Design in Context 1 – Researching Manifestos – ‘What Our Art Means’ – Gilbert and George

ART FOR ALLWe want Our Art to speak across the barriers of knowledge directly to People about their Life and not about their knowlegde of art. The 20th century has been cursed with an art that cannot be understood. The decadent artists stand for themselves and their chosen few, laughing and dismissing the normal outsider. We say that puzzling, obscure and form-obsessed art is decadent and a cruel denial of the Life of People. PROGRESS THROUGH FRIENDSHIP Our Art is the friendship between the viewer and our pictures. Each picture speaks of a „Particular View“ which the viewer may consider in the light of his own life. The true function of Art is to bring about new understanding, progress and advancement. Every single person on Earth agrees that there is room for improvement. LANGUAGE FOR MEANING We invented and we are constantly developing our own visual language. We want the most accessible modern form with which to create the most modern speaking visual pictures of our time. The art-material must be subservient to the meaning and purpose of the picture. Our reason for making pictures is to change people and not to congratulate them on being how they are.  THE LIFE FORCES True Art comes from three main life-forces. They are: – THE HEAD THE SOUL   and  THE SEX In our life these forces are shaking and moving themselves into everchanging different arrangements. Each one of our pictures is a frozen representation of one of these „arrangements“. THE WHOLE When a human-being gets up in the morning and decides what to do and where to go he is finding his reason or excuse to continue living. We as artists have only that to do. We want to learn to respect and honour „the whole“. The content of mankind is our subject and our inspiration. We stand each day for good traditions and necessary changes. We want to find and accept all the good and bad in ourselves. Civilisation has always depended for advancement on the „giving person“. We want to spill our blood, brains and seed in our life-search for new meanings and purpose to give to life. Gilbert & George

This manifesto is called ‘What Our Art Means’ by Gilbert and George. It is a manifesto written by them about their own work; however I feel that once I had read it, it relates to a lot of current art. The manifesto first describes how they want their art to speak across barriers of knowledge and about people’s lives. They feel that the 20^th Century has been cursed by art that can’t be understood, therefore they want their art to reach out to all people, rather than just people who understand art, as it were. They say that puzzling art is a decadent and cruel denial of the life and people, therefore, they are describing that art should be creative yet mundane so it can be understood by everyone.

‘The true function of Art is to bring about new understanding, progress and advancement.’ – This means that art should be understood by everyone, it should be current and it should be modern. Art is not just for critics or people who have a deep philosophical understanding of renaissance art. Art should relate to everyone, and not just to an exclusive club of critics. Everyone should understand the development of art over the decades.

The manifesto also describes how they are constantly developing their own visual language through their work. This means that no words or description are needed, that people should view a piece of work, and the only thing that is important is how the piece translates in their mind. They describe how they want to change people, not congratulate them on being how they are. I agree with this statement, as the majority of art is created towards what people want, not what is already there. They also describe that the art material must be subservient to the meaning and purpose of the picture. This means that the topic that art is based on must be reflected in honesty and with appropriate references in the work, not manipulated into something it is not. ‘What Our Art Means’ also describes true art coming from three main life-forces: The head, the soul and the sex. They describe that the forces are ever-changing into different arrangements and that this is reflected in their art, which means that they describe combinations of different aspects of life through their work and practice. They also describe that as artists we want to find excuses to continue living, to find and accept all the good and bad in ourselves, to spill our blood, brains and seed in our life search for new meanings and purpose to give life. This means that we want to find things to excite our every day and discover things new through creating, to accept everything within ourselves in an attempt to appreciate art, and to literally do anything and give our all to discover creativity and through this discover new life.

I feel that all this is very significant in society as it describes art as being for everyone. I think this is important as art is a major part of education, without art, learning and discovery would prove boring.

Design in Context 1 – Researching Manifestos – ‘Steal Like An Artist’

This manifesto is called ‘Steal like an Artist’ by Austin Kleon, who believes that creativity is everywhere and for everyone. The book is a manifesto for the digital age, in which the positive messages, graphical look, illustrations, exercises and examples will help people get in touch with their creative side. It aims to introduce readers to the idea that all creative work is iterative, no idea is original and that all creators are a sum of inspirations and heroes. Kleon started his work by writing out a short manifesto of all the things he wished he’d learnt when he was starting out:

Steal like an artist.

