The visual arts are art forms that create works which are primarily visual in nature, such as ceramics, drawing, painting, sculpture, printmaking, design, crafts, and often modern visual arts (photography, video, and filmmaking) and architecture. These definitions should not be taken too strictly as many artistic disciplines (performing arts, conceptual art, textile arts) involve aspects of the visual arts as well as arts of other types. Also included within the visual arts are the applied arts such as industrial design, graphic design, fashion design, interior design and decorative art.

As indicated above, the current usage of the term "visual arts" includes fine art as well as the applied, decorative arts and crafts, but this was not always the case. Before the Arts and Crafts Movement in Britain and elsewhere at the turn of the 20th century, the term artist was often restricted to a person working in the fine arts (such as painting, sculpture, or printmaking) and not the handicraft, craft, or applied art media. The distinction was emphasized by artists of the Arts and Crafts Movement who valued vernacular art forms as much as high forms. Art schools made a distinction between the fine arts and the crafts maintaining that a craftsperson could not be considered a practitioner of art.

The increasing tendency to privilege painting, and to a lesser degree sculpture, above other arts has been a feature of Western art as well as East Asian art. In both regions painting has been seen as relying to the highest degree on the imagination of the artist, and the furthest removed from manual labour - in Chinese painting the most highly valued styles were those of "scholar-painting", at least in theory practiced by gentleman amateurs. The Western hierarchy of genres reflected similar attitudes.

Education and training

Training in the visual arts has generally been through variations of the apprentice and workshop system. In Europe the Renaissance movement to increase the prestige of the artist led to the academy system for training artists, and today most train in art schools at a tertiary level. Visual arts have now become an elective subject in most education systems. (See also art education.)

Drawing

Drawing is a means of making an image, using any of a wide variety of tools and techniques. It generally involves making marks on a surface by applying pressure from a tool, or moving a tool across a surface using dry media such as graphite pencils, pen and ink, inked brushes, wax color pencils, crayons, charcoals, pastels, and markers. Digital tools which simulate the effects of these are also used. The main techniques used in drawing are: line drawing, hatching, crosshatching, random hatching, scribbling, stippling, and blending. An artist who excels in drawing is referred to as a ''draftsman'' or ''draughtsman".

Early history

Drawing goes back at least 16,000 years to Paleolithic cave representations of animals such as those at Lascaux in France and Altamira in Spain. In ancient Egypt, ink drawings on papyrus, often depicting people, were used as models for painting or sculpture. Drawings on Greek vases, initially geometric, later developed to the human form with black-figure pottery during the 7th century BC.

Renaissance

With paper becoming common in Europe by the 15th century, drawing was adopted by masters such as Sandro Botticelli, Raphael, Michelangelo, and Leonardo da Vinci who sometimes treated drawing as an art in its own right rather than a preparatory stage for painting or sculpture.

Painting

Painting taken literally is the practice of applying pigment suspended in a carrier (or medium) and a binding agent (a glue) to a surface (support) such as paper, canvas or a wall. However, when used in an artistic sense it means the use of this activity in combination with drawing, composition and other aesthetic considerations in order to manifest the expressive and conceptual intention of the practitioner. Painting is also used to express spiritual motifs and ideas; sites of this kind of painting range from artwork depicting mythological figures on pottery to The Sistine Chapel to the human body itself.

Origins and early history

Like drawing, painting has its origins in caves and on rock faces. The finest examples, believed by some to be 32,000 years old, are in the Chauvet and Lascaux caves in southern France. In shades of red, brown, yellow and black, the paintings on the walls and ceilings are of bison, cattle, horses and deer.

Paintings of human figures can be found in the tombs of ancient Egypt. In the great temple of Ramses II, Nefertari, his queen, is depicted being led by Isis. The Greeks contributed to the development of painting but much of their work has been lost. One of the best remaining representations is the mosaic of the Battle of Issus found at Pompeii which was probably based on a Greek painting. Greek and Roman art contributed to Byzantine art in the 4th century BC which initiated a tradition in icon painting.

The Renaissance

Apart from the illuminated manuscripts produced by monks during the Middle Ages, the next significant contribution to European art was from Italy's renaissance painters. From Giotto in the 13th century to Leonardo da Vinci and Raphael at the beginning of the 16th century, this was the richest period in Italian art as the ''chiaroscuro'' technique was used to create the illusion of 3-D space.

