Artistic Style Variations

Painting is a key part of the classical visual arts. In contrast to sculpture and architecture, painting works on a flat and largely two-dimensional basis. In modern and contemporary art in particular, relief-based works are often created which use different raised materials to achieve a three-dimensional effect.

In painting, wet paint is usually applied to a surface with the use of a brush, a spatula, or other tools. Here, a variety of different painting techniques exist, such as oil, acrylic, tempera or watercolour painting. In this respect, the artist has a wide range of creative possibilities, whereby the painting can vary in terms of its intensity, colour and rhythm. The intensity of a painting can be achieved with the use of shading and contrast as well as the varied application of layers and tones of colour. Colours are linked culturally to emotions and psychologically-connoted effects, making them the linchpin of a subjectively-shaped perception. The rhythm of a picture is managed with the distribution of shapes, colours and contrasts.

A variety of different painting techniques were used in the artistic design of Volksbank Bielefeld-Gütersloh.

Photography refers to an imaging process which uses optical methods to project an image onto a light-sensitive medium or into electronic data, whereby the projection is stored on a long-term basis. The word “photograph” is originally composed of the ancient Greek components phōs, “light”, and graphein, “painting, drawing” and therefore means “drawing with light”. Photography is used in many different places in the private sphere and the public realm, and therefore reaches a wide audience: the medium plays an important role from the artistic, commercial, economic and social perspectives, for example.

Art Consulting draws on photography in a variety of projects, and works closely with well-known photographic artists. Photography has played a key role in the artistic design of the AIDA cruise ships, for example. See the illustrations on the AIDAnova.

An illustration, from the Latin word “illustrare” (to enlighten, to explain), refers to an explanatory image to a text or a conceptual representation of a draft design.

For the Costa Crociere project, Art Consulting relies, among others, on the presentational method of fashion illustrations. Fashion illustrations are a versatile medium; they can be both technical and artistic, and use a variety of design techniques, such as drawing, painting, the collage technique and also computer-based techniques. This means that fashion illustrations are expressive, and in most cases, artistic visualisations of the fashion ideas developed by a designer.

Sculptures and statuary works of art relate to three-dimensional, physical works of art. Sculptures and statuary works of art were originally differentiated between in the sense of sculpture denoting an object whose spatiality was achieved by removing materials with a knife, pick or chisel. A sculpture is therefore an artistic object which is hewn from the material. A statuary work of art, in contrast, is created through the application of soft material, or by creating an object from the inside out.

In modern and contemporary art in particular, the differentiation between these terms is fluid, which is why they are often used synonymously. The variety of different techniques that developed in the 20th and 21st centuries made it impossible to differentiate between the genres and to separate them according to the classical sense of the words.

In this respect, a distinction is made according to the format (e.g. showcase format or large-scale sculpture), walkability (e.g. free sculpture) and materiality (e.g. works of art made from stone, wood or metal).

Sculptures and statuary works of art in various materials and sizes have been used in the design of the Volksbank Bielefeld-Gütersloh and in the fittings on the AIDA cruise ships.

Object art is a further development of the assemblage, a collage technique with synthetic objects which are attached to a panel and therefore form a relief-like structure. Object art can sometimes have monumental proportions and consists of architectural structures, some of which are walkable, and which have their historical origins in Cubism and Dadaism.

Wall installations are three-dimensional works of art which are mounted to a base and can extend as far as possible into the room and help to shape it. In this respect, there are no limits to the materiality or the scale.

Wall installations were used in the scope of the AIDAmira project; refer to the corresponding website.

Installations are a genre of art which was came into being in the 20th century and are usually three-dimensional. Installation art is often location-based and space-embracing, which means that it interacts significantly with its surrounding space. Installations find use both indoors and on buildings, in public spaces and in rural art.

Through the use of heterogeneous objects which are brought together in the form of new, unfamiliar constellations, a new context emerges which connects the objects inseparably with their surroundings and therefore makes them experienceable. Installation art changes the way in which the recipient experiences the room or its surroundings at every sensory level, making it into an innovative and interactive moment.

Installations can be designed in a variety of different ways, and fulfil different, sometimes contradictory characteristics: they can be mobile or re-mountable, for example, but they can also be fixed installations, and therefore permanent. There are also transient installations and installations which are designed to last over the long term. With the use of technology, however, installations can also be changeable, such as lighting installations which can be programmed on a variable basis and therefore offer a wide range of options for variation. Installations can be designed to involve and encourage the recipient to participate actively in art. For instance, sound and video installations. Both the involvement of the public and the participation of the public in art lead to new possibilities and allow for the development of special human relationships.

The room installation incorporates the room in which it is installed in the work of art, and uses all the variable possibilities at its disposal to create a unit which can be experienced by the viewer. The more limited spatial format is the ceiling installation, which contrasts with the wall installation.

Light installations are animated forms of lighting which can be staged indoors, on buildings or in the public realm. In contemporary art, artificial light is frequently used as a source and serves an aesthetic purpose.

Both ceiling installations and light installations have been used in the design of the Evangelische Bank in Kassel. Wall installations are used in the HZI (Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research) project in Braunschweig.

Wall painting is a form of painted art in which a picture is not applied to a board, a piece of canvas or another mobile painting base, but directly onto the substrate. In this respect, the art is applied directly to the wall or ceiling and incorporated in the architecture of the building.

Different techniques are used in the area of wall painting, such as the traditional al fresco technique, or fresco painting, in which the paint applied directly onto the fresh plaster and therefore enters into a chemical reaction with the plaster, which results in an inseparable connection with the wall or the ceiling. With the al secco method, or dry painting, the paint is applied to the dry masonry. When created in a studio, the artwork is initially applied to a canvas with the use of oil, tempera or acrylic paints, the dimensions of which correspond to the architectural conditions of the wall, before it is clamped or glued to the wall using a frame.

Wall lamination is a design method for decorating the walls of an interior space with self-adhesive film. With the use of computer technology, for example, photographs can be applied to the film, in addition to colour gradients and other artistic motifs. The defined, individually-designed motif can be created in different colours, shapes and sizes, and is attached to the wall with the use of a soft PVC film with a matt surface. In contrast to wall painting, lamination is much simpler and less expensive to both fit and remove.

A wall lamination has been completed as part of the CIC (Clariant Innovation Center) project in Frankfurt, whereby the bright colours of the installation create a three-dimensional effect and transport the onlooker into different visual experiences according to the perspective.

In the area of glass design, a multitude of possibilities exists for working creatively both with and on glass. For example, in the form of the age-old stained glass, as can be found in coloured windows with pictorial and also abstract motifs, which leads to the development of an intense luminosity of colour and contrasts through the influence of light. Glass art can also find use in the form of objects, jewellery, tableware and architectural perspectives, however.

In the design of the Bankhaus Wölbern in Hamburg, film laminations were applied to glass walls to provide a translucent form of screening.