Don’t wait until you know who you are to get started.

Write the book you want to read.

Use your hands.

Side projects and hobbies are important.

The secret: do good work and share it with people.

Geography is no longer our master.

Be nice. (The world is a small town.)

Be boring. (It’s the only way to get work done.)

Creativity is subtraction.

I feel that the books significance in society is quiet crucial and influential. I believe this because the manifesto is presented in an interesting book form. This not only makes the manifesto look interesting, but the book will be more memorable and the book can even be bought, so the manifesto will always be referenced and looked at, especially designers who are searching for inspiration. I feel it is also significant in society because people nowadays are scared of sharing ideas for any job, not just artistic careers, therefore I feel that the book promotes creativity and imagination. It is very thought provoking and positive for creative thinking.

The book primarily intends to make readers feel better about their creative work, in proposing to the world that it is okay to have stupid ideas, it is okay to experiment and make bad decisions, and it is okay to imitate other artists. The manifesto declares that it is okay to do all these things, and because it is published in an artistic book, it will reach design audiences faster than a piece of text off the internet that looks boring to read.

I really like this style of manifesto is it is really visually interesting. Each page is a different thing to discover and I think that it is a more dynamic and creative way to present a large body of text; it is more pleasing to read than a long piece of text or a list. This will keep audiences interested whilst the book declares its manifesto on the design world. The opinions the manifesto holds are mundane, however I think that this allows designers to relate to the ideas a lot more than a confusing declaration such as ‘I Am For An Art’. I will definitely be taking inspiration from this type of manifesto when creating my own.

Design Context 1 – Researching Manifestos – Frederick Terral

This manifesto is created by Frederick Terral who is part of the design group ‘Right Brain Terrain’. The manifesto is about releasing yourself from the mundane world and doing something different and artistic with your life. It insists in being creative even if you don’t see yourself as a creative person, which is necessary in today’s society as bravery is lacking. Terral describes that we have to create to remind ourselves that we are still alive, and that every child is an artist, it is just how to remain an artist when they grow up. It also describes how society thinks that successful careers reside in the left brain, and never discovers their ‘right brain terrain’, however right brainers have more influence in society than ever before.

 

The manifesto is describing that in society, people are too focused on what they do in the everyday, and therefore life becomes boring for them. In other words, they are leaning towards their left brain, which is filled with logical, analytical and rational ideas. The manifesto is promoting society to use their ‘right brain’, or in other words, do something out of the ordinary and create, stop being frustrated, and to learn a bit more about yourself. It also describes fuelling the right brain will also fuel the left brain, as creativity rubs off in our everyday work, however art is being stripped from schools. So this manifesto is aiming to promote creativity in an individual before the left brain takes over.

 

This manifesto is very interesting and is not presented how you would typically think of a manifesto. The manifesto is hand written in a sort of note format, in a plain notebook. The work has been scanned in and includes small doodles. The presentation of the manifesto is very primary school-academic looking which I feel relates to the childlike and playful nature of the right side of the brain.

 

I feel that this manifesto is very significant in today’s society. Society nowadays is getting incredibly caught up with things to do with the left brain. Things such as obsession with work, routine, family and doing the same thing every day can prove stressful and boring. I think that this manifesto is motivating to society as it is telling people to listen to their right brain and do something different for a change. This idea will make people’s lives easier as they won’t have to constantly worry and agonize about doing the same thing every day.

 

I chose to study this manifesto as I firstly liked the way it was presented. The use of hand written work in a normal notepad is more interesting and personal towards the reader-it makes the reader relax and enjoy rather than feel ordered and bored by a line of plain text. This manifesto is very positive, informal and motivating and describes creation as something anyone of any ability can be a part of. The manifesto is motivational, as it describes creativity to be something to do that inspires others, rather than just pleasing yourself. This not only projects the opinion of one person; it brings together whole groups of people who aspire to be creative, because it is something that everyone can do.