Painters in northern Europe too were influenced by the Italian school. Jan van Eyck from Belgium, Pieter Bruegel the Elder from the Netherlands and Hans Holbein the Younger from Germany are among the most successful painters of the times. They used the glazing technique with oils to achieve depth and luminosity.

Dutch masters

The 17th century saw the emergence of the great Dutch masters such as the versatile Rembrandt who is especially remembered for his portraits and Bible scenes, and Vermeer who specialized in interior scenes of Dutch life.

Impressionism

Impressionism began in France in the 19th century with a loose association of artists including Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir and Paul Cézanne who brought a new freely brushed style to painting, often choosing to paint realistic scenes of modern life outside rather than in the studio. They achieved intense colour vibration by using pure, unmixed colours and short brush strokes.

Post-impressionism

Towards the end of the 19th century, several young painters took impressionism a stage further, using geometric forms and unnatural colour to depict emotions while striving for deeper symbolism. Of particular note are Paul Gauguin, who was strongly influenced by Asian, African and Japanese art, Vincent van Gogh, a Dutchman who moved to France where he drew on the strong sunlight of the south, and Toulouse-Lautrec, remembered for his vivid paintings of night life in the Paris district of Montmartre.

Symbolism, expressionism and cubism

Edvard Munch, a Norwegian artist, developed his symbolistic approach at the end of the 19th century, inspired by the French impressionist Manet. The Scream (1893), his most famous work, is widely interpreted as representing the universal anxiety of modern man. Partly as a result of Munch's influence, the German expressionist movement originated in Germany at the beginning of the 20th century as artists such as Ernst Kirschner and Erich Heckel began to distort reality for an emotional effect. In parallel, the style known as cubism developed in France as artists focused on the volume and space of sharp structures within a composition. Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque were the leading proponents of the movement. Objects are broken up, analyzed, and re-assembled in an abstracted form. By the 1920s, the style had developed into surrealism with Dali and Magritte.

Printmaking

Printmaking is creating for artistic purposes an image on a matrix which is then transferred to a two-dimensional (flat) surface by means of ink (or another form of pigmentation). Except in the case of a monotype, the same matrix can be used to produce many examples of the print. Historically, the major techniques (also called media) involved are woodcut, line engraving, etching, lithography, and screenprinting (serigraphy, silkscreening) but there are many others, including modern digital techniques. Normally the surface upon which the print is printed is paper, but there are exceptions, from cloth and vellum to modern materials. Prints in the Western tradition produced before about 1830 are known as old master prints. There are other major printmaking traditions, especially that of Japan (''ukiyo-e'').

Chinese origins

In China, the art of printmaking developed some 1,100 years ago as illustrations alongside text cut in woodblocks for printing on paper. Initially images were mainly religious but in the Song Dynasty, artists began to cut landscapes. During the Ming (1368–1644) and Qing (1616–1911) dynasties, the technique was perfected for both religious and artistic engravings.

European history

In Europe, from around 1400 AD woodcut, was used for master prints on paper by using techniques for printing on cloth which had been developed in the Byzantine and Islamic worlds. Michael Wolgemut improved German woodcut from about 1475, and Erhard Reuwich, a Dutchman, was the first to use cross-hatching. At the end of the century Albrecht Dürer brought the Western woodcut to a level that has never been surpassed, increasing the status of the single-leaf woodcut.

Photography

Photography is the process of making pictures by means of the action of light. Light patterns reflected or emitted from objects are recorded onto a sensitive medium or storage chip through a timed exposure. The process is done through mechanical, chemical or digital devices known as cameras.

The word comes from the Greek words φως ''phos'' ("light"), and γραφις ''graphis'' ("stylus", "paintbrush") or γραφη ''graphê'', together meaning "drawing with light" or "representation by means of lines" or "drawing." Traditionally, the product of photography has been called a photograph. The term ''photo'' is an abbreviation; many people also call them ''pictures.'' In digital photography, the term ''image'' has begun to replace ''photograph.'' (The term ''image'' is traditional in geometric optics.)

