Gustav Klimt Exhibition - Tate Liverpool

Visited the Klimt exhibition at Liverpool Tate yesterday.

Klimt's often painterly style with its dominating geometric patterns and compressed flattened spaces was influenced by the decorative arts (he studied at the fine arts academy and his father was a gold engraver). Other influences come from his keen interest in Byzantine mosaics, Japanese prints and Chinese paintings.

Klimt's earlier works comprise drawings and painting that are almost neoclassical in theme. This is eventually transformed into a more expressionist style as space and form are abandoned and his figures become more distorted and exaggerated. Klimt became a major influence on later Expressionist painters. Klimt's paintings also express his love for geometric form. This is perhaps most evident in his square landscapes, but also noticeable in how his male figures tend to be represented as rectilinear shapes, whereas his female figures are often rounded and flowing.

Slightly disappointingly this is not purely a retrospective of Klimt's work. The exhibition also includes work by some of the other artists and designers who formed part of the Viennese Secession and the Weiner Werkstatte movements. The latter was strongly influenced by the British Arts and Crafts movement and as such, there are some illustrations of design work by Glasgow's Charles Rennie Mackintosh. Most prominent among the other Viennese artists is the designer Kolomon Moser, the painter Carl Moll and especially the architect and designer Josef Hoffmann. There are some striking examples of furniture and smaller household items. In particular I remember being impressed by an eloquent decorative card table and a very snazzy set of cutlery designed by Hoffman. The cutlery and many of the other objects were produced by the Weiner Werkstatte, who promoted the idea of the 'total environment', in which art enhances all aspects of life. To my mind Klimt's involvement in this is less convincing than say the work of Mackintosh or indeed William Morris. I wanted the show to celebrate Klimt the painter and this was a mildly interesting distraction.

Klimt's artworks are displayed in ten room settings. Some of the rooms are designed to give and idea of the original environments from where the artworks came. These were the homes and buildings of Klimt's patrons: Fritz and Lili Waerndorfer; the Wittgenstein family; Otto and Eugenia Primavesi. As such, you will find paintings reunited with the furniture and objects they originally accompanied. 

If you want to see Klimt's most iconic painting 'The Kiss' you'll have to travel to the Belvedere gallery in Vienna to see it, although it's probably already been seen by many in a thousand student bedsits and art shops. Another absent work is 'Judith and Holofernes' 1901, one of Klimt's spectacular gold paintings. It presents a similar theme to Judith II that is included in this exhibition. Perhaps understandably you will not see the 1907 "Portrait of Adèle Bloch-Bauer", purchased for $135m (£68.4m) a couple of years ago by a New York gallery owner. It was the most expensive painting in history at the time of its purchase. I still feel a little cheated and disappointed by the absence of such paintings. 

One important thing to note about Klimt's existing work is that possibly his greatest paintings no longer exist. A collection of 13 paintings were purposely destroyed by fire at the Immendorf Castle in southern Austria in 1945. Ironically the paintings had initially been stored there by the Third Reich in order to preserve them from air raids over Vienna, but after the death of Hitler an SS unit decided to destroy the works in order to prevent them falling into the hands of the encroaching Russians. These paintings included three of Klimt's greatest and most influential works: Philosophy, Jurisprudence and Medicine. 

One reason given for the absence of certain works, apart from their value, is that the paintings are in such a fragile state that it would have been too risky to transport them. For this reason it is unlikely that so much of Klimt's work will ever be exhibited together again - making this exhibition a once in a lifetime experience. 

It is worth saying that the exhibition graphics that greet you at the entrance are quite stunning. The low relief gold typography and pattern work are redolent of the sumptuousness of Klimt at his best. The first room of the exhibition is on the ground floor and displays a full-scale reconstruction of the Beethoven Frieze (the original is on permanent view at the Vienna Secession). I was not aware that it was a replica of the original as it is quite easy to walk in and not realise this. It was a monumental installation created by Klimt in 1902, celebrating his idea of Gesamtkunstwerk (the total work of art). Klimt's interest in trying to represent music in painting was influenced by Friedrich Nietzsche's 1872 book The Birth of Tragedy that espoused the idea of music as the purest art form because of its unique ability to stir the deepest felt passions and to stimulate the very core of human consciousness. The Beethoven Frieze is a fantastic work of art and even as a replica is one of the highlights of the show.

