Design Always Repeats Itself: The Royal Portrait Edition



 

Danish Royal Family, Official Portrait
2013



 

Las Meninas
Diego Velazquez
1656

 

Bold Royal Portrait? It's been done.

-Grace

Design Always Repeats Itself: GPS Edition

The Plus Four Routefinder circa 1920's, designed to be worn on the wrist with miniature maps on wooden rollers which the user was to turn manually while driving. 

-courtesy of Retronaut. 

Modern day GPS. 

- Grace

Design Always Repeats Itself: PIxelation

Modern-day computer pixelation. 

Mug made in England circa 1795. 

Picture: Crudely photographed with an ipad from Sumpter Priddy's book Fancy. Photo by Gavin Ashworth.

- Grace

Design Always Repeats Itself: Woman from Willendorf and Barbie Edition Part 2

Remember this lady:

Yeah, I thought you might. 

Woman from Willendorf was probably one of the first slides you saw in your college general education Art History course. She was found in Austria and dates from about 22,000-21,000 BCE. She is carved from limestone and was originally painted with red ocher. She is just over 4" high. 

Woman, or Venus from Willendorf, depending when you went to college, has been regarded for a long time by scholars as a fertility goddess from the Upper Paleolithic period. She has an exaggerated body with an emphasis on her reproductive organs. Her stomach is bulbous, possibly referring to pregnancy or a female body that is fertile. Some scholars even suggest her feet are pointy so that she can be stuck into the ground and worshipped. 

One thing is for sure though- we really don't know what Woman from Willendorf was in the Upper Paleolithic period. We can guess, but we really don't know.  

Now imagine that the next image was all that was left of our society 20,000 years from now:

Barbie has similar distortions to Woman, her legs and feet are pointy, she could easily be stuck in the ground. And as much as we'd like to deny it, Barbie has been an important American symbol. Her impact on our culture and society has been vast. 

Maybe Woman from Willendorf was nothing but a toy. If you believe the theory I believe, then one thing is true: people are the same, art is the same, one culture, one time-period to the next. 

- Grace

Design Always Repeats Itself: Woman from Willendorf and Barbie Edition

What do the Woman from Willendorf and Barbie have in common? Think about it over the weekend and I'll give you my opinion on Tuesday. 

Happy Weekend!

- Grace

Design Always Repeats Itself: Lego Man Edition

So this Lego Man who "washed up" on the beach in Sarasota Florida has me thinking about another piece of art that showed up uncommissioned and unexpectedly and has been accepted as a piece of public art ever since.

Charging Bull created by Arturo Di Modica firmly planted itself in front of the NY Stock Exchange on December 15,1989. Now a symbol of American economic strength, Di Modica spent $360,000 of his own money, to cast, create and cart this piece of guerrilla art. After its installation police seized Charging Bull and put it in an impound lot. Huge public outcry and love for the bull caused the police to release it and install it two blocks south of the exchange where it still stands today.

Charging Bull is considered on-loan to the state of New York and is still in Di Modica's name as owner. 

Currently Lego Man is in police custody waiting for an owner to show up and claim him. I say we should all rally and have Lego Man permanently installed on the beaches of Sarasota. 

-Grace