This week we looked at the Avantgarde period and the different movements which have derived from it.  Avantgarde was all about creating a new original visual language in the early 20th century. I will mostly focus on the Avantgarde movement of Constructivism, which started in Russia in the 1920s.

It is a movement in which artists were striving to create a new visual landscape, aiming to reflect the communist social needs, order and values (ArtandThis, 2009). 
Alexander  Rodchenko was said to be the father of Constructivism and shaped Graphic Design as we know it today. He first started as a painter and then became a designer. He was of the opinion that paint art is precious and to design is closely related to the job of an engineer as designers create with purpose (The Futur, 2017).

Hence, he went on and declared the end of  painting with this painting in 1921:

 

 

From that point onward, his designs changed, and he focused on his concepts not to be aesthetically pleasing but to rather serve a purpose and to obey basic design principals.

To receive an overview I will list the most dominant design principles of Constructivism:

• use of geometrical and primitive shapes and elements to create dynamic image
• typograph is mostly sans serifs which follow rules of contrast and simplicity
• strict lines to enforce organisation and purpose
• flat colours and white space as part of the design
• photomontage

One of Rodchenkos first design works was a political propaganda poster made for the communist party he was involved with:

This poster embodies all the key elements of Constructivism I have discussed above, showing clear lines, bold and simple typeface, heavy symmetry, photomontage with solid geometrical shapes, and limited colours. The poster is about the ban of books and truly lets the image speak for itself rather than relying on words. This style of Constructivism is rooted in principles of geometry and shapes, which enables it to look timeless and modern even after almost 100 years.

The same goes for this logo he designed for an aviation company. It has basic shapes like a circle, which is divided by another solid shape. It is a timeless, dynamic design, which is abstract but yet serves a purpose what makes it easily identifiable as a logo of an aviation company.

 

 

 

Contemporary artists, like Shapeard Fairey are emulating the style of the Russian Constructivism. He is using it to stand out, presenting a strong and dynamic artwork which draws people in and allows him to make bold statement. The harsh lines and flat colour palette are eye catching today as it looks important and is associated with the propaganda style. The black and red filled shapes create a powerful and aggressive tone ,which is desirable to bring a message across (Berry, 2017).

 

You can see the striking similarity in style between Rodchenko and the contemporary design. In my opionion, Fairey does make it his own by putting it into another context and adding a more illustrative touch to it. But the copy of Bochenkos poster concept “Books” and Faireys “Say Yes” is very apparent. There are many design rip-offs and people who clearly draw inspiration from a certain style. This shows that most of our visual vocabulary is based and borrowed from the past. Hence, it is of importance to unite it with our own unique vision and inspiration.

This is why I attempted to make my own advertisement poster, ironically advertising the consumerist society, highlighting how an attention-grabbing sales poster traps them into an endless cycle of purchasing and owning more and more things.

I did follow the key design feature of Russian Constructivism and added a twist to it by breaking the perfect alignment of shapes and a more illustrative style.

 

 

 

 

Bibliography:

ArtandThis. (2009). The influence of Russian Constructivism in the graphic arts. [online] Available at: https://artandthis.typepad.com/art_and_this/2009/06/mark-danceys-graphics-and-russian-constructivism-.html

Berry, C. (2017). Constructivist Art & Design. [online] Medium. Available at: https://medium.com/inside-vbat/constructivist-art-design-95ed961a98be [Accessed 21 May 2019].

The Futur (2017). Graphic Design Pioneer—Alexander Rodchenko Russian Constructivist. YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-MMwGkUioFQ [Accessed 21 May 2019].

Images:

1. https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0734447/?ref_=nmbio_bio_nm
2. https://alicefryart.wordpress.com/2018/04/23/rodchenko-research/
3. http://www.designishistory.com/1920/aleksander-rodchenko/
4. and 5. https://medium.com/inside-vbat/constructivist-art-design-95ed961a98be