Filmmaking

Filmmaking is the process of making a motion-picture, from an initial conception and research, through scriptwriting, shooting and recording, animation or other special effects, editing, sound and music work and finally distribution to an audience; it refers broadly to the creation of all types of films, embracing documentary, strains of theatre and literature in film, and poetic or experimental practices, and is often used to refer to video-based processes as well.

Computer art

Visual artists are no longer limited to traditional art media. Computers have been used as an ever more common tool in the visual art since the 1960s. Uses for computers in the visual arts include the capturing or creating of images and forms, the editing of those images and forms (including exploring multiple compositions) and then the final rendering and/or printing (including 3D printing).

Computer art is any art in which computers played a role in production or display of the artwork. Such art can be an image, sound, animation, video, CD-ROM, DVD, video game, website, algorithm, performance or gallery installation. Many traditional disciplines are now integrating digital technologies and, as a result, the lines between traditional works of art and new media works created using computers have been blurred. For instance, an artist may combine traditional painting with algorithmic art and other digital techniques. As a result, defining computer art by its end product can thus be difficult. Nevertheless, this type of art is beginning to appear in art museum exhibits, though it has yet to prove its legitimacy as a form unto itself and this technology is widely seen in contemporary art more as a tool rather than a form as with painting.

Computer usage has blurred the distinctions between illustrators, photographers, photo editors, 3-D modelers, and handicraft artists. Sophisticated rendering and editing software has led to multi-skilled image developers. Photographers may become digital artists. Illustrators may become animators. Handicraft may be computer-aided or use computer-generated imagery as a template. Computer clip art usage has also made the clear distinction between visual arts and page layout less obvious due to the easy access and editing of clip art in the process of paginating a document, especially to the unskilled observer.

Sculpture

''The following is a copy of the introductory summary on the Sculpture page''

The Plastic arts

Plastic arts is a term, now largely forgotten, encompassing art forms which involve physical manipulation of a plastic medium by moulding or modeling such as sculpture or ceramics. The term has also been applied to ''all the visual (non-literary, non-musical) arts''.

Materials that can be carved or shaped, such as stone or wood, concrete or steel, have also been included in the narrower definition, since, with appropriate tools, such materials are also capable of modulation. This use of the term "plastic" in the arts should not be confused with Piet Mondrian's use, nor with the movement he termed, in French and English, "Neoplasticism."

Thus even the narrower definition could include Architecture, Ceramics, Collage, Conceptual art, Drawing, Glass art, Land art, Metalworking, Mosaic, Painting, Paper art, the use of plastics within the arts or as an art form itself, Printmaking, Sculpture, Textile art, Welding, Woodworking, Film, Film Photography, New media art.

Copyright definition of visual art

In the United States, the law protecting the copyright over a piece of visual art gives a more restrictive definition of "visual art". The following quote is from the Copyright Law of the United States of America- Chapter 1:

A “work of visual art” is — (1) a painting, drawing, print or sculpture, existing in a single copy, in a limited edition of 200 copies or fewer that are signed and consecutively numbered by the author, or, in the case of a sculpture, in multiple cast, carved, or fabricated sculptures of 200 or fewer that are consecutively numbered by the author and bear the signature or other identifying mark of the author; or (2) a still photographic image produced for exhibition purposes only, existing in a single copy that is signed by the author, or in a limited edition of 200 copies or fewer that are signed and consecutively numbered by the author. A work of visual art does not include — (A)(i) any poster, map, globe, chart, technical drawing, diagram, model, applied art, motion picture or other audiovisual work, book, magazine, newspaper, periodical, data base, electronic information service, electronic publication, or similar publication;   (ii) any merchandising item or advertising, promotional, descriptive, covering, or packaging material or container;   (iii) any portion or part of any item described in clause (i) or (ii); (B) any work made for hire; or (C) any work not subject to copyright protection under this title.

See also

Art materials

Asemic writing

Avant-garde

Collage

Comics

Composition

Conceptual art

Contemporary art

Craft

Décollage

Decorative arts

Design

Eastern art history

Fine art

Found art

Graffiti

Graphic design

Handicraft

History of art

History of graphic design

History of film

History of painting

History of sculpture

Illustration

Installation art

Landscape art

Mail art

Mathematics and art

Media (arts)

Mixed media

Portraiture

Old master print

Recording medium

Sketch (drawing)

Sketchbook

Sound art

Textile arts

Video art

References

Further reading

Barnes, A. C., The Art in Painting, 3rd ed., 1937, Harcourt, Brace & World, Inc., NY.

