How much of an impact do designers and illustrators have on current visual culture? A Main Art Gallery exhibit that opens Aug. 29 attempts to answer that question.
Redefining the Line: Art Nouveau & the Female Figure features the graphic design, illustration and installation work of international contemporary artists Pomme Chan, Deanne Cheuk, Naja Conrad-Hansen, Aya Kato, Pandarosa, Marguerite Sauvage, Alberto Seveso, Sonya Suhariyan, Yoshi Tajima and Eveline Tarunadjaja.
Redefining the Line investigates the influence of historical Art Nouveau on contemporary artists and exhibits work by artists who use both traditional and digital media. Today, approximately 100 years since its development, artists continue to reference Art Nouveau in terms of the female image, the decadent curvilinear embellishments, and the influence of Japanese woodblock prints. Contemporary artists interpret these ideas by incorporating the stylistic and symbolic notions of “the line” in a way that reflects the values and style of the 21st century.
This exhibition demonstrates the impact designers and illustrators have made on our visual culture. These artists successfully merge the fine art and commercial art worlds, applying fine art techniques and art historical ideas to commercial avenues geared towards fashion, music and popular culture. Redefining the Line appeals to those with an art background as well as to a wide audience that can appreciate the artworksʼ vibrancy and cutting-edge imagery.
The exhibition presents recent and new works, including site-specific installations, and original works created exclusively for Redefining the Line.
Image; Yoshi Tajima (Japan), Fairy 03, 2008. Pencil, watercolor, Chinese ink, and Adobe Photoshop on paper, 27 ½ x 23 inches. Courtesy of the artist
