Our generation in the Multimedia age

Now, we are currently in the multimedia age. This age has technology that is accessible to most people around the world. In this age, everybody has the ability to be a producer because of simple, accessible software programs.

IPODS, YouTube and Blogger.com, offer people of all ages are able to tell and share multimedia. Podcasts and vidcasts are the new coming of age with teenagers leading the way.

Our generation is the first to be exposed to all different kinds of media. The Internet that was predominately introduced in 1992 is now a daily necessity. Newspapers and Magazines are going through a transitional period as to where they are aware of their readership declining and are adapting to their online sites and are adapting to a more graphical approach. Radio is loosing listeners to satellite radio that contains fewer commercials and to IPODS and MP3 players. Many students and adults are now downloading podcasts from their favorite comedians, news stations and programs from RSS feeds before traveling to work and school.

ITunes library and online store is common for purchases of songs and podcasts. Even the Oregon Daily Emerald is available on ITunes with podcasts and vidcasts.

Even in this multimedia minor at the University of Oregon, students are required to take classes from the School of Music and Dance, the School of Journalism and Communication, the Department of Computer and Information Science and the School of Architecture and Allied Arts. Here, with the knowledge of all of these schools and departments, allow the multimedia minors to have a variety of abilities in the digital world.

The Internet

According to Okin, when the Internet process began in 1962, there were approximately 10,000 computers in the world. All of which was priced at hundreds of thousands of dollars.

From there, AT&T answered this technology hurdle with data communication and presented a “Picturephone” in 1939 and was later presented again in the New York World’s Fair in 1964. AT&T proved to be the answer to the future of communications worldwide at this time.

From 20 years of predominant existence, in 1990 the Internet had grown considerably and had expanded to Argentina, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Chile, Greece, India, Ireland, South Korea, Spain and Switzerland.

The reality of computer viruses started to emerge and there was a report of approximately 130 in existence.

Later, in 1992 the Internet had one million hosts and really took off. The Apple computer, which debuted in 1984, started the reality of personal, affordable computers. However, by 1992, computers had a network bandwidth of 20 million times greater, as well as nine orders of magnitude faster.

In 1994, Internet celebrated its 25th anniversary and that was the same year that World Wide communities began. The United States Senate and the House of Representatives provided its own server as well as online shopping was introduced, mainly from well-known shopping malls. Another phenomenon that occurred this year is that Pizza Hut offered online ordering. A miracle for college-age students.

By 1997, most of the world was connected to the World Wide Web in a way that was going to change everybody’s lives.

Groundbreaking technology — Apple computers

The art scene took a different turn in the road when in 1984 the first computer was introduced to the world — an Apple computer that employed bit-mapped graphics with a resolution of 72 dpi on a screen that was slightly larger than a postcard. Amazing.

There were three big companies at this time that had introduced groundbreaking technology: Apple computers, Adobe and Aldus.

A large advantage of Apple computers at this time was their simplicity, and user-friendly nature. Having an application that was easy-to-use was vital at this time. Apple came complete with a mouse and applications including paint and many typefaces.

At the same time, Adobe was developing PostScript technology that contained a cleaner version of type than bit-maps. Adobe was also developing a new layout application called PageMaker, which a University of Oregon student invented.

Up until this time, design was mainly challenged movement to movement by the past movement’s philosophies. Now, with substantial technology emerging from the 1980s on, the ever-evolving technology and new media challenged the art world.

There were now all new possibilities with working with type and layout, and constant software development was being introduced.

Before this new technology, producing a publication contained a very long list of editors, writers, designers, typesetters, graphic artists, paste-up specialists, pre-production, plate makers, press operators and more.

In the mid 1980s, desktop publishing came to the forefront and combined many of the jobs from the list above, changing the art world as we knew it.

Postmodernism

With the controversy of the Vietnam war conflict and with the new expanding technology rose the era of postmodernism. This movement had significant visual elements.

It set the tone for experimentation, with many artists using photographs, typography and offset angles to express their art in a different manner. It’s main influences date back to the Futurists and Dadaists.

