A Zine Inspired by Art Movement

A zine that is inspired by art movement or idea as covered in class revolves around the artistic styles in the early 20 th century in which a single point of view was abandoned and use of geometric shapes adopted. The art style to be addressed in the making of a zine is that of cubism. 

Cubism 

This art came into existence in the early 20 th century and was considered one of the most influential visual art style of the time. The brain child behind its creation was one, Pablo Picasso, a Spanish citizen who lived between 1881- 1973, and Georges Braque, a French citizen who also lived between 1882- 1963. Some of the personalities who were also involved in cubism included; the French art critique Louis Vauxcelles who coined the term in discussion after picturing the landscape in 1908 that was painted by Braque at a place known as L’ Estaque in emulation of Cézanne among others. Louis named the forms of geometry that were in there highly abstracted works as cubes. Cubism was also linked to the sources that were primitive and non- western. Some of the ideas of Picasso were first influenced by the African art either in May or June 1907. The time frame is still not definite to date. This took place when he visited a museum in Paris France known as ethnographic museum ( Apollinaire & Read, 2004) . These ideas were rejected by most of the cubist painters and laid emphasis that art should depict nature or adopt the techniques of old tradition of modeling, perspective and foreshortening. This emphasis led to the reduction and fracturing of objects into forms of geometry. 

Other points that were used included those of contrast and multiple vantage. Until 1910, the works of the Cubist were based on discernible pictures. Figures and objects were also dissected by the cubist painters into a group of small facets. At the time of hermetic, both Picasso and Braque made an abstraction to their works due to their reduction of small facets mostly closer to monochromatic blacks, grays and even brown. From that moment, cubism was based on motifs that were representational and also combined with letters. Braque and Picasso also got extra credit due to their creation of a new visual language. The language was adopted by several painters, including one Fernand Leger among others. Even though cubism was associated with paintings, it also had influence in the 20 th century on architecture and sculptures. Some of the cubist sculptors included Raymond Duchamp- Villon, Jacques Lipchitz and Alexander Archipenko ( Apollinaire & Read, 2004) . Picasso was also documented to have participated in the creation of the cubist sculptures and paintings. Some of his creations included; the bronze burst ‘Fernande Oliver’, which was also referred to as Head of a Woman. This depicted his skills of consummate when it comes to dealing with three dimensional forms. Other than the sculptures and paintings, he also participated in the construction of Mandolin and Clarinet. This participation was from odds in addition to the ends. Picasso also ventured into the stylistic works of the Realists as well as the Surrealists. As an astute designer, he worked with Sergey Diaghilev and Ballet Russes. It is in this place where he met and married Olga Koklova. 

In summary, most of the works of the cubists, were based on open form exploration of piercing figures and objects by allowing the space to flow through the region left between them. This blended the background into foreground and showed objects that were adopted from various angles. A group of historians argued that some of the cubists innovations were directed to the change of experience of space, movement as well as time in the universe. Cubism also explored the utilization of non-art materials as abstract signs. The artists used newspaper at a greater length and sparked the historian argument on their knowledge of current events especially those of World War 1. Finally, cubism gave way for art that never had representation and emphasized more on the unity between the surface of canvas and a depicted scene. These experiments we later adopted by personalities like Piet Mondrian ( Apollinaire & Read, 2004) , who continued to dig deep in the cubist shallow space, abstract system of signs as well as their use of grid in most of their artistic works. 

Examples of Cubist art are shown below. The first one is a representation of bowl of fruit, violin and a bottle. It also shows some oil on canvas. Its frame is approximated to be about 1279 multiplied by 1093 and finally by 63 mm. It was mainly adopted from the National Gallery towards the end of the 20 th Century. The second one was created by Georges Braque who has been mentioned in several occasions to have participated at a greater extent in the development of the artistic styles in cubism. This artistic picture mainly depicts oil of canvas. The third picture was also a product of Pablo Picasso. It is mainly representing a bottle of Vieux Marc, Guitar, Glass and Newspaper. It even goes further to depict collage, pen and some ink on a paper that is blue in color. It is one of the pictures that represented high level of creativity in Picasso’s artistic work. 

Source: Apollinaire & Read, 2004) . 

( Apollinaire & Read, 2004) . 

( Apollinaire & Read, 2004) . 

Definition of Ten Art words we looked in class from a Zine perspective. 

Terms 

Collage 

We made a collage in class by pasting on a surface that is single, various materials that were associated with one another. These materials included parts of photographs, the clippings of newspaper, theatre tickets and finally the envelop fragments. An example of a collage that we made in class is as shown below; 

Source: Hernández-Leo et al (2006) 

Decoupage 

This term was originally used in France in the 17 th century. It was mainly used as a way of artistically making decorations to furniture through the use of pictures ( Desyllas & Sinclair, 2014) . We therefore made a decoupage in class through decorating surfaces by the use of cutouts and then making coatings to the cutouts. The cutouts took the form of paper and the coatings lacquer or varnish. An example of a decoupage that we looked at in class is as shown below. 

Source: Desyllas & Sinclair (2014) 

Avante- Garde 

This is French terminology that means ‘vanguard’ or rather a guard that is advanced. In some instances, it is normally used to refer to artistic movements such as Dadaism, or in matters of politics, like anarchism among other areas of relevance. Avante- Garde can equally be used to make references to the objectives that mainly describes something that is of cutting edge ( Saverwyns, 2010) . This, therefore, shows that it can be used in more than one context. The overall definition to this terminology can be based on the advance group that exists in any field. The Avante- Garde that we made in class originated from the visual art within the zine and was characterized by experimental methods. An example is depicted below. 

Faux Finish 

It can also be referred to faux painting, it is a term that is mostly used in the description of paint finishes that changes the appearance of materials such as stone or wood ( Desyllas & Sinclair, 2014) . In class, we faux finished the appearance of wood using paints. 

