CYBEREmpathy ISSUE 2/2012. Cyber Sky Berenika Kowalska, Decorativeness and decoration
BERENIKA KOWALSKA
DECORATIVENESS AND DECORATION Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.
Source: Berenika Kowalska Family author's archive
Abstract:
Are decorativeness and decoration synonyms or just two definitions with nothing in common? Fallacy of concepts and ongoing reluctance to offensive for many artists statement about ornamentation of their works led to the cataloging by the bad - decorative arts and good - antidecorative ones. However, each picture can become a decoration. Who decides that? And what role does a creator as an artwork owner play? Many of them fight and try to get rid of the decorative features in works of art. But do they, for real, manage to win this rough and merciless battle?
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BERENIKA KOWALSKA Berenika Kowalska – born on 14.02.1989, a student of painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow in interdisciplinary studio of prof. Zbigniew Bajka. In 2010, she studied painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw in Leon Tarasewicz’s studio, by the students’ exchange program "MOST" for the best students. In 2011
CYBEREmpathy ISSUE 2/2012. Cyber Sky Berenika Kowalska, Decorativeness and decoration
Decorativeness and decoration Decorativeness and decoration in the visual arts are two differing concepts often confused with each other, and even used interchangeably. Despite the common characteristics and elements they mean something completely different. In his book The sense of order. A study in the psychology in the decorative art E.H Gombrih writes: "In decoration a specific order covers an existing order; sometimes the second one is maintained, and sometimes the first one opposes to the organic forms. The same applies to the technical form. Decorating a canoe or a house, a gun or a pot, a craftsman has to deal with a shape that needs to be "decorated". Decoration is defined to be applied to things and objects in our environment." Each of us can imagine an industrial form with some printing, an ornament around it, decoration - adornment. But can the same be said about the painting? Can we really guess whether the white linen/board, on which we intend to paint, is the “existing” shape, so everything we paint on it will decorate it? Using color spots, consciously or not, we cover white linen. Decoration is always a decoration of something, even if it’s just an underpainting. Walking further this path, we can claim that every picture that is not supposed to be decorative, or even a decoration, can actually become one. Take, for example, the picture of Malevich – White on White - the artwork that can be an opposition to the popular definition of decoration. Let’s imagine that a rich collector bought these work and hung on the wall of a modern apartment in minimalist style, arranged by the famous interior designer. Doesn’t this picture become that interior’s decoration? It is obvious that an artist- in this case it was Malevich - was not thinking about the creation of a "decoration", it for sure was not the essence of his art. No doubt, too, that such a function could even insult the author of quite complicated theory of Suprematism. However, if we take a picture outside the museum, where we focus on the true essence of a work, and hang it in some interior (for instance, an apartment), won’t it change its function? Or maybe it will not change it as much as it will acquire a new function, which not necessarily conflicts with a previous one. Wallpapers, patterns on the curtains, volutes on the picture frame do not give important information and, therefore, rarely lead us to a careful, conscious observation. Does it mean, then, that we can come into the room with Malevich painting on the wall without even noticing it, treating it as a color accent that pleases our eyes? The artwork loses its www.CyberEmpathy.com
CYBEREmpathy ISSUE 2/2012. Cyber Sky Berenika Kowalska, Decorativeness and decoration significance and gets the other - purely aesthetic - function. So here we deal with decoration, and again, one of existing shapes: a wall, a room, an interior.
Kazimierz Malevich White on white Souorce: http://www.eptus.pl/2012/03/09/bialy-kwadrat-na-bialym-tle/
So what is decorativeness? Here we enter the field of aesthetics and subjective influence on the recipient. There is no doubt that the term led to discussions among many thinkers and artists. Even Socrates himself motivated his students to beware of the charms of a beautiful speech, because he realized its seductive powers. Decoration is often interpreted as a "wallowing in infantile pleasures", and Adolf Loos in his work from 1908 titled Ornament and Crime tried to prove the redundancy of adding ornaments to architecture. He wrote:"The less civilized the people are the more abundant ornament and decorations are going to be. The evolution of civilization is equal to removing ornaments from the objects of use. I thought it would be a source of joy for the world.� However, E.H. Gombrich writes: "... history shows that some of great traditions of ornamental styles exceed borders of pure decoration and can transform excess into fullness and ambiguity into mystery." We also cannot get rid of the belief that decorativeness triggers our sense of beauty and pleasure. Whether we admire the illumination of the Book of Kells or the architectural works of the above-mentioned Adolf Loos, it must not be considered. There is no distinction between bad decorative art, and good non-decorative one.
