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Michael is a contemporary figurative painter represented by Eleanor Ettinger Gallery in NYC.
This is an excerpt from our interview.
Q: What do think the difference between art and design is?
A: I think design is very similar. Maybe design is a little restrictive in that you have a client and you may have the freedom but then a client says, “I like this font better” or “I want this image to be up here as opposed to down there.” But ultimately you’re still expressing yourself. You can tell a good designer from a bad designer.
Q: Are there any specific movements in art today or trends that you see?
A: For now I’ve started to see a strong figurative movement and when I was in school I was kind of going against the grain. Everyone was saying, “you’re going out into the art world doing this representational painting and it’s not really what’s in right now.” Now I’m starting to see a lot of big big guys coming through opening the doors for everyone and that’s something I didn’t see even 10 years ago.
Q: Why do you think that is?
A: I think the art world is open to any type of style you want to use it’s not like before where you were a minimalist, an abstract expressionist. Now if you want to do very figurative representational work it’s ok, you’ll still be accepted in the art scene.
Closing words: For me I love the design side of my work too. I paint but I know how important it is for design to expand on my career. If you put a crappy book out of the work it doesn’t matter how good the work is. If it’s not designed well or laid out properly, it’s not going to look good for the artist. The website, business cards, all that has to look beautiful to help everyone else in the gallery.
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I had the great opportunity to interview Mr. Vladimir Kagan who’s work is both functional and sculptural, a true combination of art and design.
This is a small section from our interview.
Q: Does a designer have a responsibility to society? If so, what is it?
A: A designer has to be (a good designer) an interpreter. If you are a designer for products you have to challenge yourself and work toward coming up with a presentation that is ultimately acceptable to a client so it’s an interpretive process.
You have to be a good listener, not come in with preconceived ideas. If you come in with an empty bowl and you fill it then with the ideas it’s better than coming in with a lot of baggage and saying “I’ve been dying to do this and this is the perfect client for it”.
What you want to do is find really what are the client’s needs and how to manufacture it. That’s a personal challenge I have to face. The client doesn’t give a hoot how you do it just as long as it fits in the elevator. From a furniture designing, interior-designing perspective, one more ingredient is the committee. If you’re dealing with a family, even though they think they’re on the same wavelength, they’re not and you have to meld that together. I become the psychiatrist and try to amalgamate different perspectives.
In the industrial sense, it’s a committee, it’s the boss that’s going to pay for it, it’s the utility needed from the office, it’s the whole board of directors that has an input, so it’s never a monolithic thing. Essentially it is finding a compromise and sticking to your own guns on what is right for the job. So I will not do something for the benefit of a client if I don’t believe in what I’m doing. People come to recognize that in my work and by the time they become my clients they trust what I do.
Q: What would you say is the fundamental difference between an artist and a designer?
A: A fine artist is not bound by any restrictions. The only consideration he has is that he has to eat, so does he want to sell the painting and therefore pander or cater to an audience or does he not give a hoot about selling and he just expresses himself?
The artist also has an editorial role to play. Artists express dissatisfaction and dispute with society. A designer doesn’t have that issue. The artist has a tremendous amount of freedom. Is he doing it because he’s compelled, compulsive, must do it or is he doing it because he feels this sets him apart from the other people? When you go to art shows you sort of marvel, you look at the details, and the half a million strokes it takes to make a pointillist painting. It’s a different mindset.
An artist as a designer has to have a practical point of view. This is the artist, designer as opposed to a guy who’s just a mechanical designer. We have parameters that limit what we can do (dimensions in a chair for example). There are certain formulas that work, so you have to work within the framework of that sort of thing. And I think that’s really what separates the designer from the artist. The designer is restricted and has to work within disciplines, the fine artist doesn’t. I wouldn’t want to be confronted with a blank canvas and make a painting. I don’t have an urge to fill a canvas; my stimulation comes from a client.
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