Modern vs. Post Modern
Modern Art is typically considered as the art created from about 1900 to present, however Modern Art technically only shows the art beginning with Impressionism in the late 1800s to the beginnings of Post-Modernism in the mid-1970s. The primary idea of Modern Art that sets it apart from prior art is the rising need for expressionism in art. From the beginnings of Modern Art, it was recognized that in this new age of art, the viewer was as important as the creator in defining the work. For the first time, there were meanings other than what was initially available to the eye in each work. (www.associatedcontent.com ) Post modernists lashed out against Modernism with an explosion of art of numerous different mediums. the goal of postmodern art is to separate the works as far away as possible from the monotony and blandness of modernist art, so all forms of art come together to create visually stimulating, unique, and original pieces of appropriated art. (www.wsu.edu ) Paul Rand is an example of a modernist designer and David Carson was a post modernist artist.
Paul Rand (born Peretz Rosenbaum, August 15, 1914 – November 26, 1996) was a well-known American graphic designer, best known for his corporate logo designs. He was one of the originators of the Swiss Style of graphic design. He designed many posters and corporate identities, including the logos for IBM, UPS and ABC.
“Among these young Americans it seems to be that Paul Rand is one of the best and most capable [. . .] He is a painter, lecturer, industrial designer, [and] advertising artist who draws his knowledge and creativeness from the resources of this country. He is an idealist and a realist, using the language of the poet and business man. He thinks in terms of need and function. He is able to analyze his problems but his fantasy is boundless.”
“He almost singlehandedly convinced business that design was an effective tool. [. . .] Anyone designing in the 1950s and 1960s owed much to Rand, who largely made it possible for us to work. He more than anyone else made the profession reputable. We went from being commercial artists to being graphic designers largely on his merits.”
In A Designer’s Art Rand clearly demonstrates his appreciation for the underlying connections:
“From Impressionism to Pop Art, the commonplace and even the comic strip have become ingredients for the artist’s caldron. What Cezanne did with apples, Picasso with guitars, Leger with machines, Schwitters with rubbish, and Duchamp with urinals makes it clear that revelation does not depend upon grandiose concepts. The problem of the artist is to defamiliarize the ordinary.”
This idea of “defamiliarizing the ordinary” played an important part in Rand’s design choices. Working with manufacturers provided him the challenge of utilizing his corporate identities to create “lively and original” packaging for mundane items, such as light bulbs for Westinghouse. (www.paul-rand.com)
David Carson during the period of 1982–1987, Carson worked as a teacher in Torrey Pines High School in San Diego, California. In 1983, Carson started to experiment with graphic design and found himself immersed in the artistic and bohemian culture of Southern California. By the late eighties he had developed his signature style, using “dirty” type and non-mainstream photographic techniques. He would later be dubbed the “father of grunge.” Carson became interested in a new school of typography and photography-based graphic design and is largely responsible for popularizing the style; he inspired many young designers of the 1990s. His work does not follow “traditional” graphic design standards. (www.wikipedia.org )
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