Further on there is one room dedicated to Klimt's landscape paintings in square format. These are quite beautiful paintings that evoke a sense of calm and tranquillity. Some are impressionist in style whilst others lean towards expressionism. Their enchantingly cropped compositions offer a somewhat quirky but assured view of the world.

This is the final part of the exhibition that includes a main room open to all and an adjoining gallery of erotic line drawings that is only accessible to those over eighteen. The main room contains some of Klimt's greatest paintings in this exhibition including; "The Three Ages" 1905 showing the cycle of life - one of Klimt's most important themes - represented in the form of three female figures: the child, the mother and the older woman. A quite stunning image and my own personal favourite.

I was slightly disappointed by the explicit erotic drawings in the adjoining gallery as the room is quite dark and each drawing is rather dimly lit. Some of the drawings consist of very faint lines and it is hard to make out what's depicted unless you lean over and peer close. Some of these drawings were published in books at the time - one is displayed in the centre of the room - others were exhibited for the first time in 1910 and not surprisingly shocked the establishment and led to accusations of Klimt being a pornographer. However, it must be remembered that one of Klimt's contemporaries was Sigmund Freud whose published works about the subconscious suggested for the first time that the primary goal of sex was pleasure. Some of these drawings, of which Klimt made many thousands, can be seen as the artists own explorations in this area.

Personal Identity

Initially I deliberated over whether to go with my personal name or that of a company. Research lead me to believe that a fledgling designer is wiser to go with his or her personal name because it raises their own personal profile in the industry. I can see the sense in this but I don't see it as a conclusive answer. I have, however, given over more time to developing my own name as a brand.

The problem that seemed to arise early on is that my own personality feels as diverse as my tastes. How do you nail down such an eclectic view. I wanted to present myself as sophisticated and trustworthy yet fun and relaxed; as innovative, yet approachable. I used branding techniques and toolkits that I found on the net to try to identify core values. This helped to focus things down a little but it didn't give a eureka moment.

I knew that I didn't want to develop a logo as such, so started to play with type and colour. I really like the cool scandinavian palettes but early experiments with these were less than impressive. They lacked the punch and solidity of richer colours. I finally settled on two colours that I felt had some longevity: a rich velvety lime green and a dark earthy brown. I think the colours came to me through a combination of viewing the Elmwood website and a visit to Tebay Services where similar colours are used to give identity to some of the food areas.

The colours are rich and sophisticated and yet borrow from nature and suggest organic growth. They seem to straddle the urban and natural environments and as an expression of personal identity I'd settle for that. I gave the green a greater depth by overlaying a low opacity gradient.

After much experimenting with fonts I finally settled on a combination of Univers 75 Black, modern and solid, and Asenine Regular, a fine and elegant sans-serif font. My name contains a number of e's; the Asenine type seems to deal with these and the two end descenders in a pleasing way. Together, the two fonts appear to complement one another in a way that other combinations did not. Furthermore, they're an approximate expression of the personality I wish to project.

In my explorations I had considered using hand-crafted type and introducing decorative elements. Both of these features are representative of my interests but I could not reconcile them here with the embodiment of style. Although lively, to my mind these efforts appear a little crude and childlike.

The idea that I have developed is quite stylish/sophisticated but I realise that it is also quite dull. It is still a work in progress. I have begun to consider different papers as a result of contacting paper suppliers and requesting samples. However, I have not really thought carefully enough about the format, designing something that people can truly engage with. I want to find a way to bring humour or originality into these expressions of identity. At the moment they run the risk of being insipid and faceless rather than personable and playful.

Respect for Animals

After initial enthusiasm, I found this quite a difficult brief to get into. Partly due to the time spent on the Penguin project but also because the more I researched and investigated the area, the more I realised just how far every angle had been covered. It became apparent that as a designer you were in danger of simply recycling old shock concepts or plays on the fashion world.

My initial thinking explored ways of humanising the animals involved, to play on people's guilt and sensitivities. I remembered seeing Ogilvy & Mather's family tree design for the WWF at the D&AD Awards 2007. The family tree was such a clever visual device with which to get across our cruelty and flippant attitude towards animals. I searched for something similar but the best I could come up with was the idea of using the old family habit of chalking up growing children's heights on the door frame.

