Assignment Week Five

 “From these three, light, shade and colour, we construct the visible world, and thus, at the same time, make painting possible.”  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. (Gage, 1993)

 
 Looking into the hole in Isaac Newton’s colour theory, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe startled the artistic nineteenth century world with the idea of colour as a psychological perception. This idea in unison with the approaching Impressionist movement helped shape our understanding of colour and the way we interact with colour in the design world today.

 “…try to forget what objects you have before you… Merely think here is a little patch of blue, here is an oblong of pink, here a streak of yellow, and paint it as it looks to you, the exact colour and shape until it gives your own naïve impression of the scene before you.” Claude Monet. (Gage, 1993)

 
 This impressionist style of using blocks of colour to give the impression of a scene or form closely relates to Goethe’s theory that our perception of form is merely our minds mixture of light, shade and colour. This experimentation from impressionist artists such as Monet helped people at the time begin to understand the ideas that Goethe had put into play. By only dots of colour, Artist Ogden Rood then took this idea further, using optical mixing as a way of experiencing the beauty of his works. In the following years others experimented with contrasts, the artist Phillip Otto Runge experimented with colours in the portrayal of night and day and J.W.M. Turner with the contrasting emotions. (Petty, 2011)

 This vast range of artistic experimentation over the recent centuries has proven considerably influential in today’s experience of colour. The use of colour contrasts and optical mixing are some of the most common and effective ways of advertising in modern society. This modern perception of colour, this theory of ‘colour vision’, is taken for granted by the general population. Yet our understanding is essential as it is through design that future generations will gain theirs.

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.
Petty, M. (2011). Victoria University DSDN171 Lecture: Colour, Perception and Abstraction. Victoria University School of Design and Architecture.

Assignment Week Four

Acer laptop Skins

Ornament and Crime

In the 1908/10 essay, ‘Ornament and Crime’, author Adolf Loos talks about his realisation that everyday items that have been ornamented, items adorned with decoration, quickly go out of style and become obsolete. Loos believed this was a waste of effort, all the extra work that the craftsman had put in would go to waste. This I believe makes a good point but he also said that “The evolution of culture is synonymous with the removal of ornament from objects of daily use.”  This I don’t fully agree with. As an example Loos refers the ornamented through tattoos, ‘Papuan’. He describes as not being civilised or evolved morally like that his peers. At one end of the spectre you have the tattooed ‘Papuan’ and in Loos view the other is an unadorned modern man. A modern man tattooed would either be considered a criminal or a degenerate.

I do not agree with this side of his beliefs on ornamentation. I think ornamentation is completely necessary, In modern society they are a way of distinguishing ourselves from everyone else. Ornamentation allows us to personalise, take these Laptop skins for example, something as simple as an ornamented laptop cover can make everyday items a lot more personal. Rather than having something exactly the same as everyone else, ornamentation can identify something as your own, something you can take pride in. This doesn’t just go for laptops, this goes for almost anything, clothing, handbags, jewellery, cell phones and much more. With no disrespect no Loos, I see ornamentation as a big part of modern society and in the future to come.