Project 3 - Week 5 & 6

Within the Catalysts project, we were to utilise research to inform 3D Design process and outcomes, to show personal transcription of existing reference material in prompting and informing individual practice and to develop general contextual knowledge. Firstly the project required us to choose from one of the given styles of Art and Design, these included Conceptual, Minimal, Abstract, Modernism and Digital. I liked the description of this project as it meant we were able to include our own personal interests and preferences within our chosen category. Whilst considering which of these styles to choose, we were given another list of somewhat categories to guide us with the research and design process. These included household objects/furniture, body accessories, domestic interior/exterior, communal/public space, character design and vehicle design. Once I had researched the main meaning of each of the Art and Design styles, I decided to choose from the list of subject areas first. I found this an easy task as vehicle design is what I hope to do in the future and therefore felt would be appropriate to choose as it is something I would be most enthusiastic about. After making this decision, I then went back to my previous research and decided on the term Minimalism. This term is often known as a style that uses pared-down design elements, from research I found that it is often used to describe a trend in design and architecture, wherein the subject is reduced to its necessary elements and that minimalistic design as a whole has been highly influenced by Japanese traditional design. I therefore made sure to consider these aspects when designing. As the projects are somewhat short and previous projects had stuck to the concept of developing a new product from an existing product, I felt it was appropriate to develop an existing vehicle design rather than start from scratch.

In the visual arts and music, minimalism is a style that uses pared-down design elements.

Minimalism in the arts began in post–World War II Western Art, most strongly with American visual arts in the 1960s and early 1970s. Prominent artists associated with minimalism include Donald Judd, John McCracken, Agnes Martin, Dan Flavin, Robert Morris, Anne Truitt, and Frank Stella. It derives from the reductive aspects of Modernism and is often interpreted as a reaction against Abstract expressionism and a bridge to Postminimal art practices.

Minimalism in music features repetition and iteration such as those of the compositions of La Monte Young, Terry Riley, Steve Reich, Philip Glass, and John Adams. Minimalist compositions are sometimes known as systems music. The term "minimalist" often colloquially refers to anything that is spare or stripped to its essentials. It has also been used to describe the plays and novels of Samuel Beckett, the films of Robert Bresson, the stories of Raymond Carver, and the automobile designs of Colin Chapman. The word was first used in English in the early 20th century to describe "a 1913 composition by the Russian painter Kasimir Malevich of a black square on a white ground"

Minimalism in visual art, generally referred to as "minimal art", "literalist art"[4] and "ABC Art"[5] emerged in New York in the early 1960s as new and older artists moved toward geometric abstraction; exploring via painting in the cases of Frank Stella, Kenneth Noland, Al Held, Ellsworth Kelly, Robert Ryman and others; and sculpture in the works of various artists including David Smith, Anthony Caro, Tony Smith, Sol LeWitt, Carl Andre, Dan Flavin, Donald Judd and others. Judd's sculpture was showcased in 1964 at the Green Gallery in Manhattan as were Flavin's first fluorescent light works, while other leading Manhattan galleries like the Leo Castelli Gallery and the Pace Gallery also began to showcase artists focused on geometric abstraction. In addition there were two seminal and influential museum exhibitions: Primary Structures: Younger American and British Sculpture' shown from April 27 - June 12, 1966 at the Jewish Museum in New York, organized by the museum's Curator of Painting and Sculpture, Kynaston McShine[6][7] and Systemic Painting, at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum curated by Lawrence Alloway also in 1966 that showcased Geometric abstraction in the American art world via Shaped canvas, Color Field, and Hard-edge painting.[8][9] In the wake of those exhibitions and a few others the art movement called minimal art emerged.