Am I Secessionist?

Oh God.

I'm dead. It's already two weeks late to write my latest post (as I mention before..at last x buat2 because of several thing have to work out..i delay this post..sorry Madam Suzy,jgn potong markah ek?..hik2..just joking) This post is basically much related to my field as a new media student..and how history have influence the design scenario worldwide..so, let’s start brain storming the ideas!!

Lot’s of idea..perhaps..perhaps..perhaps(^^,)

But wait..I haven't decided which influence that I'll go with. Am I a secessionist? Or maybe Loos fan? Pulok..Mmm..let me guess..

Aku sesuai jadi Secessionist ke Loos?

Maybe, I have to understand both movements first before considering which influence give a big impact related to me most as a graphic designer. So, I started to Google, best medium I have ever (^^,).

To understand in depth, I will explain about what was said "Secessionist Movement”. In Austria 1897 a group of Artists, such as Otto Wagner and his gifted students, Josef Hoffmann, Josef Olbrich, Gustav Klimt, Koloman Moser and others aspired to the renaissance of the arts and crafts and to bring more abstract and purer forms to the designs of buildings and furniture, glass and metalwork, following the concept of total work of art and to do so, they tried to bring together Symbolists, Naturalists, Modernists, and Stylists.

They gave birth to another form of modernism in the visual arts and they named their own new movement, Secession. As the name indicates, this movement represented a protest, of the younger generation against the traditional art of their forebears, a "separation" from the past towards the future. The first chairman was Gustav Klimt.

Gustav Klimt, Secessionist Chairman

To pursue their goal they created their own exhibition space, the Secession building just off Vienna's Ringstrasse and the architect would be Josef Maria Olbrich. Above its entrance was carved the phrase "to every age its art and to art its freedom". They hoped to create a new style that owed nothing to historical influence.





Vienna Secession 1897


Plus, Vienna Secession promoted their design aesthetic with exhibition posters and its own journal, Ver Sacrum (Sacred Spring). The journal housed poetry illustrations, graphic art, decorative borders, object design, and cutting-edge conceptions for layout.

1st Vienna Secession Poster by Gustav Klimt

5th Vienna Secession Poster by Koloman Moser

~the design is more artistic than previous one, grab more viewer's attention kan?

Vienna Secession's elegant magazine, Ver Sacrum

~Vienna as the center for creative innovation in the final blossoming of art nouveau~

Below are some artworks from Secession Movement

Death and Life, 1911 by Gustav Klimt

Donna con Ventaglio by Gustav Klimt

The Three Ages of Woman by Gustav Klimt

Klimt really loves women. He always experimenting women in his artwork. Klimt did not afraid to use colour, he trying to explore the whole women figure.

Tree of Life by Gustav Klimt

Klimt’s building design stress the ornament style

'Auditorium in the Old Burgtheater, Vienna', 1888. Artist: Gustav Klimt

Karlskirche Church in Vienna

All artworks above shows the Secessionist believe that art should be viewed as a whole aesthetic value + function = great art

and art is not confined to one section only

not only function, it’s boring ok!!

Too much info on the Secessionist. So let’s explore the Adolf Loos movement, anti-ornament. Adolf Loos rejects all the Secessionist Movement understanding. Loos believe it was a crime to waste the effort needed to add ornamentation, when the ornamentation would cause the object to soon go out of style. For him, "design must come with function".

Adolf Loos

Adolf Loos Artwork

Einstein Tower

Drinking set no.248 – “Loos.” Design: Adolf Loos, 1931. The bar set. The architect Adolf Loos

 I totally disagree with Loos philosophy. Ornament shows luxurious. Actually, people in modern century (especially nowadays) buy things for no reason. They much attract to the design, not much on the function. It’s all about the sense of view, HUMAN IMPRESSION. The attractive things help other things embedded awesomely. Look at the watch below; when diamond is put in it as a main element of design, it became a double-value function, watch + jewellery.



