(#3) "La Haine" I Have For Research is Immeasurable

Before you venture further into this blog, ‘tis my honor to inform thyselves that this cycle was muy, muy busy. So….I have broken this week’s work into two separate blogs: research and painting

This one is the research one…

Aren’t you absolutely ecstatic to read this?

“Cause I know I’m jumping out of my seat just thinking about writing an entire blog solely on research. (If you haven’t picked up on my sarcasm by now than you should just leave Gifted)

My thoughts at the beginning of the week went as follows, and I quote,

Thank goodness I chose minimalism as my topic because this type of art doesn’t require that much specific research on techniques. Minimalist painting is open to interpretation so there is no distinct way to go about making a piece of art. Unlike former student and art prodigy Allison Liu (her blog is on the Google Sheets), I came into this with no background knowledge, and since my topic is a very basic form of art, my research is mostly surface level and introductory information.

In my case, I’m just painting movie posters that are meant to be simple and not too detailed or elaborate. I’m not trying to learn the higher-level aspects of painting that would require a lot of information. I’m just learning the basics of minimalism and acrylic painting.

So it’s easier for you guys and gals to follow, I’ll break up my findings/research into two sections: Minimalism and Acrylic Painting

In the wise words of Berleezy, “ARE YOU READY??? LET’S GET IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

Minimalism:

Before I begin, research has shown me that my genius project should be called “Minimal Movie Posters” and not “Minimalist Movie Posters” so I will change my URL and whatever else I messed up on.

Crash Course History: Minimalism began around the 1950s/1960s and initiated post-WWII Western art when a collection of American artists, including Donald Judd and Dan Flavin, adapted certain aspects of modernism that were being used across Europe. Since then, it has led to branch of called post-minimalism, and just like every mode of art, it has multiple different interpretations that revolve around the idea of simplicity.

What Is It?: David Burlyuk, a Ukrainian author, wrote that "Minimalism derives its name from the minimum of operating means." This type of art is almost like a reduced/simplistic version of modernism by using pared-down design elements. After the emergence of abstract expressionism after WWII which pertains to spontaneous and subconscious creation, some artists started to make minimal art pieces as a reaction against that very popular form of art. Forms of minimalist art span from paintings to sculptures and be interpreted in various ways. Many minimal pieces of art are based around basic geometric shapes. This is known as geometric abstraction which provides a clean and modern aesthetic most prominently in architecture and sculptures.

Below are some examples of minimal art:

 

Movie Posters: When it comes to applying it to film, it’s all about trying to simplify the movie into a single image or object that best represents the film as a whole. This is a very specific and new form of minimalism so there wasn’t much information on it, but it follows many of the principles that minimalism entails.

In case you haven't read my previous blogs, here are some examples of minimal (not minimalist) movie posters:

 Acrylic Painting:

Basic Info: This is one of the more common types of paint because it is they are applicable to many different surfaces and they are fast-drying. Also, acrylic paint is very versatile when it comes to texture and appearance. For example, water can be added to make the paint appear and feel thinner than before. Within this type of paint, there are multiple branches of acrylic paints that can be used such as medium viscosity, open, iridescent, and more. All these types have different levels of thickness and are made to be used on specific types of surfaces.

Acrylic vs. Oil: Because of the synthetic resin binder that it is made with, acrylic paints are more durable and can be rolled without cracking. On the other hand, oil, the other main type of paint, is more fragile and must be thinned with solvents making the drying time longer. Oil is more useful when it comes to blending colors because of the slow drying time, but for my case, since my posters are basic paintings, this would not be so useful. Basically, the main difference is that acrylic is more of a basic and versatile paint while oil is more for professional and elaborate paintings

Acrylic (left) vs. Oil (right)

In relation to my research, I have contacted Vincent Vermeij who is a graphic designer that creates minimalist movie posters in his free time (the posters above were made by him). Though he is not a painter, I think that it would be incredibly useful to get insight into his how he goes about creating his minimalist posters.

If you’d like, you can head over to my blog titled "My Left Foot..."for the second half of this cycle’s work.

Movie Recommendation #2:

Title: Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb

Director: Stanley Kubrick

Starring: Peter Sellers | George C. Scott | Sterling Hayden

Date Released: January 29th, 1964

Research sources

• Acrylic Made Easy: Getting Started by Patti Mollica
• http://www.theartstory.org/movement-minimalism.htm
• https://www.guggenheim.org/artwork/movement/minimalism
• https://www.moma.org/learn/moma_learning/themes/minimalism
• http://www.northlightshop.com/how-to-use-acrylic-paint

Picture sources: 

• http://re-cognition.info/arts/oil-painting-vs-acrylic-painting-fundamental-differences-may-known/
• http://www.ugallery.com/AdvancedSearch.aspx?part=artworkinactive
• http://www.weinerelementary.org/cassatt-and-painting.html
• http://www.chungkong.nl/minimal-movie-posters/
• http://bocadolobo.com/blog/architecture/the-japanese-minimal-architecture-of-the-framing-house/
• http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/68.178/
• https://www.pinterest.com/applepye43/minimalist-sculpture/