Roy Lichtenstein Design Book

China: The Superpower Roy Lichtenstein Design Project

By Ellie Finch Performance Costume Year 3 Edinburgh College of Art

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Contents: Concept Statement...2 Research Work of Roy Lichtenstein...5-6 Materialistic World...7-8 Urbanisation of China...9-10 Communist China...11-12 Sportswear vs Oriental Clothing...13-14 Development Development of Print...17-18 Industrial China...19-20 Rural China...21-22 Historical China...23-24 Final Print...24-25 Development of Shape...26-28 Final Illustrations...31-53

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Concept Statement For me the work of Roy Lichtenstein is one big statement on consumerism in the 20th century. In response to this I want to explore consumerism of the modern world and discover what it means to live in the materialistic 21st century. Society has developed into a Mecca for those obsessed with the latest consumer fad. With the Western World having lead the way for mass production for the last century, many LEDCs have started to build upon their economy by tapping into this need for new products and are churning out goods at lightening speed. For me when thinking about the change in consumer goods over my lifetime, there is one country that immediately springs to mind. China is the most obvious example of how traditionally poorer countries have turned around their fortunes to become one of the biggest superpowers in the world. Look at almost any household item, clothing or technology and branded somewhere is likely to be ‘Made in China’, highlighting the Chinese response to the demand of the West for cheaper products. As a result China has one of the most powerful economies in the world, competing with the American and Europeans. But how did the industrialisation of this massive country affect its traditions and values? Through my designs I aim to illustrate the huge differences within China. Studying the traditional side of the Chinese culture and history from their past Buddhist faith to the rich farming heritage and rural villages, finding out how the clothing and way of life have changed in recent years. This will draw a nice comparison with the mega cities that have changed the Chinese landscape and how industry and ‘The Great Leap Forward’ (set at the beginning of the communist movement) have affected the lives of those living in China today.

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The Work of Lichtenstein Roy Lichtenstein was never an artist that I particularly admired. I’d never really understood the concept behind pop art, perhaps failing to be open minded enough to really look into what the message was about. Since the start of the project I have looked upon pop art with fresh eyes, I hadn’t appreciated that Lichtenstein, along with the iconic crying girls, often painted landscape and still life pieces. Lichtenstein’s cubist works for me were the most inspiring. I liked the straight lines and bold shapes which were such a contrast to the clichéd crying girls. Using this cubist style compliments the rigidity of industry and perfectly encapsulates the mechanism of industry. There are a lot of parallels between the cubist works and the imagery of heavy machinery that relates with my concept.

The rigid lines in the paintings draw links to the sharp corners and metallic shapes in the interior of a factory.

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Materialistic World A massive part of Roy Lichtenstein’s art was its message about consumerism in the 20th century. With his use of very recognisable shapes and brands there was often debates regarding the authenticity of his works and as a result often being accused of plagiarism. For the basis of my own designs I wanted to convey the current consumer culture of the modern day. With the world being so focussed on materialistic desires, such as having the latest technology or clothing brand, consumer culture has never been so prominent. To keep up with supply and demand, mass production has become the go to assembly line to create vast quantities of cheap products.

‘I’m interested in what would normally be considered the worst aspects of commercial art.

I think it’s the tension between what seems to be so rigid and clichéd and the fact that art really can’t be this way.’

-Roy Lichtenstein-

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Urbanisation of China China is a country built on tradition, originally a farming country whose main industry was growing crops has rapidly developed into a centre for growing industry... Despite it being discouraged , many people still recognise religion with 185 million people still practising Buddhism. Before the communist regime began China was always a multi-religion country still evident from motifs such as the giant Buddha statues scattered throughout its landscape. The country still stands heavily on its past traditions, with agriculture remaining one of the biggest industries. Although things have progressed from the traditional farming methods to larger heavy machinery that can turn out tonnes or crops to export to the western world. Many small rural villages have vanished to make way for the big sprawling mega-cities of today. White Horse Village located in one of the most impoverished corners of China has been transformed into Wuxi New Town, which is said to be one of the largest urbanisations ever the population growing from 3,000 people to 200,000.