Bukumirovic, D. (1998). ''Maga Magazinovic''. Biblioteka Fatalne srpkinje knj. br. 4. Beograd: Narodna knj.

Fazenda, M. J. (1997). ''Between the pictorial and the expression of ideas: the plastic arts and literature in the dance of Paula Massano''. N.p.

Gerón, C. (2000). Enciclopedia de las artes plásticas dominicanas: 1844-2000. 4th ed. Dominican Republic s.n.

Oliver Grau (Ed.): ''MediaArtHistories''. MIT-Press, Cambridge 2007. with Rudolf Arnheim, Barbara Stafford, Sean Cubitt, William Mitchell, Lev Manovich, Christiane Paul, Peter Weibel a.o. Rezensionen

Laban, R. V. (1976). ''The language of movement: a guidebook to choreutics''. Boston: Plays.

La Farge, O. (1930). ''Plastic prayers: dances of the Southwestern Indians''. N.p.

Restany, P. (1974). ''Plastics in arts''. Paris, New York: N.p.

University of Pennsylvania. (1969). ''Plastics and new art''. Philadelphia: The Falcon Pr.

External links

ArtLex - online dictionary of visual art terms.

''Art History Timeline'' by the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Category:Communication design Category:Art media

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name	Michael Wolff
background	solo_singer
birth name	Michael Blieden Wolff
born	July 31, 1952
birth place	Victorville, California
origin	New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S.
genre	Jazz
instrument	Piano
occupation	Jazz pianistComposerBandleaderEducator
label	Columbia Records, Fantasy Records, Verve, Capitol, A&M; Records
years active	1975–present
spouse	Polly Draper (1993-present)
website
current members	John B. WilliamsVictor JonesBadal RoyMike Clark
past members	Alex FosterTerri Lyne Carrington
notable instruments	Accordion }}

Michael Blieden Wolff (born July 31, 1952) is an American jazz pianist, composer, producer, actor, and jazz educator. He was the bandleader and musical director of ''The Arsenio Hall Show''. He also co-starred on Nickelodeon's ''The Naked Brothers Band'' with sons Nat and Alex Wolff, which was a mock documentary created and produced by his wife, actress Polly Draper.

Biography

Early life

Wolff was born at George Air Force Base in Victorville, California. His father was a U.S. Air Force medical doctor. He was raised in New Orleans, Louisiana and Memphis, Tennessee. At age nine his family moved to Berkeley, California. He began studying classical piano at age eight, and drums at age 12. He attended Berkeley High School. After graduation, he attended U.C. Berkeley, where he had begun playing piano with the University of California Jazz Ensembles under the direction of Dr. David W. Tucker while still at Berkeley High School, and then U.C.L.A.

Career

In 1972, Wolff left college to begin his music career, joining Cal Tjader's band. In 1975, he joined Cannonball Adderley's band. In 1977, he formed the band ''Answering Service'' with saxophonist Alex Foster. Wolff worked with other famous musicians/bands including Warren Zevon, The Thad Jones/ Mel Lewis Orchestra, Sonny Rollins, Wayne Shorter, Jean-Luc Ponty, Children On The Corner,Terri Lyne Carrington Tony Williams, and Christian McBride. In 1979, Wolff composed and played original music—and served as host—for the Riverside Shakespeare Company production of The Mandrake in New York City, featuring Tom Hanks.

In 1978, Singer Nancy Wilson chose Wolff as her musical director. Arsenio Hall was Wilson's opening act. When Hall was given his own talk show, ''The Arsenio Hall Show'', in 1989, Wolff was chosen as his bandleader and musical director. He met his wife, actress Polly Draper, when she appeared as a guest on the show. In 1995 he released ''Jumpstart'' featuring Christian McBride and Tony Williams and in 1997 the trio released ''2AM''. Wolff is the leader of a jazz band, ''Michael Wolff and Impure Thoughts'', which features Indian tabla player Badal Roy, drummer Mike Clark, percussionist Frank Colón and electric bassist John B. Williams.

