The Style

Piet Mondrian is easily one of my favorite artists of all time. Most well known for being an irreplaceable contributor to De Stijl and founder of New-Plasticism, Mondrian constructed planes that utilized a grid system of horizontal and vertical black lines. These lines created enclosures which were then filled with one of the three primary colors or black.



If there is one thing to know about me as an artist, it is that I really like design that is comprised of clean lines and graphic elements. I often times prefer to use digital media than traditional media such as charcoal, or graphite in my own work. What I like specifically about Mondrian is his organization. Through the use of a grid, he achieves extreme order and harmony between shapes and line. The restricted use of minimal elements is proof of the Neo-Plasticist view of the world where art should not be the reproduction of real objects, but the expression of the absolutes of life. In this way, the absolutes of life always manifested as the horizontal and vertical lines as well as the primary colors.

On the complete opposite side of the spectrum, I also really love illustrative design. Illustration is something that usually tends to be free form and organic, not usually clean, but often times graphic. One of my favorite illustrators is James Jean.



Compared to the usual uncluttered compositions I am attracted to, Jean's work is noisy, busy, and fabulous. The spontaneity of his sketchbooks amuse and awe me because I know it would be incredibly hard for me to do something like this. I am a one sketch per page kind of girl and if it's not one sketch per page, the multiple sketches are very specifically mapped out in a grid-like fashion. As a student of illustration, I would do well to take a lesson from James Jean.