Minimalism

The minimalist art movement was popularized in the 1960s, and then particularly in the 1980s. This movement is concerned with abstract works containing minimal personal expression. Minimalism makes use of simple geometry and iconography, and clear colour palettes. As well as the use of industrial style and prefabricated materials. This seeks to remove personal expression from the art and design forms.

The central principle of minimalist design is the medium and materials the work is made from, as well as a realistic interpretation of the subject matter. For the viewer to have an immediate response to the use of colour, form and materials.

Paul Rand is an influential minimalist artist and designer. Rand designed advertising, editorial, corporate logos, packaging, posters and books. In his design he employed the standards of the minimalist style; using basic forms, simple colour palettes and plain mass-produced materials.

This book cover was designed by Paul Rand in 1955. It is an example of the simple minimalist design in its use of form and colour. The forms used are mostly varying sizes of similar shapes, the use of block colours in the shapes makes the cover eye catching and easy to interpret.

Rand designed this book cover in 1957. Again, this design uses only two bold colours with black grabbing the viewers attention. While the forms used in this deign are simple geometric shapes, the typography is quite detailed. The typeface used in this design looks hand written, contrasting against the sharp edges of the other shapes.

SOURCES:
MOMA, MINIMALISM, https://www.moma.org/collection/details.php?theme_id=10459
ART MOVEMENTS, MINIMALISM, http://www.artmovements.co.uk/minimalism.htm
UNDERSTANDING MINIMALISM, INTRODUCTION TO MINIMAL ART, http://understandingminimalism.com/introduction-to-minimal-art/

IMAGES:
http://www.paul-rand.com/foundation/books/

Op Art

Op art is the abbreviation for the term optical art. This refers to paintings and sculptures that explore illusions or optical effects. This movement originated in the early 1960s. The optical illusion in op art was achieved through the manipulation of shapes and colours.

While op art is related to other forms of abstract art such as constructivism and futurism, op artists purposefully manipulated the formal relationships between colours and shapes to evoke perceptual illusions in the vision of the viewer. The simple forms that op artists used to create these visual effects included parallel lines, checkerboard patterns and concentric circles along with the juxtaposition of complementary colours.

This book cover was designed in 1969 by op artist and graphic designer Toshihiro Katayama. This design uses the two major forms used by op artists to create visual illusion. It uses layered concentric circles and complementary colours to create the illusion that the circles are three dimensional shapes and where the different colours overlap there is also a sense of movement.

This book cover design is from 1965. While the colours used in this design are not complementary they are still in keeping with the op art style. This design makes use of parallel lines running at different angles across the page to create the illusion of movement and depth.

SOURCES:
MOMA, OP ART, https://www.moma.org/collection/details.php?theme_id=10139
ENCYCLOPAEDIA BRITANNICA, OP ART, http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/429533/Op-art

IMAGES:
INFORMATION, MECHANISM AND MEANING, http://bookworship.com/index.php?s=mit+press&paged=2
ESSAYS IN EXISTENTIALISM, http://bookworship.com/?p=1878

Pop Art

Pop art takes familiar everyday objects, often sourced from mass media and popular culture, and presents them out of their usual context. This art movement is most commonly associated with artists in 1960s in New York City. Some of the features of pop art are the use of bright colours, flat imagery inspired by newspaper photographs and comic book prints, and recognizable imagery.

The most iconic pop artist is usually identified as Andy Warhol. Warhol's typical works are of celebrities, everyday objects and macabre scenes. He worked in New York City making mostly silk screen prints and movies.

This book cover for Anthony Burgess's 'A Clockwork Orange' is typical of the pop art style. It features bright, primary colours and the flat imagery comic books, which typifies the pop art style.

This is a modern interpretation of pop art in a restyling of the iconic 1960 book 'To Kill a Mockingbird' by Haper Lee. This of pop art book cover uses colour to interpret themes of the book along with the simple comic book style in representing characters. The pattern on the mockingbird also introduces a hint of op art.

SOURCES:
POP ART MOVEMENT, http://www.theartstory.org/movement-pop-art.htm
POP ART - ART HISTORY 101 BASICS, http://arthistory.about.com/od/modernarthistory/a/Pop-Art-Art-History-101-Basics.htm
ARTIST PROFILE: ANDY WARHOL, http://arthistory.about.com/cs/namesww/p/warhol.htm

IMAGES:
A CLOCKWORK ORANGE, http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/archive/index.php/t-509102.html
TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD, https://www.behance.net/gallery/16133867/To-Kill-a-Mockingbird-Book-Cover