Constructivism

Constructivism is basically a Russian art movement which started before the Bolshevik revolution. Their aim was so that art should contribute towards the construction of the new communist state. This basically meant that they rejected the ideology that one should make art for arts sake, but instead art should communicate with the viewer in a different way, it should have a political and/or social message.

The constructivists were basically inspired by different artisits and eras in arts history such as cubism, futurism and artists like Tatlin, Malevich, Rodchenko, Kandinsky and El Lissitzky. This once again proves the concept that art evolves into different branches over time, almost constantly affecting the ‘future’ of art. One can spot the sources of influences by basically looking at constructivists different characteristics. These characteristics basically consist of geometric shapes which have the tendency to have a red white and black colour scheme, sans serif typography. Their art also had a lot of photomontages.

More than a comparison I want to show how construcivism and some parts of graphic design have ‘the same task at hand’.

A graphic designer has a job to do, as many designers like to put it a problem to solve. This is usually assigned by a company or an individual. A branch of a graphic designers work has to do with advertising. Therefore the designer is creating his work with a function in mind. Advertising targets people and tries to sell or send a message. Looking deeper into this analysis we realize that art for arts sake is also lost in advertising. Hence there is a strong link between a designers work within the advertising field and the ideology of constructivism. I am not talking about  the formal elements of the image in this case, but rather, the reasons for creating.

Saying that the formal elements of constructivism and its style does not only influence advertisement but it ironically influenced art for arts sake aswell.