30/11/2009

Art or... Design?

I ask you... What is the difference between Art and Design?

Whilst creating decorative prints I was asked to recall the limits set within each. This you may be thinking appears easy at first and you may real off many a definition:

DESIGN - problem solving, creating solutions to improve the quality of life, part of everyday life
ART - aesthetic, personal, and everyday phenomena

The list is endless, personally I think there are many blurred boundaries in which they overlap. For example, after looking into the work of Claire Coles I have become interested in the process of wallpaper design. Surely, like most fashionable items, interior design contains many artistic designs and processes.

My current project is entitled 'place, object, space' which I believe wallpaper can be applied specifically to. Walls create a space of their own, and become an object in the process. Surely wallpaper designs start with drawings and collections of source materials, colour palettes etc. So how do large scale paintings, prints, collages etc (all considered 'art' pieces) differ from wallpaper (design).

Wallpapers are created for a specific purpose, fit specific dimensions, and often created a mass market. Wall paper designs go back in history an awful long way and were considered a sign of wealth and status. The earliest wallpapers in England were created as individual sheets, printed with black ink, on pale paper with geometric designs, printed with wood blocks.

Take a look around, wallpaper has developed DRAMATICALLY and has become a successful form of industry, linked closely to furnishings and fashion.

You can argue however, art (for example sculpture) can be created for a specific site/space, like wallpaper.

What do you think....?

2 comments:

  1. I had this debate last year when I wanted to create wallpaper to create impact using scale as my theme. If you look at the work of Barbra Kruger the boundries that you are talking about are blurred. She fills the whole room with a "designed" piece which in itself becomes art! I think your pieces using digital have helped you work out how to create your prints in terms of the layers! Looking forward to seeing your final solution!!

    Have a look at my "digital" pieces on my blog to see my wallpaper designs :)

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  2. It's a tricky topic indeed! It's a well known fact that designers are arty!

    your digital prints look fab, clearly mastered the old illustrator!

    HAve you had any of them printed to a large 'wallpaper' scale?

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