Assemblage 

It is a composition of artistic work that is mainly generated from junk, scraps and even odds ( Reger, 2007) . We, therefore, made assemblage in class by composing several works of art that were adopted from scraps, junks and odds as part of our class activities in the making of the zine. 

Definition of elements and principles of design 

Color 

This is one of the major elements in art, which is shown when the light that reflects on an object is bounced back to the eye. In most cases, it entails three properties, these properties includes; hue, which refers to the particular names that are assigned to colors. An example of these names are; red, white, green, blue among others. The second property is that of intensity, it mainly deals with how strong and vivid the color is. For example, in artistic work, a color may be described as royal to mean that it is very vibrant or bright ( Reger, 2007) . The final property is on value which is based on the lightness or the darkness of the color. In our class activity, we looked at a combination of different colors that are used in making some artistic works. An example is on collage which is developed through the combination of several colors. 

Texture 

It is considered as the ground or rather surface of quality of any artistic work. Normally, it is represented as two or three dimensional design and it can differentiated by both its physical and visual properties. When used together with other elements of art, it can disseminate a wide range of messages. In art , texture exists in two forms, which is tactile and visual. Tactile is mainly characterized with smooth, sticky, slick, fuzzy, soft and smooth surfaces ( Reger, 2007) . Some zine critics argued that this kind of texture can be viewed as a real one. This is because it can be felt. A real texture is that which can be felt. For example, the texture on a piece of a sand paper or even the one achieved by artists when doing a collage . Visual texture on the other hand is mainly an illusion that is created by artists. During our class activities, we made textures by doing a collage. 

Pattern 

It is an underline structure that facilitates the organization of surfaces or structures in a manner that is both consistent and regular. It can also be depicted as the units of shapes or form that are repeated. In some cases, it can also be viewed as skeletons that are charged with the organization of the parts of the composition. It exists in both designed objects and nature. One of the Harvard biologists, Peter S. Stevens made a publication with a title ‘Patterns in Nature ( Zobl, 2004) . In his publication, he made several claims that the structuring of patterns can only be based on a finite number of mechanisms. His main view point was based on grid as the key foundation for any artistic work. He went further to argue on how points of grid can be joined to develop patterns. The modes of connection were the true reflection of the patterns according to him. The main modes he described included; spiral, flow and finally branching. Spiral were based on the galaxias scales that went further to the fiddle head buds of fern to realize animals of microscopic origin. Flow on the other hand, patterns water and growth of trees. Finally, branching, is a renowned pattern in plants’ universe. Its occurrence can also be depicted in the formations of geology such as those of river deltas and certain crystalline formations. Pattern is, therefore, a wide area that entail a wide range of definitions as shown in the discussion. Most of the patterns we made in class were based on structures that were underlying and organized surfaces in a regular and consistent manner. 

Scale 

Scale in art refers to the size that is possessed by an object in consideration or relationship to another object. In artistic work ( Zobl, 2004) , there is great significance in considering the relationship in size of the human body and that of an object. In most scenarios, scale is used in drawings, paintings, sketches of architecture and other mediums of arts. The main reason why artists create scales for drawing as was mentioned is to ensure accuracy in showing the relationship in size that exist between the objects. An example that can be adopted from classroom knowledge can be based on, an artist decision, that there is an equivalency between 1 inch and 10 feet. Coming up with this particular scale will assist an artist in creating every object with respect to the scale measurement to avoid objects from being viewed as either too small or too tall. We, therefore, made a scale in class through the consideration of the relationship that existed between objects. 

Rhythm 

It is tempo or a beat that is visual. It can also be referred to as the principle of design that makes reference to regular repetition of elements of arts to offer production of the look and a feel of movement. It is usually achieved in artistic works through the accurate placement of components that are repetitive and makes an invitation to the eye of the viewer to either glide smoothly or jump rapidly from one point to the next. A rhythm has got connections with some artistic elements ( Zobl, 2004) . For example, a pattern can be argued to have rhythm but not all rhythm is patterned. This can be validated with the color of a particular piece which can be used to convey rhythm, by ensuring that one’s eye is travelling from one of the components to another. Equally interesting, lines too can also produce rhythm by implying on the movements. Forms can also participate in the production of rhythm by the methodology through which they are arranged, one next to the other at a close range. We, therefore, made rhythm in class through repeating at regular intervals the elements of arts to produce and feel the movements. This was aimed to achieve rhythm through the accurate placement of components that were repeated to invite the viewer’s eye to jump rapidly from one to the next. 

References 

Apollinaire, G., & Read, P. F. (2004).    The Cubist Painters . Unity of California Press. 

Desyllas, M. C., & Sinclair, A. (2014). Zine-making as a pedagogical tool for transformative learning in social work education.    Social Work Education ,    33 (3), 296-316. 

Hernández-Leo, D., Villasclaras-Fernández, E. D., Asensio-Pérez, J. I., Dimitriadis, Y., Jorrín-Abellán, I. M., Ruiz-Requies, I., & Rubia-Avi, B. (2006). COLLAGE: A collaborative Learning Design editor based on patterns.    Journal of Educational Technology and Society ,    9 (1), 58. 

Reger, J. (2007). Where are the leaders? Music, culture, and contemporary feminism.    American Behavioral Scientist ,    50 (10), 1350-1369. 

Saverwyns, S. (2010). Russian avant ‐ garde… or not? A micro ‐ Raman spectroscopy study of six paintings attributed to Liubov Popova.    Journal of Raman Spectroscopy ,    41 (11), 1525-1532. 

Zobl, E. (2004). Persephone is pissed!: grrl zine reading, making and distributing across the globe.    Hecate ,    30 (2), 156.