DESIGN CONTEXT.: January 2012

Could it be argued that fine art ought to be assigned more 'value' than more popular forms of Visual Communication?

This essay will look at the assigned values of Fine art compared to Visual communication and whether all ‘Art’ deserves the prestige name and value it has gained. The rivalry between the two disciplinary has been ever lived and is a constant battle. Both have strong points and weak points within them, which will get explored in this essay to discover which is the rightful owner of being seen as having the ‘most value’.

Fine art has many different meanings and outcomes, the official definition is.

“ 1 [mass noun] (also fine arts) creative art, especially visual art whose products are to be appreciated primarily or solely for their imaginative, aesthetic, or intellectual content: the convergence of popular culture and fine art “

This is strictly true and broadly covers the whole spectrum of ‘Art’ and interestingly enough does not exclude graphic design as an ‘art form’.

Tracey Emin is an example of an artist who is seen as and is very ‘valuable’, but this is up for debate. Her pieces lack value in the sense of skill. The pieces she does are all very much concept based, and even then the concept is aimed at a specific, almost elite group who will ‘get it’ and for everyone else it will just evoke a reaction, be it disgust, confusion or dismay. The piece that has caused controversy is ‘my bed’. Is it art? Is it not art?

‘The objects that provoke this emotion we call works of art. All sensitive people agree that there is a peculiar emotion provoked by works of art. I do not mean, of course, that all works provoke the same emotion. On the contrary, every work produces a different emotion.’

According to the theory of Clive Bell, yes it is art. But does it have value? Charles Saatchi bought the piece for £150,000, and by doing so he added value to the piece physically and psychologically to the public.

‘Charles's achievement here was massive in almost every sense. He invented a new movement – something every critic and curator dreams of doing.’

This is true, Saatchi’s name has such power and respect that he is able to buy the work of the likes of Emin and Damien Hirst and in turn transform their work and them into almost celebrity figures with the value of their work escalading to unthinkable prices. So is the real value of Emins work completely down to Saatchi, How much would it have been worth if it wasn’t for him investing in it? As for the value of the art itself, is that truly there if it is aimed at such an elite audience to appreciate the ‘art’ as art and not just a reaction piece.

A recent piece of graphic design that like Tracey Emin’s work has a debatable value to it is the 2012 Olympics logo for England. This logo has been under scrutiny ever since it was released, this has definitely brought attention and interest to it, but unlike in fine art not all attention is good in graphic design, the object must serve the function and therefore if it is seen as bad or un readable, the designer has failed to achieve the outcome. The 2012 logo has a lot of value generated for it, like Emin, from the name it was invested by. The Olympics is a prestige, world wide, renowned and respected event so this adds value to the logo right away. Value is also added by the fact it is representing it’s country. But just because it has a high ‘value’ does not mean it’s any good.

‘The Olympics should exist to raise our collective hopes, expectations and sights. This logo, though, is one of the saddest modern sights of all, and this from a city that produced the rightly world-famous London Transport logo. There are no medals here. Only "rubbish".’

The designers were paid £400,000 for this logo, so again this adds literal value to this piece of graphic design, they were paid so highly not because the piece was worth that much but just because of the name, which is the same scenario as Emin and Saatchi.

The Logo does not represent the grand event that is The Olympics coming to England. If you were to take away the five Olympic rings in the 0 would we still be able to see the Olympic connection? And in what way does this logo represent the city host London, again take away the London in the 2, would you know where the Olympics is even happening? For £400,000 you would expect these things. There is no visual value to this logo.

An example of a very valued in the money sense, but also in the visual and physical sense is the coca cola brand. This logo has worldwide recognition and success and has done since ii was created. The logo is so successful and powerful that coca coke can be recognised as a brand from the logo even if Coca Cola isn’t written, but something entirely different is written but in the same style, it always brings the recognition of coke.

An interesting cross over between fine art and graphic design happened with coke when Andy Warhol Took the already iconic bottle and made it into a ‘piece of art’ now who’s to say that it wasn’t already and Warhol was merely taking a picture of the bottle? His print gained such significance, was this generated from the previous and on going popularity of the branding of coca cola, would his work have been as popular and well thought of if he had used mundane, poorly designed products? Could a piece of Graphic design of influenced the popularity of fine art?

Recently there has been another cross over between Fine art and Graphic design in the sense of fine artist David Hockney.

"David Hockney: A Bigger Picture" and includes images from 50 years of the artist's career. Hockney's won high praise for adopting technology, with many outlets praising his move, and The Guardian even pointing to the development as proof that he's "an artist who still genuinely matters."

Hockney has been drawing images on an ipad for an exhibition this is an action he is getting a lot of respect for, as it is a sign he is willing to move on with the times and experiment with new things combining a fine artists view with a digital design aspect.

‘… Hockney and his art express and address the kind of people and country that he and we wish we were. There is something religious in his work. And when Hockney takes a pop at Hirst, I, for one, will cheer, because he is taking a pop at the kind of country we have become, in which attitude is more important than morality, price trumps value, and in which to shock and make a name is privileged over doing something lovely or true.’

This quote shows the point of just how valuable Hockney’s work is without the word ‘value’ automatically meaning money. David Hockney’s work is there, not to cause a controversy or make people feel invaluable when they can’t figure out ‘the meaning’. It is art that can be taken at fact value and is there to make people happy and admire the work for the skill and beauty of what it is. This is how all art should be.

So which is the rightful owner of being seen as having more value, graphic design or fine art? Neither. Value is a word corrupt these days by money, just because a piece of art or graphic design has a high value does not mean it is valuable in the sense to society. The most valuable art and graphics is the stuff that we can understand at face value, appreciate and admire, and both go hand in hand. Although Graphics may be more functional and always has an aim, so in that sense is very valuable. Fine arts function is to entertain people and look good, which can also be the aim of graphics. They overlap. Value is in the quality of the work what ever that may be, just because it is art does not make it valuable, just because it is graphic design does not make a piece valuable. If a piece is innovative and conveys whatever the artist/designer wants to portray in a beautiful and clever way that is what makes either disciplinary valuable, not money, not status.

Bibliography

Barnard, M. (2005). Graphic design and art. In: Graphic Design as communication. Oxon: Routledge. p162- 179.

Bell, C. (2008). The aesthetic hypothesis. Available: http://www.kelake.org/archive/art/the-aesthetic-hypothesis-clive-bell.php. Last accessed 22nd Jan 2012.

Glancey, J. (2007). How Lisa Simpson got ahead at the Olympics. Available: http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/artblog/2007/jun/05/howlisasimpsontooktheolym. Last accessed 22nd Jan 2012.

Giroux, A. (last modified 2011). My Bed, 1998, Tracey Emin. Available: http://www.alexandragiroux.net/my-bed-1998-tracey-emin/. Last accessed 22nd Jan 2012.

Kettle, M. (2012). David Hockney is still an artist who genuinely matters. Available: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/jan/18/david-hockney-artist-matters. Last accessed 22nd Jan

Lewis, B. (2011). Charles Saatchi: the man who reinvented art. Available: http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2011/jul/10/charles-saatchi-british-art-yba. Last accessed 22nd Jan 2012.

Oxford Dictionaries. (last modified 2012). Fine art. Available: http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/fine+art. Last accessed 19th Jan 2012.