~kalo pakai benda mewah sure org ingat u olls kaya raya, padahal ia hanya sebuah jam..

first impression tu penting(^^,)~



Okies.I should have already related the design practice with the movement that is more suitable with my field as Madam Suzy ask us to do so. Ok, I feed you guys with an example:

Compare this interface design (Figure A)

With this interface design (Figure B)

Which one do you choose? I’ll definitely choose the second one, Figure B (confirm, tgk je design handphone tu terus nk beli). It looks more attractive because it emphases new look with new symbolist style rather than simple but old version style (Figure A).

So, if you ask me which one I prefer, I’ll go with Secessionist. Coz, their philosophy stress to believe that art should be viewed as a whole. It is true sometimes “less is more”, but actually “more is more” ok!!

I believe in that. The more interactive you design things, the more attractive the things become. Do you agree on that?

Till then, have pleasant viewing(^^,)

Adolf Loos?

Hi guys...fuuh..just got back from design history class..i'm so tired..everyday stuck on traffic jam da way back home..thus,i need to rest for a while..
omg,this week is totally stuck off..
but of course need to flash back instantly what pn suzy has remind us.."do your next assignment~new post in your blog..but don't ever copy anything from my slide anymore"..ok2, sorry pn suzy..i swear, it's NOT gonna happen again..wink2(^^P)..hik2..why i'm saying that ha?coz..that person is ME..haha..terasa jap..nevermind la..what i suppose to do now is improve my thinking skills in HISTORY,how i'm gonna explain in detail of certain issues with my own words and of course brainstorming those idea.yup,apa lagi nad..prove to yourself..explore deep more..aja2 fighting!!

-->next post will be discussion on Adolf Loos..hehe..wrong page(^^P)

~Lot's of Love~

~Thought on Design~

Design is in everything we make, but it’s also between those things. It's a mix of craft, science, storytelling, propaganda, and philosophy~Erik Adigard

Joy of Work

Oh God, i’m so excited. The previous lecture jumbled up again in my mind as I need to repost my topic on “Joy of Work”. Maybe, I’m not too enough expressing the “Joy of Work” in my previous reading..Hehe..So, let’s start blowing our mind!!

Hooray!!!

Do you enjoy your work? Are you being forced to do something? That’s the key word of my topic for today.

In my opinion, the concept of  'Joy of Work' depends on people's perceptions. For me, it's all about expressing the freedom and passion of doing your work and the beginning of fundamental design aestetics. People might have their own creativity to create new direction of design. Maybe, some other people feel there are joyless of work in terms of certain circumstances, maybe they are forced to do this and that things. So, it seems like they not feel "freedom' to bring creativity into their work.

I'm stress!!!

As Madam Suzy asked us to relate phrase "Joy of Work" to modern thinking, I will expose the topic of two movements in early Modernism; Art and Crafts & Art Nouveau and how the concept of “joy of work” being related into these movements.

From my reading, Art and Crafts began on nineteenth-century in Britain. This movement were interested in uniting all the arts and crafts and giving them equal dignity and also deeply concerned with the role of the artist as worker and with the nature of work in general. Most importantly, this movements believed in beautiful design and well-made work as an enhancement of life. The importance of industrialized production and its aesthetic effects was a central question for this movement, but this was also the main point on which they disagreed. Arts and Crafts movement largely rejected the machine age and all its productions.

“It is not, truly speaking, the labour that is divided; but the men: divided into mere segments of men-broken into small fragments and crumbs of life; so that all the little piece of intelligence that is left in a man is not enough to make a pin, or a nail, but exhausts itself in making the point of a pin or the head of a nail.”

- John Ruskin (1819-1900)-

Ruskin believed that the industrialization has fractionated the society to classes and he was frustrated that thinker was not the maker at the same time. Back to the main point, expression of joy could resume its place in the work process as well as spreading its reflected glow among those who used the objects. The restoration of this joy in work could only be achieved by a return to individual craftsmanship.