Postmodernism rejects order, thus demanding to represent change and expression. Many postmodernism design groups emerged and brought vernacular and retro design into the spotlight.

Retro design representing older design and usually demonstrated with use of color, type and line angles.

Vernacular design adopted commercial and clip art and used it to connect content with context. Vernacular incorporated many mediums for inspiration, anything from baseball cars, advertisements to matchbooks. These media were mostly recycled ideas that eventually were later found in magazine centerfolds and in annual reports.

Retro and vernacular design of postmodernism both took the main ideologies of movements of art deco and futurism. This new design theory was more pleasing to the eye than the past and demanded order.

Soon after, extreme postmodernism emerged and contained an alternative edge and involved a more playful approach than the past. Many publications that followed this movement were controversial in its approach. Three publications from the past that exlemplified the respectability of challenging readers were Rolling Stone, The Washington Post and Time magazine.

Now, since the postmodernism design era, design has changed drastically and is constantly in flux.

I heart pop art

Pop art became an American phenomenon in the 1960s because of its personal artistic expression, and included some strong influences of the previous movement, abstract expressionism.

According to Lucy Lippard’s book, Pop Art, this art movement of pop art was born twice: While it first evolved in Europe, then migrated to New York City. With this movement struck New York, many influential artists took the forefront.

Major players from the east coast in the pop art industry are Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein and James Rosenquist. These New York City inspired artists helped move a trend into a major movement that is still very popular today.

This movement appealed to the youth because of its bright colors, geometric shapes, giant scale and iconic people. Andy Warhol presented a lot famous people in his artwork like Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley, Jackie Kennedy and Mao Zedong. His style of mixed media, including photographs, paint and prints. Re-prints are still commonly seen and sold in many stores.

Roy Lichtenstein took a wide range of subjects and genres. His trademark style exemplifies bright colors, dot patterns, stripes, and strong outlines.

Pop art became a major trend that evolved abstractism, while experimenting with shapes. Many artists would take a well-known symbol and manipulate the image to appear in a different distorted manner, using commercial techniques and colors to convey remarkable images.

According to Roy Lichtenstein Prints, Jordan Schnitzer and his family foundation of Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art on campus also has an interest in pop art. He has extensive collections of Lichtenstein and Warhol’s prints.

Influences of abstract expressionism

A modern art movement in the late 1930s is called abstract expressionism. This movement was founded in New York City, and draws inspiration from all former movements excluding realism, of course.

Abstract expressionism is important because it is the first movement to be created from an American school.

Abstract expressionism had many different techniques, whether it is mixed media, montage, traditional paint applications and drip painting. At this time, New York City replaced Paris as the capital of art.

My favorite artist from this time period is Jackson Pollock. His approach is full of emotion, letting the art of painting supercede the content. As you can see from his web site jacksonpollock.com, he is famous for the drip painting approach and would throw his large canvases away if the drips appeared to resemble an object. Some disagree with his approach to this new medium because they claim that it is not art and that anybody can create abstract expressionism. Which I feel is a valid argument and I concur to that statement and encourage everybody to become inspired and create your own masterpiece. While I stated in my first post, art is everywhere and it is beautiful.

In 1950 the New York School of Design emerged and offered many graphic design classes that eventually produced many standout graphic artists that would be influential to movements to come.

Typography became more dominant in the art world, when headlines and visual type was potentially captured in the entire art piece. Photography became more popular with the artistic theme of less is more. Large color blocks were largely experimented with along with geometric shapes. Billboards were covered with large photography and typefaces in this new era of art were prominent.

Art deco and Surrealism

The art movement named art deco grew in popularity in the 1920s and according to Breeze, it became known for its superior graphic and architecture design. The Chrysler Building located in New York City epitomizes the movement with its beautiful construction. The art deco movement also included interior architecture, which modernized elevators at that time.

There are many art deco influences in the later contemporary design movements.

In the 1930s the Great Depression brought many governmental programs for graphic artists to gain work as well as showcase it. Painters as well as other artists would produce murals and publications in order to rally the public.

Around the same time, the Surrealist movement was brought into the forefront that consisted of a more sensational art deco style that was used for posters and other government-supported work from the Depression.

