Pop Réalisme, Isokon Architecture, Inchoate Schematics, and Asemic Abstractions
Announcing the February Exhibition at signifier : six : shot : gallery
David Armes on ‘The Inchoate Schematic’
Although Armes situates much of his work within the fine art printmaking tradition, the work in the ‘Inchoate Schematic’ series is a little different. Initially begun during a 2018 residency at a remote studio in Norfolk, the series comprises one-off ‘drawings’ made in response to Bruno Munari’s ‘Design As Art’ essays, with a particular prompt being Munari’s ‘Useless Machines’.…
continue reading and see the art at . Six . Shot . Gallery .
Signifier’s Six Shot gallery showcases just six images linked by aesthetics, techniques, processes, philosophies, formal or conceptual elements. The accompanying statement by the artist may not necessarily explain the work but will help build a deeper and more meaningful engagement with it.
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Recently published in Signifier:
First Photographer of the American West
When gold prospecting and mining opened up the Californian wilderness, Carlton Watkins was soon following in the pioneer’s footsteps to photograph the virgin territories. He may not have been the first to set eyes on these places, he was often following tracks mapped by fellow prospectors, but he was the first to really look at them and appreciate the compositional potential of their beauty. Many of the majestic places he photographed had yet to be named — so he did that, in order to…
Do You Speak Design?
How to use a spoon is pretty obvious. It’s the first tool many of us get to grips with and they rarely come with instructions. Well, actually, a spoon does come with its own instructions — incorporated within the design… Its shape and situation speak to us, even if we haven’t yet learned to talk. Clearly, there is a handle and, even if it’s not immediately obvious which end to hold, it won’t take much trial and error to work out.…
Writing to Escape the Words
It seems the origins of asemic writing, as a respected artform, can be found in ancient China, as far back as the mid-eighth century. Despite this, when I was studying art and design to degree-level — albeit decades ago, now — I never came across the term ‘asemic’ in relation to either graphic design or expressive art. Yet it was practiced by American poet, Emily Dickinson in the mid-nineteenth century and was central to the development of abstract expressionism…
When Art Went Pop! in the USA
Pop Art was both revolutionary and reactionary, innovating whilst invoking the past. The movement had no defining manifesto but during the 1950s groups of artists sought to challenge the high-brow elitism of Modern Art by embracing everyday Popular Culture as their main medium. In many ways, a breakthrough, but also returning to more traditional approaches after decades of challenging concepts…
From the archives of Signifier, February 2020:
Looking at ‘Las Meninas’ Looking at Us
Las Meninas aka La Familia, painted by Velázquez in 1656, is one of the ‘great paintings’ and is respected as such by many later artists such as Pablo Picasso and Salvador Dali, who both paid homage to this work by painting their own versions. Picasso went on to produce more than 50 reinterpretations! The work itself continues to be the subject of much ongoing speculation and analysis by scholars...
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