History doesn’t have to die, bring it back in your own way.
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Throughout time, Art has evolved based on purpose and resources.
Whether you were from the 1800’s or 2063, Art has (and will) change depending on those two necessities.
Yet, most of art’s evolution is due to the human imagination- taking its viewers through journeys and perspectives simply by painting, or sculpting a piece.
Graphic Design takes from that “evolution,” because a Designer uses artistic ideas and turns them into a means for visual communication based on the message that needs to be told.
Same as art, Design has been built upon and is adaptable to future improvisations, using knowledge from the past or creating something new.
I mean, that’s obvious right? But, for instance, in Europe during the 1500’s there were incredible architectural buildings which have withstood time by over 500 years now.
They were beautiful in their use of patterns, structural stability, and feeling of power as you gazed up at them. Yet, we don’t use these same architectural principles now.
Why? Because we don’t have a need for incredibly tall, (creepy in my opinion) gothic towers that take years to build.
Same as Roman and Greek art.
Take Greek statues for instance, they told stories of ancient folklore, as well as, displayed with much detail the faces of powerful leaders that ruled over the Mediterranean. Even though we don’t use their same art style in creating sculptures, in recent years, their style has come back in the form of avant-garde, like Y2k and others.
[Fact: Roman’s adapted the alphabet we know today, based on the Greek’s first version of it, who then adapted it from the Phoenicians.]
However, it becomes grayed lines as to where someone got it, because inspiration can come from anywhere. Same as today, we see styles from the past and apply it in our own way for the future.
So you could say,
Art from the past was inspired by art from their past.
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There are many changes that happen today, but many that human nature has transformed over time by means of…
changing cultures.
Cultures in historic times revolved around growing food, knitting clothing, going outside.
Our culture now has become a mass-consumption society.
Take the internet, being the largest medium in- for how long? Only the past 30 years, has been the reason for mass-scale of transferring ideas and the reason that culture has grown to become world-wide.
I’m stating the obvious again, but this has drastically changed from past cultures from needing to spend hours just to deliver a letter to someone; to clicking Send and having it delivered to its recipient in under 10 seconds (if you have good internet of course, otherwise it could take longer…).
Cultures in “ancient” civilizations would establish their dominance into other cultures by sending troops to neighboring countries, using many resources to take over theirs.
Now, we have a non-physical medium to establish our culture into others! Without even needing to get up from our chair.
Art is a mirror to past civilizations and their ways of thinking.
We know exactly what the 1800’s people wore, not only because of preserved clothing remnants, but because of the highly-detailed paintings that were created.
Art accompanied history,
sharing the ideas, symbolisms, and real-life illustrations of what was happening.
Artists were the keyholders when it comes to our modern society learning from past societies, so that we don’t make the same mistakes in the future.
As subjective as art is, the way it can be perceived by different viewers is really a case study in itself. Whether we like, dislike, or can feel exactly what the artist was portraying, our own minds give us the context of what we can understand- depending on our experiences.
Art is a way of expressing our inner selves, but it can also be represented in a whole new light depending on its impression upon other people.
Whereas, designing is taken at face-value to understand exactly what is communicated on the page at only a moments glance.
Vincent van Gogh’s painting Starry Night communicates several things.
To him, the stars he painted represented hope from his state of mental instability. But to us, it might be similar to a night we went strolling when vacationing in the mountains, or symbolize something in our lives that looks vastly different than the image itself.
Artists then, were the masters revealing not only their thoughts, but the thoughts of the audience.
The next time you visit a museum, or even just your grandmother’s attic. Notice how the ideas in the paintings, books, and sculptures were carried over a long period of time, and study how you’re seeing them and why they are here today.
Maybe you’ll learn something new about yourself.
Thoughts? Comments? I’m really curious people’s views on this topic. I’m sure that many have written similar stories like this, if you’re in the know about Art/Design or just want to say how you felt while reading this, please do! I’ll be looking :)
I was taking my Art Appreciation class in college and was wondering how I could apply the info, so here you go! I really enjoyed writing this & connecting the points to each topic.