The term surrealism derives from the French prefix “sur” meaning higher, then adding the pre-existing art movement of realism. Salvador Dali is my favorite from this movement, where his style of surrealism along with many other artists, presented everyday objects in an out of context setting, almost out of this world. Some which include half-human/ half-animal creatures.

With the beginnings of World War II arriving, freedom in the art world slowed; however, brought more work for the government, primarily again in poster and mural work.

Additionally, in both the Depression and in the World Wars brought government graphic work that remained after the wars, primarily in advertising campaigns and publications. Graphic artists were being recognized for their work, which resulted in jobs remaining past the wars.

Dadaists, Futurists, Constructivism and de Stijl

Dadaists were very philosophical. They added poetry to their design style. They were most commonly recognized for inventing photomontage, a photo experiment that included a wide-variety of photographs.

According to Gardner, this movement was more of experimentation and a reaction to all past influential movements. Many of the strong Dadaists eventually merged later to become surrealists in the 1920s.

Similarly, the Futurists are closely related to the Dada movement. Many Futurists were also poets and had talented skills in the design world. During the turn of the 20th century, conflict emerged. With this generation of artists rose an ideology of supporting war, the machine age and were fascinated with technology. When religion and morality were declining.

Creative use of shutter speed with cameras was introduced to add interesting movements with blur and slow motion.

Constructivism was introduced in Russia that contained an ideology for politics. In the constructivism movement, Bauhaus School was commonly used and became the center for design. Bauhaus was established in 1919 in Germany. The curriculum covered the arts: design, architecture, painting and photography. The Bauhaus style was simple, which was reflected in their architecture and design.

A movement that was inspired by Bauhaus was the de Stijl or “the style.” This movement was reflected of the horrified reaction of World War 1. de Stijl has left one of the most lasting impressions on graphic communication. The grid was adopted to become essential in print design.

Photography, world conflict and experimentation

In the age of the Impressionists, photography was common. Because many grew up with the notion, all were affected by this innovation. The ideology behind impressionists was to capture ordinary life.

New art was created in France and in Japan in the early 19th century, which was later revisited in the 1960s and 1970s. This movement impacted design in a way that promoted illustrations, ones that still leave an impression today.

According to House, politically, Europe in the early 20th century was changing. Monarchy was evolving into ideologies of democracy and socialism. Western civilization was especially disturbed by World War 1.

Transformation of visual communication was reflected by the technology advances of its time. Radios, Motion pictures, skyscrapers and automobiles were setting a fast pace for society.

The world of visual arts reflected a time of conflict and chaos.

The movement of Expressionism brought emotion and perspective to an otherwise troubled world. Expressionism art portrayed their subject matter out of context. They would usually embellish this idea through strong lines or tight framing.

Around this same, Cubism emerged in Europe, which allowed for abstractions from real subject matter. This movement introduced a semi-abstract, collage medium that contained textiles and other materials that added texture.

Some of the most famous Cubist artists used multiple viewpoints in one painting or piece of artwork. A concept that directly contradicts the Renaissance era and one that exemptlified one single viewpoint.

Many design movements that followed Cubism were directly connected with its influence on unusual subjects and media.

A time for change

Later influential movements include the Baroque era and the Victorian age. These movements represent change in the art world as well as technology which allowed for more freedom of expression.

The Baroque era took place in the 17th century and the early 18th century in Europe. It focused on dramatic lighting, bold color and curvilinear forms. Its style had an influence on many media of its day. Baroque has an embellished style that has impacted architecture, painting, interior design, sculpture and theatre set design.

In the early 18th century, technology was on the rise. Cities were industrializing with expansions, advertising and printing presses were becoming more predominant. One of the most common forms of communication of this time was posters. Society knew that times were changing, as well as the Baroque style was evolving into the Victorian age.

In the late 19th century, the Victorian age emerged and became quite popular. The name derived from the Queen Victoria, who reigned as queen of England during this time.

