Blog Assingment

If we explore today's digital age we can see by asking for the authentic copy of something would not make any sense because of the availability of mass production. Also because we can print a lot of copies of our modern art we are always changing what it looks like. Also if we print our first copy of our art usually it is not our final copy before we start to mass produce for a particular purpose. This juxtaposes history for they could only create one design at one time which gives it the authenticity

Walter Benjamin said "That which withers in the age of mechanical reproduction is the aura of the work of art.” I think our modern society has highlighted what Benjamin has said here. Our mechanical or "digital" reproduction has taken the Aura or “Authenticity” out of the art work. Things that we have created in the 20^th century won’t have that the same authenticity as in the 19^th century because we can mass produce it and change it in so many ways.

Assignment 5- Colour

The experimentation of colour has changed the understanding and use of different ways we use it. We now use techniques such as light and shading to create realistic interpretations of what we are trying to create. Experiments such as the colour wheel which was created by Newton in 1704 helped us realise which colours work well with each other and which are opposite. After a while there was a change in which people thought colours were a science ( Newton) to what you felt the colour should be or should not be or more of a emotional interpretation (Van Gogh)

Van Gogh took this in to account and painted what he felt colours looked like in “The Night Cafe’”. The colours in the painting are off but it is his emotional interpretation of what he saw. He used contrasting colours in the empty space to create tension .Van Gogh said "Everywhere there is a clash and contrast of the most disparate reds and greens…” (Gage, 1993) which shows why he used contrasting colours in the space.

Even though Newton and Van Gogh had to completely different views on the topic of colour I believe that they have both revolutionised the way in which we see colour and how we use it in everyday life and design.

References
Gage, J. (1993). Colours of the Mind in Colour and Culture: Practice and Meaning from Antiquity to Abstraction (pp.191-212) New York: Thames and Hudson.

Assignment 4 Ornament or Nature

I believe that Adolf Loos was right in arguing that we should remove ornamentation from our objects of daily use. I believe this because I think that it is a waste of material and pointless. By adding lots of decoration for the sake of adding decoration seems unjustified. Also by removing most of the ornamentation from the objects would make them look purposeful rather than just for show. If you look at some of the ornamentation from the Rocco period you can see that a lot of it looks pointless and over dramatised to a point in which real designers such as Pugin thought that it looked bad and didn't have any design principles or rules such as decoration having a purpose. 

However because of the middle class people who were buying these objects don't know what good design is they brought these over decorated objects because they are cheap. These over objects were cheap because they were mass produced and therefore didn't have any real value. So the need for education was in order so that Adolf Loos's argument of the removal of ornament could become true.I think that this process helped in the history and today as we don't often see over decorated things in our daily lives or as much as in 1908.

 

Assignment 3

“Construction should be decorated. Decoration should never be
purposely constructed.”

When Owen Jones argued this in 1856 he ment that when you a decorating things the decoration should have a purpose in the design such as holding the weight of the stucture not to just be on the design just becuase it looks nice. I agree with Jones because when looking at his designs they look solid and true to what the desgin is trying to be but when I look at some other designs that do not follow what Owen Jones said the desgin look over decrated and over the top such as this table which was desgined in the Rococo time period.

 

The legs have alot of decoration and dont serve any perpose to the structure of the table. The table is ‘decoration constructed’. But if we look and one of Owen Jones's designs it dosent look over decorated and it still looks good and this table is ‘construction decorated’. 

Continuing curve assginmnet 2

An example of the continuing curve is this chair called the  "la Chaise" by Charles and Ray Eames. This chair is described as having "exquisite beauty and functionality". I was designed by Charles and Ray in 1948 for a competition at the New York Museum of Modern Art. I believe that it is a result of the "sensuous impulse" because it has a feminine and seductive look to it which entices us to want to sit in it and to look comfortable. This chair appeals to our softer senses which is why I believe it is a result of the "sensuous impulse.

 

 

An important design

I believe that one of the most influential and important design in our history is the ballpoint pen. The reason why  I think this is so important is because it is an every day item that most people in the world will use. Because so many people use the pen and it is an everyday item I think it goes unnoticed as a great design. Some of it design features that make it so great is the simplicity, size, endurance to take a  lot of damage. Also because this design is so accessible and cheap sky rockets it into millions of stores and every contry

Letter

To the CEO of Quicksilver

I wish to discuss the horrific prices that you sell your clothing items for. They are way too over priced and they seem to have the same qualities as other clothing items that are sold in other stores, however there is one minor thing that sets your clothing line from the other companies. I think this small detail makes you or your brand think they can put an outrageous price on all of you’re items. This minor detail is the name of you’re brand and your logo. If you were to buy a plane white T-shirt for Ten Dollars and then put the logo on the front, you’re company would most likely sell it for quadruple it’s price.

I did some research and went to you’re stores and compared you’re clothing prices with other clothing items that I felt were exactly the same thing from other stores. At Main Beach located in North City Plaza in Porirua there is a pair of shorts being sold for $120 which might I add has numerous holes and tears in them. Then the same sort of shorts are being sold in Jay Jay’s which is also located in North City Plaza for only $40. And yet the same minor difference is  that your companies name and logo is on it.

I am constantly puzzled on why you’re company thinks they can put an expensive price on your Items. Because I believe that the only thing different to the compared items are name and logo would you kindly tell me why you’re company put ridiculous price tags on its items. I believe you are ripping you’re customers of and you should defiantly reconsider your expensive prices.

From Puzzled citizen of New Zealand