Reading the interview of Massimo Vignelli was particularly inspiring as the recent contemporary art modules I have had have been revolving around the values of contemporary artists and their relationship with their target audience. 

Back tracking to the progressions of art movements introduced to us, we are able to magnify and zoom out for greater details since the chapter of art history has already been signed off. I find it interesting how this particular quote in the featured article by Vignelli  lists down four essential traits to have that defines a quality work. These four qualities somehow have a representation and notion of time and space to its definition, be it intentional or not.

a short manifesto to quality work from Vignelli by Brendan

Quality begins with the sprout of passion, such as that of Dadaism. It is the spirit of anarchism towards cultural, social and political boundaries that triggers the rigid and pushes the poets. It is only with the initial passion to push an idea that creates art movements.

Curiosity follows this procedure as passion runs out and free spirited expression needs to offshoot into more intellectual/intended practices. This is evident in Picasso’s exploration into different variations of Abstraction and Cubism: Analytic and Synthetic Cubism. Curiosity drives the artist to explore into different techniques and methods, eventually finding their inner mojo.

Intensity is a hard word to define, but probably refers to the extent to which an artist attempts to defend their value and visuals. In examples like Rodchenko and Duchamp, the ludicrous quality of their artworks are adventurous for some, but can be hilarious to those who do not understand them. The intensity to which they wish to portray their works will affect the visual aesthetic and believability.

Lastly leaves professionalism, a stage where people will take whatever you give them because you’re a professional artist. 🙂