This age mirrored the styles of the Baroque era, yet managed to make its design more clean. The style that some call eclectic, changed the history of design by experimenting with the new idea of photography. Before this, photography did not exist and designers and artists were now able to discover the world of still photographs. Publications alike were now having their cover art become photographs and other printed images. Because photography contains more detailed art than drawings, it opened many avenues to the expressionism of art.

The Renaissance era

Graphic design contains many effects on the past art movements. The Renaissance era took place primarily the late 15th century and early 16th century and contained a realistic notion that is prevalent today.

This era contained many influential artists, one being Leonardo de Vinci. According to the Museum of Science, “Leonardo believed that the artist must know not just the rules of perspective, but all the laws of nature. The eye, he believed, was the perfect instrument for learning these laws, and the artist the perfect person to illustrate them.”

According to Connolly, this meaning that even in the days of the 16th century, some artists were developing skills that are present today. da Vinci, being a perfectionist, believed that people should appear realistic in nature and apparent in art. His fascination with anatomy emerged in his realistic paintings, and his dissections of the human body paved the way for remarkably accurate figures. da Vinci was the first artist to study and accurately present the physical proportions of men, women and children. In contrast to his contemporaries — Michelangelo for example — da Vinci didn’t portray people with unrealistic muscular bodies.

Michelangelo’s famous work consists of the statue of David and The Creation of Man painting, which is a fragment of the Sistine Chapel ceiling. His style is seen largely in sculpture and in the Sistine Chapel. He saw the notion of nature as an enemy that needed to be overcome. He felt the need for figures to appear forceful and dynamic, Cole states.

Europe, as a whole, during the Renaissance era was in a transitional period. Johann Gutenberg refined a press that reformed communication, and some say that he primarily created the notion of mass media with his technology that allowed for the middle class to purchase publications (Ryan).

Renaissance artists inspired generations of creativity through their experimentations that hadn’t been seen before.

Writing systems

Although the concept of visual communication through computer skills and an Art Director is relatively a new idea, information through pictures however, dates back multiple centuries.

The earliest known art is identified as prehistoric cave wall paintings that are likely for ritual or social meaning. Further down the evolution process came many different writing systems.

The earliest and probably the most well-known is the Egyptian system called hieroglyphics. The Egyptians evolved this system around 1500 BC, and the Egyptians used pictographs to represent both words and sounds. They are also the first to create papyrus, a form of paper that was used as manuscripts, according to Rossini.

Shortly after, the Chinese created a system that is called logogram. Although less graphical then hieroglyphics, at one point logogram contained more than 40,000 separate characters; however, now the language has been reduced to approximately 1,000 characters.

Later, around 800 BC, the Greeks created their own system of communication, which contained the Phoenician system. They converted five consonants to vowel sounds. Our word “alphabet” derives from the two Greek words, alpha and beta.

The Roman system borrowed the alphabet from the Greeks and created their own. The Romans also adopted some of the Greek origins, including their philosophy, religion and literature. They then stripped the Grecian alphabet to 21 letters and created what is the closest to what English is today (Ryan).

Pre-existing art has influenced many different movements over the past centuries including our language. Art is built on the past and its influences and successes.

The beginning

Art is everywhere, and art is beautiful. Take a moment to take a walk down the street, anywhere or anytime of the day. What you’ll notice is an array of beauty that takes many different art forms. From gardening to graffiti, from billboards to architecture. All are different ways for visual people to express themselves in our society. In a world of technology, people are able to explore the world of art and find more easily what inspires them to be expressive.

I titled my newly created blog “Art in the modern world” because art is indeed everywhere. In the 19th century, art was defined mostly as fine art, art that is now depicted in different art museums, galleries and books today.

I plan to discuss the art and its history from the past and how it translates into multimedia environments of today, the digital world. I want to incorporate how art is depicted and translated in the eye of a digital, visual person.

I want to explore the process and history of how art and its movements have grown from the Renaissance era to this multimedia age. This age that now allows me to communicate through a blog, being able to express my take on how art and digital history evolved.

I also want to explore how art museums and galleries today present the different art movements in our history in a light that involves multimedia, the art of today. Most use attentive tactics to keep the browser interested involving interactivity, music and information cards.