How has the work of these designers been a response to what was happening on a cultural, social or political level at the time? 

Andy Warhol

August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987

“If you want to know all about Andy Warhol, just look at the surface of my paintings and films and me, and there I am. There’s nothing behind it.“

Andy Warhol, 1966.

Andy Warhol is one of the most iconic artists of all time. He used a variety of art forms, but is most known for his work in the Pop-Art movement throughout the 1960s. One of his most famous artworks is his painting of the Campbell’s Soup Cans, which he painted in 1962.

A lot of his work surrounded the themes of celebrity and materialism. This is seen through some of his other well-known work, like the pop-art portrait of Marilyn Monroe. He was friends with many celebrities and socialites, and was a regular at the popular dance club Studio 54. Throughout the 1970s many of these people commissioned work from him.

Warhol’s sexuality was also a theme in some of his work. Homosexuality was a crime in the United States in the 1950’s, and Warhol had work turned away from shows due to the fact men were embracing in it (The Warhol Museum, 2020). He also released films throughout the 1960’s which featured naked men, such as his film Sleep (1963), which was nearly 6 hours of footage of his then-boyfriend, John Giorno, sleeping naked. When the AIDS/HIV crisis impacted on the art scene and gay community of New York City in the 1980’s, it was reflected into his work.

April Greiman

born: March 22, 1948

“Design must seduce, shape, and perhaps more importantly, evoke an emotional response.”

April Greiman

April Greiman’s work is so important. She is widely known as one of the first designers to embrace digital design, and discover the potential of computers and their tools in visual communications. Around the 1970’s, other artists were afraid new technology would compromise the existing International Style, but Greiman saw new factors of digital art such as pixelation and “errors” as integral to the artform (Famous Graphic Designers, 2019). The development of Macintosh computers in the early 1980’s created even more possibilities for Greiman.

“The digital landscape fascinates me in the same way as the desert.”

April Greiman

She developed a style, known as New Wave, that broke away from the characteristics of Swiss Modernism and created a new post-modernism theory.

REFLECTION

Psychedelic art is something I’ve always loved and was something I definitely wanted to incorporate into Task 1. I’ll mainly be referencing this movement through the colours and font I use in my poster. I looked for psychedelic art I liked, then using the colour dropper tool I make a colour swatch.

This is what I got my colour inspiration from. I also had a font on my computer that I personally thought had a 1960s/1970s aesthetic and decided to use this for my featured text.

Overall, I wasn’t happy with how my poster turned out, but I definitely enjoyed learning new processes in new software which will be useful for future assignments and work outside of university.