I also explored the idea of using our cat as a mascot/talisman. The concept here was to present a more positive attack on the fur trade - an approach that I feel has hitherto been under-utilised. I think that the development of a central anti-fur character could be quite rich in possibilities, particularly if pitched at a formative younger audience.

However, the brief indicated that the target audience was to be fashion-savvy 18 to 30 year-olds - it was time to think again.

My mind went back to the D&AD show and Shackleton's 'Sudoku/TV/Football' campaign for Save the Children. I decided to make a similar play by super-imposing the grotesque under-belly of the fur trade over the glamorous outward image.

I think the design pitches itself firmly at the target audience and there is a degree of sophistication about the concept. However, I recognise that it is fairly conventional in approach and I could, given time, have explored alternative methods of attack.

Furthermore, the content of the fake classifieds could be a little more considered - more research here could possibly have yielded more powerful results.

The placement of this poster will be critical. The audience needs time to dwell to realise the layers of meaning at work. It therefore limits its application. It is also possible that I don't have the opacity of the overlayed adverts quite right - they could perhaps be turned up a little more.

Given time, I could also have explored the possibilities of physically layering the elements of the poster, perhaps using perspex, so that the audience could move between them.

Site, City, Place

Team activity where we had to select a place and a moment to develop - very open brief.
I enjoyed the working together element of this brief. I feel that I was reasonably proactive in generating the team members and selected people that I was pretty certain I could work with and who would work well together.

Wanting to enhance the local community, we decided to develop one of a series of Urban Walks promoted by Wrexham Borough Council. At present the aim of these is to encourage personal fitness. However, we felt that several of the sites en-route could be developed visually to inform, entertain and 'lift the soul'.

We wanted to draw upon elements of the past, especially at the more historic sites, whilst also embracing Wrexham's increasingly multi-cultural present and future.

To divide the labour and partially resolve the difficulty of living at a distance from one another we decided to work on a different location each. I took the Dissenters' Graveyard on Rhos Ddu Road: an atmospheric but under-developed site that could become a haven, just off a busy road, where people could sit and reflect.

Research lead me to undertsand the history of the site. 'Dissenters' were a Christian group that emerged out of the Puritan movement of the English Civil War, developing views that took them outside of the established church. In the aftermath of the civil war an eminent local leader emerged: Morgan Llwyd. Llwyd was a preacher, philosopher and poet who published a book titled 'The Three Birds'. The birds in question being the Eagle ( representative of the state), the raven (the established church) and the dove (Dissenters). The book explores a dialogue between the three.

I took the motif of the three birds and developed a series of sculptural screen pieces, incorporating seating, that could be placed within the open space. These incorporate phrases related to dissent and free-thinking and have the effect of breaking up what is otherwise a fairly sparse space. Their construction utilises materials that look both to the past and to the contemporary.

Whilst the installations go some way to develop the site in the direction I seek, they need to be augmented by planting and further structures.

However, this was ostensibly an exercise in team-work and joint pitch/presentaion. I believe that we worked pretty well together, supporting each other in terms of research and suggestions. We met regularly, as necessary, kept in touch via email, and used our time well. Inevitably, some were more conscientious, better organised and proactive than others but this did not impact negatively upon the end result.

I was fairly pleased with my role, taking the lead where necessary to co-ordinate and place deadlines, without, I hope, becoming too pushy and critical.

While our presentation was perfectly adequate, I think that it could have been a little more polished if we had engineered our time a little more effectively towards the end, giving us a chance to rehearse, shape and refine the pitch. But, we were amonst the first to present so time was pressing.

Penguin Brief

The painting of Erzulie is an interesting strand within the story, forming one of the pivotal points between the two families, and, to my mind, is symbolic of a number of themes within the narrative: the contrast in values, aspirations and cultures. Erzulie is also the voodoo goddess of beauty.

On her death, Carlene leaves the painting of Erzulie to Kiki. This gesture, between characters who have only recently connected via a sense of shared emotional values, is in direct contrast to the Kipps family’s own mercenary appreciation of the painting.

With this in mind, I set out to create a contemporary version of the Erzulie image, substituting ‘dime store’ price labels for flowers, raising questions about what it is that we truly value in life.

‘On Beauty’ is a complex read exploring a number of themes as it unwinds. This design features characters, loosely reminiscent of those in the book, who wear ‘dime store’ or corner-shop labels symbolic of the labels that we take on through life but also alluding to the value that we attach to each other. Zadie Smith appears to test the authenticity of such values just as the figures here contemplate the larger framed labels.

