designart

author: alex coles
publisher: tate publishing
year: 2005
size:144 pages, 21 x 27 cm
ISBN: 1-85437-520-2
http://www.tate.org.uk
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'some people like to just gaze at art, others like to sit on it'

this is the opening line to alex cole's book 'design art',
in which he discusses the merging of the two disciplines.
the book mainly focuses on art and its occasional brush
with design and how that affects it, not forgetting that art
is designed to a certain extent anyway, through colour,
materials and process. certainly today there is a bluring
of the line between ‘decoration’ and ‘art’ on objects and our
environment.

split in four sections; pattern, furniture, interior and
architecture, this book takes us through a line of sculptors
and artists who have used art on 'design objects' and
vice versa. through out the book coles raises some
interesting questions about these relationships;
are artists trying to put function into art to reach a wider
audience?
can art even be functional or is it just good for looking at?
does a designed object become compromised when art is
placed on it?
rietveld's work - furniture or art?

obviously there are many schools of thought surrounding
this subject, most of which coles describes in 'designart',
using good examples, from henri matisse to andy warhol to
donald judd to explain each view point. the opinions of
artists and designers, through-out modern history, recorded
in this book encourage you to question your own ideas about
what goes on when art and design meet.

alex coles is an art critic, writer and editor.
he also is 'senior lecturer of fine art' at the surrey institute
of art & design in the uk.



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