He wrote music for the films ''Who's the Man?'' and ''Made up'', as well as writing for and performing in other films. A movie released on video in 1999—''The Tic Code'' starring Gregory Hines as a saxophone player with Tourette syndrome who befriends a young boy with Tourette's—was written by Draper and is loosely based on Wolff's life. Wolff contributed the music score and Draper co-stars in the film. Wolff co-starred in ''The Naked Brothers Band'' on Nickelodeon with his sons, Nat and Alex. The show was created, executive produced, written, and directed by Polly Draper. Wolff was the co-executive producer and music supervisor of the show.

Wolff oftens plays in various nightclubs in Manhattan, including the Knickerbocker Bar and Grill, performing with members of the Michael Wolff Trio, such as drummer Victor Jones and bass player John B. Williams. He is on the faculty at The New School For Jazz And Contemporary Music.

Personal life

Wolff is married to actress/writer Polly Draper. They have two children, Nat Wolff and Alex Wolff. His family is culturally Jewish. Wolff has Tourette syndrome; he serves on the Board of Directors of the Tourette Syndrome Association (TSA), and is involved with mentoring children with Tourette's through the chapters of the TSA. He lives in Greenwich Village, Manhattan, NY, and Los Angeles, CA.

Discography

As leader

1993 – ''Michael Wolff'' (Columbia Jazz)

1995 – ''Jumpstart!'' (Jimco/Cabana)

1996 – ''2AM'' (Cabana)

1998 – ''Portraiture: The Blues Period'' (Fuel 2000/Varese Saraband)

2000 – ''The Tic Code Soundtrack'' (Razor And Tie)

2001 – ''Impure Thoughts'' (Indianola Music)

2003 – ''Intoxicate'' (Indianola Music)

2003 – ''Christmas Moods'' (Artemis)

2003 – ''Getting Into Heaven Soundtrack''

2004 – ''Dangerous Vision'' (Artemis Records)

2005 – ''Sexual Healing'' (3D)

2006 – ''Love & Destruction'' (Wrong Records)

2007 – ''jazz, JAZZ, jazz'' (Wrong Records)

2009 – ''Joe's Strut'' (Wrong Records)

As sideman

With Cal Tjader

1972 – ''Live At Concerts By The Sea'' (Fantasy)

1999 – ''Last Bolero In Berkeley'' (Fantasy)

2008 – ''Best Of Cal Tjader: Live At The Monterey Jazz Festival 1958-1980'' (Monterey Jazz Festival)

With Cal Tjader and Charlie Byrd

1973 – ''Tambu'' (Fantasy)

With Cannonball Adderley

1975 – ''Phenix'' (Fantasy)

1975 – ''Volume One: Montreal 1975'' (Essential Media Group)

With Tom Harrell

1975 – ''Aurora'' (Adamo/Pinnacle)

1976 – ''Bird Gets The Worm'' (Adamo/Pinnacle)

With Sonny Rollins

1977 ''Live At The Village Gate'' (Bootleg)

With Nancy Wilson

1979 – ''Live In Munich''

1982 – ''At My Best'' (ASI)

1991 –''With My Lover Beside Me'' (Columbia)

With David Axelrod

1993 – ''Requiem - The Holocaust'' (Liberty)

2003 – ''The Big Country'' (Stateside)

With Warren Zevon

1995 – ''Mutineer'' (Giant)

2002 – ''My Ride's Here'' (Artemis)

With Children On The Corner 2003 – ''Rebirth'' (Sonance)

With Alex Foster

1997 – ''Pool Of Dreams'' (Truspace)

With Dave Samuels 1998 – ''Tjaderized'' (Verve)

With Pastiche

2001 – ''Pastiche'' (Summit)

With Sam Morrison

2005 – ''Miles Away'' (Convalian)

Filmography

Film

{|class="wikitable" style="font-size: 90%;" border="2" cellpadding="4" background: #f9f9f9; |- align="center" ! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Year ! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Film ! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Role ! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Notes |- | 1987 | ''Magic Sticks'' | Bob | |- | 1999 | ''The Tic Code'' | Engineer #2 | Also co-producer and wrote original music score |- | 2005 | ''The Naked Brothers Band: The Movie'' | Dad | A mock documentary. Starring his sons Nat and Alex Wolff, who both wrote and performed all the film's songs. Written & directed by his wife, actress Polly Draper. Music produced/arranged by Michael Wolff. Indie film-turned TV movie pilot; Musical/family film. |- | 2007 | ''The Girl In The Park'' | Jazz Club Piano Player | |}

