DSDN171: Assignment 9

 "From a photographic negative, for example, one can make any number of prints; to ask for the authentic print makes no sense.” I must agree with Walter Benjamin there is no real sense in asking for the authentic, but I believe the age of digital design and mass production has changed how we define and look at "the authentic". Now that we have the ability to reproduce and replicate all forms of art, the intention in which we create art has changes making artist question what is truly the "authentic" or original work. 

Artist Sherrie Levine's work 'After Evens Walker' (see figure 1)  takes the idea of what is the 'authentic' to a philosophical level. The work consist of famous Walker Evans photographs, rephotographed by Levine out of an Evans exhibition catalog, and then presented as Levine's artwork with no further manipulation of the images. The original work already being in a sense a print of a print (a photograph reprinted in a book) Levine adds another layer making it a print of a print of a print, in this process asking the viewer what would be the "authentic" work and if  the "authentic" work has any more value than the copies (in reprint or as her own work of art). I think Levine's work proofs  asking for the authentic print makes no sense, mainly because defining what "the authentic" is hard especially now in our digital world,  even more so if works are created with the intent of reproduction. 

figure 1: Sherrie Levine, After Walker Evens

figure 2: Michael Mandiberg, After Walker Evens, 

(to print and get a certificate of authenticity of 

Mandiberg works go to : www.AfterWalkerEvans.com/cert/2.pdf*

*afterwalkerevans.com is an art project by Mandiberg responding to Levin's work, the site "comment on how we come to know information in this burgeoning digital age:AfterWalkerEvans.com you download and print out the images along with a certificate of authenticity for each image, which you print out and sign yourself, as well as directions on how to frame the image so that it will fulfill the requirements of the certificate.  "the certificates here are used to insure that each satellite image be considered with equal authenticity, not the opposite. This is an explicit strategy to create a physical object with cultural value, but little or no economic value."

DSDN171: Assignment 5

Matisse, Henri. La Raie Verte "The Green Line.". 1905.
Oil & tempera on canvas. Statens Musseum for Kunst, Copenhagen.

 Matise is considered to be one of the founders of fauvism, a movement  known for there the lyrical use of color, especially expressed well in his painting 'the green line.'The Green Line ' also known as ‘'Madam Matisse' is a famous portrait of Matisse's wife where he use colour to convey her personality and his feel for her .


The fauvist concern them with many similar theories as Wallis Kandinsky andy Johann Wolfgang von Goethe . They used colour subjectively rather than realistically. in this painting in particular, Matisse attempts to express varying emotions surrounding the shis wife)mainly through the colours used within the portrait. He uses many bright and bold colours, possibly representing the strong feelings towards his wife (warm colours representing love and passion);  in contrasr to the  yellow on her face may be portraying a harder, unemotional (and perhaps sickly) personal trait when contrasted with the warmer orange and pink.

Sonya Winner, After Matisse


(i thought this an interesting example of how Matisse colour
 palette impacter other artist maybe not for its deeper meaning in this case, but interesting non the less)

DSDN171: colour of the mind

"Colour is a power which directly influences the soul"

Kandinsky, Concerning the spiritual in Art, Munich, 1911

Circule and squares, Wassily Kandinsky

DSDN171: Assignment 4

“The evolution of

culture is synonymous with the removal of ornament

from objects of daily use.”
Adolf loos (1908,"Ornament and Crime”)

Adolf Loos opinion on the correlation of civilization of people and de-ornamenting of things is just a reflection of how ‘modernist”, even early modernist in the early 20^th century, thought design of utilities ought to evolve rather than a true reflection of how it did happen. It can even  be argued  that Adolf Loos was speaking from a peak of civilization, during the industrial revolution, yet the objects of daily use was so overly decorated at times that object became impracticable to use (see figure 1), proofing that his statement is rather what  he wish design would evolve to.  

figure1: 1906 Art Nouveau silver-plated claret jug
(http://www.tarabradford.com/2008/03/the-bliss-of-un.html)

Which in a sense did start happening from that point forward through modernist philosophy. Objects become less and less decorative and more form orientated from "arts and craft" to 'high modernism" (see figure 2-4). But this were also eventually a pose by post modernist which would culturally be even more evolved than their predecessors, post modern will again embrace eclecticism of the past and embrace ornament for ornament sake (see figure 5)

Figure2: Gustaf Stickley, arts and craft chair

Figure3: Marcel Breuer- Wassily Chair,1925

Figure3: The ant chair by Arne Jacobsen, 1952

Figure4: 9093 Graves Kettle

DSDN171: assignment 3

Decoration constructed

Front Horse Lamp

Life size horse lamp, need I really say more...

“Construction should be decorated. Decoration should never be

purposely constructed.”

Owen Jones



The horse lamp was clearly not designed with it purpose in mind, being a light source,  it is rather an over sized decorative piece. It's very in-particle mainly due to its size, how many people do really  have a large enough living space for this, and secondly it creates nothing more than just some mood lighting (as seen int the first picture). According to the "false laws" of beauty and utility its shape , a horse, also has no relevance to it purpose, a light source.


just another example of 'decoration constructed'

blaue blume tea set... how are suppose to hold this?

DSDN171: assignment 2

La Bocca- Studio 65

Le Bocca sofa or Heller Marilyn Bocca sofa was designed by Studio 65 for Gufram Italy in 1971. The sofa has become somewhat iconic over time, with its sensual tongue in cheek design. 

The Bocca sofa embodies the sensuous impulse by all means. A design based on the sex symbol  Marilyn Monroe's lips, a curvaceous, fluid shape in bright red, being not just feminine but also clearly sensual. The design embraces the irrational and humoristic nature of "anti-design" movement it was made in. The "anti-design" aim being to reject high modernism cold non-humanistic nature with design that stimulated and interacted with its user, seen in Le Bocca sofa's embrace of people's  fascination with pop culture and sexuality.

The inspiration for the sofa was the surrealist Salvador Dali's Mae West original sofa, wich also reflect the sensuous impulse through aesthetics and historical context.

Original Salvador Dali's Mae West design

DSDN171: assignment 1

The ballpoint pen

 a bic blue pen

The ballpoint pen is an every day object we might give little thought to, but item makes making a quick doodle allot easer than what it use to be with a fountain pen. László Bíró designed the ballpoint for convenience as it didn’t need refilling and was portable. Today these pens are used world wide giving everyone a chance the get there ideas down on paper with ease.