Russian Constructivism
The art movement of Russian Constructivism was a result of the Russian Revolution in 1917 and the outbreak of Civil War. The work is generally geometric and can be applied to anything from architecture, fashion and construction of objects. It was seen as a way of meeting the needs of the new classless society in the 1920’s. It was used as a way to mix the way of life with art through industry and mass production.
I find this movement an interesting idea as at first glance it seems like simplistic line drawings with the use of shapes, however most of the drawings are an abstract construction of an object. Here are some drawings which I have done that are inspired by Russian Constructivism.
Copenhagen Architecture The architecture in Copenhagen has a wide variety of styles from very modern to extremely old and traditional. The more modern buildings focus on being green and the use of energy have a large part to play. There are many Roman and Gothic cathedrals within Denmark and most buildings were built out of brick as they had very little stone within the country. Many of the older building are in a Renaissance style as Christian IV was inspired by the castles in France and in Holland. Here are my own images and drawings.
Fabric Manipulation
Here I cut lots of sqaures and then pressed them in to triangles before layering and stitching them on to piece of fabric to create this structured effect.
Here is an example of smocking which I did by hand on a piece of calico.
Here I layered two pieces of fabric on top of one another and cut triangles out before layering and stitching them together.
Here I cut some shapes out of fabric and stitched them together to create this sample.
Moulage Experimentation Here I have used a neoprene like fabric as I wanted to try and create some structural silhouettes which I could then try to develop and design from. When moulaging I wanted to create fluidity by creating lots of lines in the fabric to try to relate to Russian Constructivism and Scandinavian Architecture.
Moodboard
This is my moodboard focusing on structural forms of art and fashion to generate ideas and a feel for my outcome.
Silhouettes & Design Developments Here I have explored how different shapes can be applied on the body thorugh silhouette and design developments. I looked at Russian Constructivsm clothing to gain inspiration as well as taking inspiration from the lines used in Scandinavian architecture and also from my moulage experimentation.
Prints
Here are my final 11 different prints. Each print has either been inspired by Scandinavian Architecture or the art movement of Russian Constructivism. Each print has been created either by my drawings or my photography. I have decided to keep most of my prints monochrome as I think that they look best in black and white and creates a strong structural look, which works well on my designs.
This is one of my own line drawings which I have the edited to create this effect.
This was inspired by ‘A Straightedge and Compass Drawing, 1915 by Alexander Rodchenko.’
This print was inspired by a drawing of a constructive solution to a plane by Iakov Chernikhov in 1927.
Here I have redrawn one of Iakov Chernikhov drawings and layered it continously to achieve this affect.
This print was inspired by a building in Denmark which was created by Bjarke Ingels. The building had protruding triangles coming out from one side which acted a balconies. I drew the building and created this print from my drawing.
This is my own drawing which I have then repeated.
This is a drawing of a building situated in Copenahagen City Centre. I then duplicated my drawing to create this effect.
This is an image of a sculpture which I saw in Copenhagen. I have manipulated in such a way to create this print.
I took an image of a clock tower in Copenhagen. I duplicated the image a number of times.
This is inspired from a Russian Constructivism Architectural drawing.
This is a my own drawing of an abstract face using shapes, which I have then repeated and reflected.
Designs
Here are my final 5 designs with front and back views which I have then applied my prints to. Each design was inspired by my themes of Scandinavian Architecture and Russian Constructivism as well as from my moulage experimentation. They are structural garments that explore in a subtle way how different shapes can be applied to the body in a wearable garment.