It is this drastic change that I wanted to explore through my design process, looking closing at how a primarily agricultural country has become one of the worlds biggest exporters of goods.

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Communist China China’s own Industrial Revolution really started with the rise of Communist movement and their plans for ‘The Great Leap Forward’. The army is so pivotal to a countries development/general power and also has a lot of parallels to how factories are precision run. Because of this I wanted to bring a bit of a military edge to my designs, specifically drawing inspiration from the uniform of the communist army.

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Sportswear vs Oriental Clothing During the first meeting with my dancer I discovered that her specialism was in Street Dance, something that I had initially ruled out style wise. I had assumed that streetwear was very narrow in terms of shape, but my research into sportswear designers showed that there was in fact a broad range of different styles to explore. Kanye West’s two recent Yeezy collections surprisingly was where I found the most inspiration for the shape of my designs. I liked how the layers of oversized clothing of different lengths creates a very dynamic contemporary feel, which is ultimately what I wanted to bring through to my own designs.

To keep with the Chinese theme of my project I researched into oriental style clothing, ranging from historical to more modern day shapes. The idea was to combine elements of both streetwear and Chinese costume to create a very contemporary design with an oriental twist.

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Development of Print E x ploring print and pattern was the most important stage of the development for this project.

After a lot of initial investigation using a collaging and hand rendering technique, which ultimately didn’t produce the clean block shapes of colour that I wanted. I spent a long time digitalising several hand rendered drawings that I had designed to make them clear and sharp. Putting the designs into Photoshop form meant that I was able produce a more intricate and detailed pattern, which I could then translate over to a sublimation print.

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Industrial China This part of the print is to represent the industrial China that we know today.

The shapes are supposed to convey both the outside structure of a factory as well as the rigid chaos of the machinery inside.

To keep with Roy Lichtenstein’s cubist style I kept the lines and shapes very angular, as well as reflecting the precision working of a factory. Images of traditional Chinese fabric have been collaged into the pattern along with images of industry. I felt these added more depth to the print, having a contrast between flat block coloured shapes and 3 dimensional photographs. The colours remain very true to Roy’s use of primary colours in the majority of his works.

I’ve added different shades of grey to further emphasise the industrial theme of the project, which helps tone down the primary colours and prevents the combination of the bright colours and lots of shapes from becoming to overpowering. As a lot of the traditional Chinese clothing contains elements of metallic gold, areas of the print will be filled in with gold foil.

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Rural China T o show the transformation of China as a country, progressing from a rural agricultural land to suddenly becoming very build up and heavily industrialised in areas, I wanted to design a complete contrast in pattern. This print is inspired by the traditional rural houses that were scattered over the Chinese countryside, the main feature being the curved sloping roofs. The industrial element is featured heavily within the print, making up the walls of the houses without completely overpowering it. In contrast to the previous pattern I have included images of rural China, traditional farming with oxen and rice paddy fields. The colours are the same as the previous pattern, keeping with the primary colours in order to create a visually effective repeat print.

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Historical China F o r the final section of print I wanted to show the traditional side of China. A massive part of China’s heritage comes from its famous landmarks, including the Great Wall of China and Yuquan Park. In the pattern I have incorporated a graphic representation of the Great Wall of China along with various pictures of the historical wonder, portraying the message that whilst China has become a industrial marvel it still very much keeps its traditions at the forefront of its culture. The bottom section of the pattern shows the famous footbridge in Yuquan Park, with the gaps in which the water passes through shown as cogs to keep the industrial tone.

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Development of Shape The shape of the costumes started off with a very oriental feel, taking inspiration from traditional Chinese clothing. It was mainly the shape of the sleeves and neckline that I really developed to have a style, with a combination of more casual streetwear shapes making up the bottom and under-layers. A military style began to emerge with references to the uniform of China’s communist movement, specifically through the cloth hat that was included in all of the designs. The designs then become a lot more focussed on more sportswear elements, keeping the shapes looser and layering items to create a more dynamic look. Although the more sportswear shapes worked well with the busy pattern, I soon realised to successfully convey my concept of China: The Superpower I needed to combine both elements of traditional Chinese clothing and sportswear.

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