Primal Futurism Design Work

Spring 2012 Trend: Primal Futurism

Primal Futurism; the combination of, the old and the new, the natural and the unnatural, the past and the potential of what is to come. The list of antonyms could go on and on forever and more. But ultimately it appears that primal futurism highlights the best of what the world created and the best of what man created and fuses them together in order to create a new middle ground. In a sense the motion is very intelligent, showing the art of mixing the past and future to create the present.

The look sees the mixture of ancient and authentic features combined with the scientific and technological. However the hybrid of the two can be conceived in two ways, coarse and irregular textures counteracted with strong progressive shapes, or it can see smooth, glossy and strong materials work against natural organic shapes. Either way something completely new is created from two moments in design, which stand worlds apart. Think the Stone Age vs. The space age and you’re on the right track.

By fusing these two genres and blending them subtly, people, literates, artists, and designers are creating new works, new objects and imaginary new worlds for us to use and live within. They may not be natural or what the world intended, but certainly they are different and innovative, so does this make them superior?

Primal Futurism is all around us not just dwelling in the creative but also in the scientific and technological worlds, no surprise seen as though they link well with futurism. Examples being that individualist scientists such as US genetics pioneer Dr Craig Venter have recently created the world’s first form of synthetic life, a mixture of chemicals which have created a man made cell and is able to multiply itself, one of the definitions of something been classed as alive. And for years there have been developments in DNA and such things as prosthetic limbs. The ultimate in mixing what is perhaps the most primal entity, the body, with futuristic mechanisms to make for a better future.

As a personal interpretation, the mantra would be “less primal more futurism”. What is the point in recreating what we’ve already seen before? By infusing more futurism into the designs, artwork or whatever is being created it gives a sense of the unknown and unexpected, which appears to generate excitement and anticipation. Therefore a more successful body of work.

Part of the futurism trend is to make us question the past, what we already know and who we truly are. Primal Futurism takes mythological theories from the primordial age and flips them on their heads, twisting and contorting them. These theories have always formed reasoning for us, an understanding into how and why the world was formed. These theories are being challenged and disputed by artists and designers alike, who are now establishing new modern mythologies to confront what we already understand as the norm. In effect the past and what we easily identify with is being recreated.

The ever-influential yet controversial artist and sculpture Marc Quinn has identified with this aspect of Primal Futurism in one of his latest exhibitions; titled, Allanah, Buck, Catman, Chelsea, Michael, Pamela and Thomas. The display of sculptures, which is seen, shows figures of humans who have manipulated their bodies using surgical means to transform their outer selves so that their appearance reflects their inner identity. These can be seen as mythological creatures of the future, disregarding traditional gender meanings to form an alternative view of the human body.

Another artist to follow this trend of altering the living form is Emily Valentine Bullock from New Zealand, a particular piece of work demonstrating this is Pair of Pugcocks. The work presents a hybrid of animals, the form of a dog adorned with peacock feathers. In doing such a piece of work she too is creating her own mythological creatures not too dissimilar to those of ancient legends.

                              

The ethos of the Primal Futurism trend is set to come alive during the prior half of 2012 and show its true colours amongst the design world. Its influence will be seen in many design sectors, art, fashion, photography, furniture design, architecture and interiors. The subdivisions of the design world will see interchangeable features concerning, colours, silhouettes and materials.

Colour trends for the season span from natural sandstone and honey to bright and artificial hues such as, poppy red, geranium pink, grass green and inky blue. However the colour set to take over the season is yellow. After all nothing says spring like yellow. This can be seen in many variants, sunshine, mustard, canary, lemon and acid. Acid in particular is set to look strong due to its solid relationship and association with science and technology. These two colour schemes, the natural, neutral and untreated paired with the artificial, doctored and man made are to be the uniform of the primal futurism trend. Consider what rich burgundy and grey are to the traditional school uniform and the relationship is equal.

As previously said, the Primal Futurism trend can be seen in various design sectors, especially interiors and furniture as we move away from fashion. The same ideas underlay the designs though, contrasting shapes, materials and colours. The trend can be seen in this lamp design “Sputnik” by Pepe Heykoop, the silhouette is very bold and futuristic, almost spaceship like, but paired with a rough textured, off white dirty looking material and makeshift legs the lamp becomes a hybrid of the two design themes and so is a strong example of primal futurism in action.

Another design compromising of contrasts is a series of woven wicker bikes called arialbikeway by Jarbas Lopes, which combines natural materials and weaving techniques with the bike, which is mechanical and consists of technical aspects.

Weaving, and using natural materials have long been used in 3^rd world countries and tribal groups and so influence has been plucked from here to generate modern and innovative designs. The ethos and visual appeal of this has further transferred into other aspects of design such as interiors and fashion.

 Not only can the trend ethos be seen in structures, shapes and materials used it can also be found within such mediums as graphics, digital prints and textile designs. After all seemingly more so now than ever the future of our world seems to lie in technology and computers. The prints that reference the trend usually take a primal subject such as plants or animals and alters, renovates and converts the standard recognisable image into something deeper and a lot more geometric and futuristic looking. It begs to question, is this what nature will look like in years to come? And that is why the motion of doing so with digital prints works so well for the trend, it takes what we see as the norm and manipulates it so that we question the alternatives to the ordinary.

And so the ultimate and perhaps the lone theory we can draw from the trend is that of a battle between primal and futurism, natural and unnatural, primordial and revolutionary. The focus is not on which wins the duel, but much more concentrated on how each individual combines and perceives the two. The rest is up to you, make of the trend what you will, it makes for a very interesting future.