Can a graphic designer be a sculptor?
I suppose what I'd like to know is, at what point is a sculpture a design? At what level does the classical "art" of paintings, statues, and the like become simply design? Does the old Italian argument of "Colorito vs. Designo" come into play? Is Graphic Design exclusively limited to graphics? I'd like to think not and I'd also like to think that they can be concurrent on a great many levels. I'm not the most skilled artist nor the most talented with computers but sculpting and working with a z axis is something I truly love doing. I can't seem to find many places that find that kind of design anything other than experimental though. I would love to be proved wrong on that.
You could say I have a bit of an old fashioned mind on this subject thinking that sculpture lasts longer than painting but to be honest, they add a sort of flair and intrigue that out cities and citizens need more of. Can a graphic designer work exclusively in 3d and still be called so? Let's start and argument in the comments–all technicalities are considered.
The age-old, is design art/is art design debate. It's always a fun (and frustrating) topic for debate. I recall my very first critique in grad school; in my studio with photogs, painters, sculptors, printmakers—and one of my peers asked, "would you like us to critique you as a designer or as an artist?" I was shocked. To me, there had never been a difference.
ReplyDeleteAs for the original post's question, I'm not sure of any designers who worked primarily in 3D. I suppose you could look back to typecutters/punchcutters, these guys carved type out of steel slugs for printing.
There are plenty of examples of the cross-over; DaVinci wrote an essay on the perfect typeface, Albrecht Dürer, the printmaker, wrote a book on type, El Lissitzky did graphic design and exhibition design. On the other end of the slide, painters Kandinsky and Klee both attended the Bauhaus.
If you want to get into an embroiled discussion, expand this to Art v. Design v. Craft…
One of the things about graphic design that has been so liberating to me is that I can do almost anything I want with it. If it's 2d or 3d, I think design is open ended allowing you to really do whatever you want to do.
ReplyDeleteThe main goal is to visually communicate with an audience. So what is stopping you from communicating through sculpture or a 3d piece? I don't think anything is. I'm a firm believer in going out and doing what you want if you believe in it enough.