Evolve used for lack a better term. And for the record, this isn't a critical analysis of art today, this is merely the realization of what has to happen in order to make successful artwork. So I had a thought as I was in the bathroom this afternoon (what I may have been doing in there is none of your damn business you filthy perverts). It was about surfing of all things, like with a surfboard on an ocean. Shuffling through what little I knew about surfing, my thoughts eventually went to the Graphic Designer and personal favorite, David Carson. For those who don't know Carson, have a looksee below:
I recommend anyone who hasn't seen anything like this before look Carson up. Anyway, Carson did the designs for a now defunct magazine called "Beach Culture" which focused on surfing and other ocean related hobbies in California. Carson himself was an avid surfer in his younger days and might even be so today. But I digress, I need to prove a point. Carson did design work but he also included other passions in his life into his work. The chaotic and almost illegible type relating to the uncertain and liquid state of a tidal wave, or the brashness of youth coming through without a care in the world.
Now, this is just an interpretation of Carson's work, I'm sure he'd probably read this and tell me that I was insane. But art/ design alone doesn't work by itself, it's a piece of a final product. What you combine with art /design is the real interesting element. This isn't some revolutionary concept I'm talking about, plenty of people have come to their own understandings about this subject. But there are some people, mostly young aspiring artists and designers who think that if they work with the basic ideas of art/design alone, they'll be fine and the creativity from these sources alone will be enough. To be blunt, beef stew isn't beef stew with just beef. Beef stew with just beef brings grief.
We need more artists who can push the boundaries of their work by adding more into it. In the future, I don't want to see art that is just art. I want to see art that is a flurry of spices and seasonings all mixed together into their work. I want to see a painting, a portrait with the artist's love of soccer, their admiration for Russian Propaganda, their disgust of fast food, all coming in at once and turning an elementary example of art into something great. Of course, I am not proposing we make chimerical artwork, merely the sum parts of the influences used to create it. In that respect, it might seem easy to make a Frankenstein monster out of art. Cheap and lifeless are not goals I wish people to undertake. You still need beef to make beef stew after all, so use the spices sparingly and appropriately.
Being a student at an art school, I have been graced to see many talented artists' works hung on the white walls that cover the school and there have been a lot of different directions that these people have gone. But there is still more we can do. So that is why I say art/design needs to evolve. Even though design is less based on the personal expressions of the designer and more about problem solving, there is still a personal element that can be thrown into how to solve a problem if not the creation of the design.
So that's my rant, like I said before it's nothing new. It's just something I think that needs to be said.
So I heard about these Keurig Coffee machines a while ago, single cup coffee makers that are decently popular at the moment. Almost every bank or business I walk into has one. But I heard there was some issues with these coffee makers because of their coffee containers called K-Cups. Plastic cup that holds inside a coffee filter connected to the walls of the plastic cup with a sticky adhesive and of course the coffee or drink mix sitting in the filter. I know this because I took one apart.
So I have been considering what can be done with these thin walled plastic cups. How could I re purpose them in lieu of just throwing them away and letting them take place in a landfill? Well, with a puncture hole on the bottom from being used for coffee, they can't retain liquids unless the bottom is fixed. (When you place a K-Cup in the machine, it punctures the top and the bottom of the cup to allow water to pass through) I'm considering my options with what the machine has already provided me.
Not the most fascinating things I ever made and they received a good amount of criticism. And yes, they are heavily based off of Mega Man Weapon sprites. I gave myself too many restrictions and ended up making this assignments more horrible than it had to be, which then turned off my interest in the little buggers. However, I recently found a page filled with Icons while looking for a specific photoshop tutorial and I have to say, I'm willing to give icons another go.
A name that comes to mind is Ryan McGuiness, an artist I discovered some time ago before I began to formally attend college and one of the inspirations that lead me to choose design as a major. Colorful icons and images that he would use a smaller details in a larger piece. In other words, a bunch of tiny icons and all the meanings they have forming an even larger icon as little ornaments.
It also reminds me of some of the pins from the video game "The World Ends With You." (also known in Japan as "It's a Wonderful Life", the name changed for obvious reasons) Each of the pins are used as means to preform certain attacks to the game while also a part of the trend setting feature used in the game. I won't go into the game's mechanics or anything, I would warn you if this was going to be a game review. I can tell you however from experience that it is one of the better Japanese RPGs out there. Anyway, the pins themselves share that same kind of colorful poppy-ness that I find so appealing in icons. Simple images, both abstract and figurative from sunshine rainbows to down to concrete grunge. The variety is VERY amusing.
And Asterisk
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