Steven Heller explains that mainstream media and advertisement essentially reuses old concepts and “steals” underground trends. The underground refers to a design or designs that are not mainstream or trendy, in the reading Heller explains that the, “Psychedelic movement…was born in a small community that shared proclivities for sex, drugs, and anarchic behavior—all threatening to the mainstream”. This particular design and movement was popular amongst the youth of the late 60’s and 70’s, which threatened the mainstream commercials and designs at the time. However, over time the mainstream adapted and took design elements from the psychedelic movement and turned them into mainstream design. This led to the psychedelic’s original purpose of design, to express individuality of the youth at the time and turn it into something for consumers and corporations. This meant that this wouldn’t be considered underground anymore because of how the mainstream used it to create ads.

Although I’ll have to change my topic, due to it not meeting the credentials of the assignment, the impressionism art movement can somehow be connected to the mainstream vs underground dichotomy. This is because there are all different kinds of art movements and each art movement has its own unique look and feel; however, techniques from the pre-raphaelite art era are similar to that of the symbolism and renaissance art movement. With impressionism art there are heavy and visible brushstrokes, unblended colors, and a great emphasis on lighting and atmosphere, this movement/trend lasted from 18700-1900 and was replaced by post-impressionism artwork. This is where Vincent Van Gogh’s artwork is and is one of the most popular painters of that time.

Prior to the impressionism art movement there was the pre-raphaelite art movement, which are very different when side by side. Pre-raphaelite art, according to britannica.com, “featured sharp and brilliant lighting, a clear atmosphere, and a near-photographic reproduction of minute details” where they also, “frequently introduced a private poetic symbolism into their representations of biblical subjects and medieval literary themes”. This was extremely different from impressionism art, things were clear, concise, had biblical messages, subjects and themes and were extremely detailed. The underground designs that were developing during the late 1850s and early 1860s were impressionist artists. Impressionist artists were influenced by the outside world and resources, relying on the outside world to paint instead of being in a studio with a model for hours on end. According to theartstory.org it states that, “The Impressionists were inspired by Manet’s example to follow their own creative paths”, they were influenced by the painter Édouard Manet, who painted how he wanted to paint. This was the underground but once Claude Monet and other French painters started to follow suit it became the mainstream for thirty years. The work shaped the mainstream because it allowed artists to paint and create however they wanted to. Artists at the time were doing away with the consistency and clarity of art and taking a more loose, creative approach to their paintings. Although not everyone was participating in impressionism, art was allowing artists to paint the world as they saw it.

Sources-*disclaimer: I couldn’t find any free books in the cuny library database, they were also all recordings that I wasn’t allowed access to unless I went into the building. So, I found my resources online. Maybe I was navigating the website wrong?

  1. https://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/i/impressionism
  2. https://www.theartstory.org/movement/impressionism/
  3. https://www.britannica.com/art/Pre-Raphaelite-Brotherhood