The book also deals with how values are affected by age, gender, status, culture and aspiration. The characters here, therefore, reside on different strata within the design, connecting on some levels but not on others. One character appears within a frame suggestive of a kind of abstract intellectual existence that doesn’t quite connect with real life or emotion.

A conceptually rich book, I wanted the colour scheme to reflect this.


‘On Beauty’ deals with, amongst other issues, how values are affected by age, gender, status, culture and aspiration. Zadie Smith makes reference to trees at different points within the story, comparing those in the fall of New England with those of London. This design takes the tree as a metaphor for the cycles and passage of time. Leaves, items of beauty in themselves, have been replaced with ‘dime store’ price labels, raising questions about how time and experience affect our values. The image suggests that some characters appear to endure this process better than others.

While I'm reasonably pleased with the designs, especially some of the colour combinations, I think that the end results could be better in a number of ways. The layout reveals the extent of my skill and understanding in terms of typography - I would like to develop it to be more dynamic and innovative. The designs are a little lazy in that I believe they rely quite heavily on acquired elements and development on the fly. In my eyes they would benefit from a greater depth of preparatory work, allowing them to become fresher and to demonstrate greater fidelity to the initial design concept.

Magic Brief

Researching the market it became apparent that the vast majority of magic aimed at children, with the exception of thematic bundles, is presented in a formulaic format, with fairly slick packaging. To develop magic's presence in this target area I decided that my design should be a reaction against this very clean approach; I wanted to make magic a bit more funky, appealing to a younger audience.

This was not just a punt in the dark. Working in a school during the project I took the opportunity to do a little bit of market research. I showed a number of existing magic related logos that I had collected from the net, plus images of child-oriented magic products, to a group of sixty 9-11 year olds. A number of patterns emerged: the most popular logo was for a magic suppliers called Magic Geek. A sizeable minority preferred Magic Bunny a stylised and glossy rabbit character with some cute value. A number of children also cited products that projected value for money via claims about the number of tricks or illusions contained.

The popularity of the Magic Geek logo seemed to confirm my hunch that an alternative 'surf-style' approach might work.

The development of the Jack Rabbit character arose from a hybrid of the Jack, found in a deck of cards, plus the rabbit traditionally pulled from the top hat. The line and treatment gives him a sassy irreverent character that I think will appeal to the target audience. The use of carrots and carrot type seemed to follow as a natural development - a kind of visual pun. As a character I think he has a range of applications from t-shirts and merchandise through to animation and motion graphics.

I am quite pleased with the concept but not so content with its application and and the execution. I think that I have spontaneously over-egged some of the graphic elements. I need to consider the application more carefully. Greater appreciation of marketing techniques would certainly assist. In addition to this the production values of the prototype push it too close to being home-spun rather than cool trashy. I need to keep an eye on quality and restraint. Parts of the design draw on ubiquitous design  elements and demonstrate an over-reliance on what I have just discovered in Photoshop rather than thoughtful concept-led design.

The hand-drawn type works quite effectively in the context but I am still working with type on a trial and error basis. I must increase my knowledge and understanding of how type and layout works.

Time is also a issue here. Moving on to the next brief means that opportunities to reflect, revisit and extend have gone begging. In future it would be nice to think that I could take one brief to its logical and satisfying conclusion.

Hero or Heroine

Is it indecision or eclecticism? As soon as I'm given the chance to choose a favourite influential designer, I become wracked with angst and uncertainty. Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that in this instance my own success is dependent upon the choice. Also at the back of my mind is the nagging notion that there must be an infinite number of endearing designers out there who I have absolutely no knowledge of. I could spend weeks exploring this idea alone.

Anyway, my shortlist at this moment in time include:

Airside - I love their playful, dream-like, geometric worlds and characters. Bursting with character and charm.

Lemon Jelly - 2003

Insyde - 2006

Jonathan Barnbrook - I admire his political stance against, amongst other issues, corporate globalisation, and the way in which he weaves this into his work. I also like his combined use of image and innovative typography. Some of his work is almost decorative - an area that really interests me.