“Art made by the people and for the people, a joy to the maker and the user”

-William Morris (1863 to 1942)

But, in this respect, William Morris and his allies ran into the basic difficulty of craftsmanship in an industrialized society. Morris believes that art does not compromise with commercialism which has made his works can only be afford by the rich class. Stressing on the passion for producing his own work, such objects are necessarily far more expensive than machine-produced goods since they are produced without the economies of scale provided by industry. They were, therefore, far too expensive for the "disadvantaged masses for whom they were intended." The Arts and Crafts Movement had expressed a longing for the past as a replacement for the present.

Here some of Morris artworks:

William Morris artwork

Red House by William Morris

Ok, enough already on Arts and Crafts Movement. Let’s look on the Art Nouveau Movement. How the ‘joy of work’ concept being expressed in their design and artwork?

From my reading, what I have understood was that Art Nouveau totally break all connections to classical times, and bring down the barriers between the fine arts and applied arts. Art Nouveau was more than a mere style. It was a way of thinking about modern society and new production methods. It was an attempt to redefine the meaning and nature of the artwork. From that time on, it was the duty of art not to overlook any everyday object, no matter how utilitarian it might be. This approach was considered completely new and revolutionary, thus the New Art (Art Nouveau) was named.

Charles Rennie Mackintosh and Victor Horta are two major architect/designers in Art Nouveau. Below are some examples of their artworks:

Charles Rennie Mackintosh

Mackintosh Table



Mackintosh Ornaments





Mackintosh Hill House, Glasgow 1903



Mackintosh Artwork



Victor Horta

Horta Museum



Stairs in Horta Museum



Art Nouveau artists used new materials, machined surfaces and abstraction in the service of pure design. Specifically, they used stylized organic shapes and dramatic, curving lines in their artworks. Many of its themes are taken from nature, though presented quite abstractly. For them, produce great new artworks give them big satisfaction. Coz, they believe they should at first make people satisfy with their artworks. Plus, Art Nouveau did not negate the machine as the Arts and Crafts Movement did, but used it as an advantage.

So, I can conclude that “joy of work” concept applied on both movements. However, the expression of joy differentiates them. Art and Craft people adore the making process of art as the expression of joy. It’s all about the passion of doing their work. Thus, Art Nouveau people express “joy of work” through the satisfaction of their great artwork (end product). The greater product they produce, the greater satisfaction they get.

Ok, that’s all for now. Thanx for put your soul to read this glyphs.

Till next post. See ya(^^,).





I think therefore I am?

Hmm..based on this topic..it's totally reminds me of what Pn Suzy have said ~ Cogito ergo sum..it's an Italian words. This Italian statement is really familiar with this guy,Rene Descartes~a well-known Italian philosopher.

Descartes was trying to counter the extreme scepticism of his time, questioning if people knew anything for sure, or whether anything existed at all.
He started with the premise that perhaps we have been fooled by a grand Devil into believing that we exist, where perhaps we are but things flying around in the mind of the Devil.
This is a little like the film the Matrix, when all the exciting things happened like real, but actually the people existed only in the dream of a giant computer.

Today's Blog~Which part of the late 18th century would greatly effect modern design?

In my opinion, the great part of effecting modern design is at the age of enlightment.Coz, after the Baroque old world becoming shut off by the villagers because of the big tax's pressure upon them, there's a philosopher named Rene Descartes who makes a great changes in people's belief when he used his magic words, "Cogito ergo sum" which means "I think therefore I am"  that change almost of the villagers' thought that "King is God" and "we are what we eat". Means, they should not obay 100% to the king if they don't prefer to do it. Means, they do what they want to do, they think what they wanna think. After the tragedy where people in that era (Barouque's era) killed the King and taxers because of their damn tax upon villagers to enhance the church's maintenance (the main reason), they totally belief with the logic thinking and of course sciences. For them, God is dead.