of open-mindedness that draws from various sources. Quite honestly I feel that this style was a great way to transition art after World War II. There have always been some people who will not be a big fanatic about art because of “rules,” but postmodernism really broke away from those and created a version of the unimaginable. To me, this style is taking the unthinkable and impossible and making it real through art. Postmodernism is such a great way for an artist to express their ideas that they may feel others would look down on because they may be too wild. This form of art truly allows us as artists to bring even our biggest fantasies to life in art as well as through architecture.
Conclusion
In conclusion, I truly love art and all of the ways that it can be shown. This reading was so interesting to read about all of the different eras and the styles of art that they had during that time. If I had to pick my overall favorite it would most certainly be the psychedelic style because of the bold colors as well as the wild side I feel that an artist can use when working on a piece in that style. Art can come in so many different forms a painting, typography, graphic design, and with so many mediums to use an artist needs freedom. They need the freedom to not only be expressive but also to be able to be in touch with a side of themselves that they may not be able to in day-to-day life. For some, art is an outlet and I feel that there should be no limitations on that and these four styles are so abstract that freedom is easy to come by which is why I loved them all so much. While abstract in its own ways, each one is so unique that I loved researching each one more and exploring more pieces of artwork that displayed the truth behind them.