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CYBEREmpathy ISSUE 2/2012. Cyber Sky Berenika Kowalska, Decorativeness and decoration
fragment of Book of Kells Source: http://suite101.com/article/representations-of-christ-and-his-apostles-inthe-book-of-kells-a359188
Adolf Loos – The House of Michaelerplatz Source: http://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolf_Loos
In the XX century, after the biggest decorative trend in contemporary art - nouveau - the opposite tendencies came. Functionalist postulates led to the elimination of decoration, just as the removal of all restrictions transformed the creation of ornaments into the abstract art. There was probably nothing worse for an abstract painter than the epithet "decorative", which reminded him of the famous, mocking note that he had created something used as a nice curtain. Despite the assumption about the creation of anti-decorative works, can we really talk about them as such? Maurice Denis wrote: "I think, a picture should be, first of all, an ornament. Selection of scenes’ topics does not matter. I try to get into the mind and to touch the emotions by a color surface game, a valuable shade, a harmony of lines." It may result from the fact that an abstract image, consisting www.CyberEmpathy.com
CYBEREmpathy ISSUE 2/2012. Cyber Sky Berenika Kowalska, Decorativeness and decoration only of color spots, may be formed to be an ornament and thus become decorative. One more important distinction should be added here. Each ornament, or a picture that has it, is assumed to be decorative. Nevertheless its lack is not a determinant of anti-decorativeness. The works with characteristics of ornamentation (and therefore with adequate decorative features) can be pointed out here; the one of them is rhythm. I would like to repeat once again that the fact that images are decorative does not mean that it is their essence. This feature probably was not taken into consideration as a leading feature by the artists; but normally fine arts attract us. No one can deny that paintings of Wasilly Kandinsky - creator of abstract art - are decorative in their combining the multi-colored spots and lines. A similar example can be also Jackson Pollock or Mark Rothko. "The sense of order - used for discovering and usage of the regularity-correctness that are present in our surrounding - accompanied a man from the very beginning." (E.H. Gombrich) Decorativeness appears both in uncivilized tribes (as a decorative ornamentation) and in modern times (as abstractive rhythms and forms). The question is also whether an abstract form is exactly what the creators intended it to be in terms of non-figurativeness. Aforementioned E.H. Gombrih writes: "The shape is transformed immediately after identifying it as a thing or a being. Thus there is no wonder that non-figurative artists fight with the tendency to seek elements that lay in shapes and colors, as this projection can ruin the dynamics of forms that were assumed. Meaning can destroy order as much as order can destroy meaning. Order and meaning seem to drag a rope in opposite directions; and their interaction is a thread and a basis of decorative arts." Everyone for sure tries to espy some shapes or association in an abstract work and to create one’s own meaning. This interpreting can sometimes resemble the Rorschach test, where we discern a particular shape from a previously spilled ink. So why do we defend ourselves so much against decorativeness, considering it as something offensive, trivial and superficial? Even Oscar Wilde wrote:"The explicitly decorative art is an art we live with. Of all the visual arts, it is the only one to form in us both mood and temperament."
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CYBEREmpathy ISSUE 2/2012. Cyber Sky Berenika Kowalska, Decorativeness and decoration
Jackson Pollock Convergence Source: http://arthistory.about.com/od/from_exhibitions/ig/action_abstraction/jm-aa_08_08.htm
Wassily Kandinsky Composition nr 8 Source: http://butterfield-reignbeau.blogspot.com/2011_11_01_archive.html
Wassily Kandinsky Composition nr 9
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CYBEREmpathy ISSUE 2/2012. Cyber Sky Berenika Kowalska, Decorativeness and decoration Conscious decorativeness of works can be a powerful weapon in hands of an artist. Mesmerizing ornament, power of habit and desire to repeat – they all have dominant influence on the formation of the sense of order. A natural thing is that we try to organize, arrange everything; and forms which contribute to it through harmony make the strings of emotions and beauty tremble. My artworks are based on Polish folk ornament. Ornamental patterns on the traditional costume have become a decoration that shows belonging to a particular region. Worn only on important occasions, it became a part of the important festive ceremonies. Beautiful embroideries, openwork lace and intricate jewelries were permitted only for the rich. It was a symbol of pomp and luxury, but also divinity and dignity. The characters in my paintings are voiceless – expressionlessly showing no emotions. They are an integral, but irrelevant part of the most important thing - celestial decoration.
Berenika Kowalska Wedding Couple Source: author's archive
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CYBEREmpathy ISSUE 2/2012. Cyber Sky Berenika Kowalska, Decorativeness and decoration
Berenika Kowalska Couple Source: author's archive
Berenika Kowalska Bridesmaids Source: author's archive
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CYBEREmpathy ISSUE 2/2012. Cyber Sky Berenika Kowalska, Decorativeness and decoration
Berenika Kowalska diptych Holy communion Source: author's archive
Berenika Kowalska Family Source: author's archive
Literature: All citations used in text come from the book - E.H. Gombrich, Zmysł porządku. O psychologii sztuki dekoracyjnej, Krakow 2009 , ISBN 97883-242-0820-3.
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