Defining the Avant-Garde

Seminar Notes

• Avant-garde art is deeply aligned to the modernist way of practice as it aims to be progressive. It is used as a quality to describe work as well as being a group you can be a member of. The term is now popular, but used so much in the wrong context it has become meaningless. Google web searches prove this. Avant-garde art seeks to shock, challenge and re assess conventions. It is the development of the individual expressive self.
• Duchamp's urinal mocks the elitism in art. It is shocking, new and innovative. It is anti-conventional and so challenges what art is in an aggressive way. It is non conformist as he re-defines what art is rather than sticking to the rules.
• The Fauves 'wild beasts' were given their title by art critiques who were disgusted by their work as it contains new techniques, bright colours and bold brush strokes. It is unrealistic in this aspect but the subject matter is real. Classical art often contain fantasy scenes which aren't real. There are examples of classical art created in the modern period which were seen as realistic due to the traditional methods behind them.
• There is a hierarchy of the disciplines of art in society. Fine art is more valued, as it is believed to be creative, intellectual and socially important.
• In the LCA prospectus it can be seen that each course considers it has aspects of avant-garde in it. How relevant is avant-garde to graphic design? Answering a specific question set on a brief may not be being original.
• In art education students are taught to copy other artists styles, giving the modern illusion of individuality. In historical art education, the students were taught to copy 'master' artists work/styles before being able to create their own.
• Fine art is as commercial as graphic design, as the reason behind the artist creating the piece is so someone will buy it/ they have been commissioned. There is nothing 'genius' about this.
• There is an attitude with contemporary art that if you don't understand it is your fault for not being clever enough. The painting 'Death of Chatterton' tells a story of a poet who kills himself as he can't sell his poetry because the world doesn't understand him. This is the myth of the romantic tortured genius. It is as if society is responsible for his death. To be avant-garde you should be better than/ahead of society, so it could be a good thing that the world didn't understand Chatterton.
• The 'Stonebreakers' painting is avant-garde in a different way - it looks traditional yet its subject matter is political, seeking to make social change. Instead of being a painting of royalty or religion, it features the working class.
• Clive Bell came up with a self-protecting critical idea that successful art would contain 'signifcant form' - which is the relations and combinations of lines and colours, which when organised give the power to move someone aesthetically. If you do not see the significant form in paintings that Bell does, he protects his idea by accusing of not being educated enough.
• 'Art for art's sake' refers to art that has no political meaning, it just abstract or aesthetic. Pollocks 'Lavender mist' experimental painting is a symbol of elitism in western culture. To be truly experimental, you run the risk of no one understanding your work, which is elitist. So how true can avant-garde be?
• Stalin disagreed with this 'snobby' art. He only like a particular style (he banned constructivism) which was used to get a message across, but which could be seen as propaganda. Which is better?
• Avant-garde was originally a french military term. It culturally means that artists are cutting edge, leading the way in either aesthetic or political ways.
• Kitsch is the idea that something is in bad taste, tacky, but has love ability in a patronising way. This value of judgement is based on a system of taste which is an elitist thing to do. 'Kitsch' things aspire to be art, but fail, as they can't be taken seriously. It depends on cultural standards. To say it is kitsch to have a famous print in a frame or on a plate as one can't afford the real thing is like saying there is a place for art - either the gallery or for collectors - and this is elitist. Examples of kitsch: turning a piece of art into something it is not supposed to be; distorting an existing piece of art to fit in a certain space; 'fine art' paintings of tigers, also sentimental commemoration items such as for the royal wedding.
• Jeff Koons created a life size model of Michael Jackson and a monkey; there is an illusion this piece is art because it is in a recognised gallery and made by a famous artist. People are told it is important, but if it were found in an ordinary shop it would be regarded as junk.
• Pop art is an art form which is not original, but is against elitism.
• Communication is not as important in avant-garde art, it is more important for the piece to be experimental than to be understood.
• By saying that something is an example of bad typography you run the risk of sounding elitist.
• The Tate do not want traditional art that the public like, but do want avant-garde pieces, like Carl Andre's 'Equivalent VIII', which was literally a pile of bricks. People visiting have to be told why it is important as it is not understandable.
• Only a select few people decide who the winner of the Turner Prize is, these people have the authority to decide which artist the public like.
• Two men were arrested for jumping on Tracey Emin's bed, seemingly trying to out avant-garde her.
• Damien Hurst had the idea behind his shark but didn't actual do anything to make it/pay for it, so why is he the creative genius? Values of taste are political. Re-productions of Hurst's work aren't even made by him, but still sell, as they are a status symbol for the rich.
• Hurst's skull 'For the Love of God' was also made by someone else. The value behind it is monetary not artistic.
• The reasons for an auction of post-impressionist art pieces going for prices around $80 million dollars were corrupt - part of a Japanese money laundering scam in the late 1980's.
• Adverts by ad busters are more likely to cause social change and be avant-garde than Tracey Emin's 'art'.

Discussion

  

(Discuss the concept of avant-garde in relation to 2 works of Graphic Design. Could look at constructivism, ad busters, post-modernism - all have different attitudes in society)

Image One:
Adbusters (1996) Absolut Impotence
http://67.192.229.58/content/absolut-impotence
Image Two:
Rodchenko, A (1925) Lengiz books on all subjects
http://www.adbusters.org/content/alexander-rodchenko



Adbusters spoof campaigns could be seen as being avant-garde, as they are aiming to be progressive, and change the way people think by making them look at an advert in a different way. This image, which is part of a series, mocks the style of the official absolut vodka adverts, but with a clever twist. This could mean that the adverts aren't actually original, but the message behind them is, as other adverts are simply selling their products, or a way of life that supposedly comes with a product. This set of adverts reveal the negatives that come with drinking vodka, to deter people away from buying it. This is re-assessing conventions, by challenging the adverts that already exist through telling the other side to the story.

Constructivism was such an original, shocking, new movement that Stalin banned it, only allowing the style of art he wanted to be used. He thought this style was dangerous and against communism. Constructivism shocked due to how different it was to the traditional fine art pieces that came before it, instead it was radical and experimental. The wedge shape used in this photo montage by Rodchenko, as well as many other pieces of constructivist graphic design is a symbol of smashing the old regime, as the Russian people took over the government. Not only do these pieces impress on an aesthetic level, they also contain a political message.

I do think that these two graphic design pieces are avant-garde, but for totally different reasons than why fine art would be classed as avant-garde. Graphic design can cause social change for the better, whereas fine art pieces seem to hold different qualities, as they aren't understandable, suggesting the artists believe they are ahead of society. Yet this seems like a snobby, elitist quality, which is not progressive in the ways graphic design is. Graphic design is a means of communication and therefore it is important the pieces are understandable.