Forwards, Not Backwards - 2005

North Korea 2.0 - 2004

David Hughes - Dark and edgy characterisations. I am fascinated by his craftsmanship as muc

h as by his witty conceptual abilities. His use of deceptively economic line and sweet spatial arrangements are really appealing. I also like the way in which he introduces quirky hand-drawn type into his compositions.

Sanna Annukka - Her work appeals directly to my interest in decorative design and pastoral sensibilities. Bold, confident patterns that draw upon a long tradition of nordic folk art.

I suppose there are common threads at work here; they all employ drawing in one form or another and each applies a certain decorative quality - even David Hughes with his use of collage.

Eventually I decided to attempt two - David Hughes and Sanna Annukka - partly

 to initiate a challenge but also, I guess, to hedge my bets a little and discover which turned out to be more fruitful.

In so far as David Hughes goes I started with a definite idea regarding what I wanted to achieve. I was keen to draw out his political side whilst at the same time producing a piece that might be mildly offensive to some viewers. On his website, Hughes rather celebrates the fact that some observers have termed his images (or his mind) 'sick' by including their comments alongside the work. it strikes me that this is not a bad attitude to have. It was also important for me to explore the quality of his line - it is by turn fluent, economical, confident and edgy.

I don't know if David Hughes has ever tackled George Bush but he seemed to be a suitable target for the Hughes treatment having influenced global events with what many see as less than intelligent approaches and decision-making.

I had at the back of my mind the Michael Moore film 'Fahrenheit 911' and especially the moment where Bush, seated in front of an audience of elementary school children, is first informed of the attack on the World Trade Centre. It seemed to sum up how completely inept and out of his depth this man is.

Pursuing the George Bush idea, I decided to portray him as Woody from 'Toy Story', a reference to Bush's manufactured cowboy persona, and decided to have him unseated by a 9/11 style airliner attack on his stool. This seemed to harness some of David Hughes' classic irreverence.

I worked for hours trying to capture a Bush likeness allied to the Hughes' style. I tried tracing, observational drawing, distortion etc. etc. Ultimately I discovered that the most successful route to characature was to develop a series of key features for the figure in my mind's eye and then to execute these. Observational drawings and tracings became too life-like and less stylised.

The other key difficulty was the adoption of a style that both mimicked and got inside the mindset of Hughes. His illustrative style is deceptively simple and yet at the same time is terrifically sophisticated in its use of economic line. I experimented hard to try to achieve this fluency of line coupled to its spattered edginess. Dip pen offered the edge but not the fluency - too scratchy. Biro was an alternative choice but didn't quite offer the strength of line at times. This topic is still a bit of an enigma. I'm sure some of the quality comes with practice and experience.

Overall I was reasonably pleased with the outcome. It is a decent attempt at a characature of Bush and offers commentary on the personality. However, to my mind it still does not quite capture the piercing sense of distortion and quirkiness that Hughes uses so adroitly to illuminate his subjects. Nor does it yet include some of his hallmark hand-crafted type. I think it perhaps says more about me than it does about David Hughes.

Setting this to one side I became more interested in pursuing a decorative piece in the vein of Sanna Annukka. I was especially taken by her stylised treatment of nature, particularly birds. One of my favourite Annukka pieces is her cover design for the book 'Cold Mountain'. I therefore decided to combine two emerging themes by producing a poster for the book/film 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest' - a favourite from the past.

I developed a Scandinavian style palette and worked on the bird utilising the drawing tools in Illustrator combined with elements from scanned pieces of wallpaper. The Wicked Queen font was a freebie that seemed to compliment the nordic theme. Other elements are vectorised images from the net. The whole is a spontaneous composition with few if any preliminary drawings.

I learnt a terrific amount about slicing and breaking components apart in Illustrator. In my self-tuition I probably picked up some really bad habits but I had great fun. Pleasing myself. Decorative design. I was in my element.

I would really like to develop this style further but it's on to the next project I'm afraid. Alternatively, I feel that it could readily lend itself to a craft oriented line of exploration e.g. paper-cuts or fretted metal work. 

I would dearly love to look over the shoulder of a designer working through a piece like this. I think you would pick up so much in the modelling of the process. You could then begin to truly get inside the head of the designer and not just produce pale pastiche but authentically rooted pieces of design. Without the depth of experience, research and preliminary preparation I believe that I could struggle to produce other pieces that sit comfortably in this style. This piece might rely too heavily on 'found' elements rather than a self-generated sense of style.