Trends and Designers

One outstanding trend that I observed during agIdeas 2011 was Comical artworks.

http://www.theloop.com.au/app/portfolio/field/
Creative+%26+Art+Direction

Australian artist Christopher Doyle was been reconised by D&AD, AWARD, AGDA, One Show ad Cannes. His work had a comical aspect to it, which caught my attention. He uses text to convey his humour in a simplistic way by using white space and generic black fonts. Doyal also uses crude language to attract attention from his audience, for example he designed AGDA Calendar for 2006. This calendar was designed with the statement “Who the fuck designed this?” During the agIdeas forum, Doyal presented a piece explaining how behind designers backs there is always a critic willing to put down their work. Knowing this, Doyal wanted to “take the piss” out of these critics by turning the joke around on them by already stating what they would have. This ‘comical’ trend allows the artist to have fun with his work and let his personality come through.

http://www.pezimystic.com.au/blog/?paged=2

The second artist I noticed to use this ‘comical’ trend was Oslo Davis, a Melbourne based illustrator. Davis, like Doyal works with simplistic humour by working usually in simple black line. He draws regularly for the Age, Meanjin, Readings Monthly, Wheeler Centre and has also appeared in the New York Weekly and BusinessWeek. He creates cartoons that depict the mundane and irritating things of everyday life resulting in hilarious consequences. Similar to Doyal, Davis also uses crude language in a generic font standing out on white space. For example this trend is used on his most reconised image of the baker frosting the letters on a cake “get fuc..”. Personally I think this type of humour works best when used in a simplistic way. Doyal and Davis both use the trend of Humour to connect with their audience and attract attention.

The second Trend I observed was repetition of line

http://matthewharding.com.au/design/slides/Poise.html

Melbourne based artist, Matthew Harding creates diverse contemporary sculpture, public art and design. He works with wood, stone steel and bronze. When looking at Harding’s artwork, line repetition stands out as a strong trend. By utilizing this trend, Harding’s work creates a feel of movement and complexity. This trend also occasionally gives a feel of futuristic furniture; this is evident in his work below.

http://matthewharding.com.au/design/slides/Poise.html

The second artwork I observed using the trend ‘repetition of line’ was Perth based artist, Elizabeth Delfs. At agIdeas, Delfs presented her work, which sits between garment, object and built environment and explores the rendering of space through pieces that relate to figurative sculpture. Delfs uses the trend of ‘repetition of line’ throughout all the work she presented. Similar to Matthew Harding, she creates a futuristic feel with the use of line. The lines she uses are also hand crafted using materials but they have a feminine look, unlike Harding’s, which have a masculine feel.

Refrence: designers Programs, agIdeas 2011 International dDesign Forum