Television

{|class="wikitable" style="font-size: 90%;" border="2" cellpadding="4" background: #f9f9f9; |- align="center" ! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Year ! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Program or series ! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Role ! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Notes |- | 1989–1994 | ''The Arsenio Hall Show'' | Himself, Band leader | |- | 1990 | ''Beverly Hills, 90210'' | Duane | Episode: "Every Dream Has Its Price (Tag)" |- | 2007–2009 | ''The Naked Brothers Band'' | Dad/Mr. Wolff/Sonny Wolff | 34 episodes. Also co-executive producer |}

Honors and awards

Wolff was honored as a Steinway Artist in June 2006. ''The Tic Code'' won awards at the Berlin International Film Festival, the Giffoni Film Festival and the Hamptons International Film Festival. Wolff and sons won the 2007 BMI Film and TV Award for the music on The Naked Brothers Band (TV series).

References

External links

Michael Wolff's website

Michael Wolff at All About Jazz

Category:1952 births Category:Living people Category:American jazz composers Category:American jazz pianists Category:American television actors Category:Jewish American musicians Category:People from New Orleans, Louisiana Category:People with Tourette syndrome

de:Michael Wolff (Musiker) nl:Michael Wolff ru:Вульф, Майкл

name	Syd Mead
birth date	July 18, 1933
birth place	Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States
other names	Sydney Jay Mead
occupation	Industrial designer }}

Sydney Jay Mead, commonly Syd Mead, (born July 18, 1933 in Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States) is a "visual futurist" and concept artist. He is best known for his designs for science-fiction films such as ''Blade Runner'', ''Aliens'', and ''Tron''. Of his work, Mead was once moved to comment: "I've called science fiction 'reality ahead of schedule.'"

Biography

Mead was born in St. Paul Minnesota, July 18, 1933 but spent only a few years there before moving to what would be the second of many homes throughout the western United States prior to graduating from high school in Colorado Springs, Colorado in 1951. After serving a three-year enlistment in the U.S. Army, Syd Mead continued on to the Art Center School in Los Angeles, (now the Art Center College of Design, Pasadena) where he graduated in June 1959. He was recruited by the Ford Motor Company’s Advanced Styling Studio under the management of Elwood Engel. Mead left the studio after two years to accept a variety of assignments to illustrate books and catalogues for large corporate entities such as United States Steel, Celanese, Allis Chalmers and Atlas Cement. In 1970, he launched Syd Mead, Inc. in Detroit, Michigan to accommodate the offers he received, most notably from Philips Electronics. As the principal of his newly formed corporation in the 1970s, Syd Mead spent about a third of his time in Europe, primarily to provide designs and illustrations for Philips of Holland. His work for international clients continues to this day. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, Syd Mead, Inc. provided architectural renderings both interior and exterior for such clients as Intercontinental Hotels, 3D International, Harwood Taylor & Associates, Don Ghia, and Gresham & Smith. His architectural clients recently have expanded to include the New York firm of Philip Koether Architects, for which he designed the interior of a Manhattan eatery. Design activity accelerated after the corporate and personal move to California in 1975. In 1979, projects began to include work with most major studios, on such feature films as Star Trek: The Motion Picture, followed by Blade Runner, Tron, 2010, Short Circuit, Aliens, Time Cop, Johnny Mnemonic, and Mission: Impossible III. Beginning in 1983, Mead began to develop working relationships with Japanese corporate clients, including Sony, Minolta, Dentsu, Dyflex, Tiger Corporation, Seibu, Mitsukoshi, Bandai, NHK and Honda as well as contributing to two Japanese film projects, ''The New Yamato'' and ''Crises 2050.'' In the 1990s, Syd supplied designs for two Japanese toy icons, “The New Yamato” and all eight robot characters in the new Turn-A Gundam Mobile Suit series, which were also seen as characters in television shows.

With transportation design as his first love, Syd Mead seldom misses an opportunity to provide his unique blend of futurism and believability to those projects consisting of a vehicle that travels from A to B. Whether it be designing solar powered unicycles, show cars, luxury yachts, cruise ships, or the interiors of private 747s, each receives the same attention to detail within a perfectly designed scenario. This combination has become a Syd Mead trademark and has been seen in everything from concept cars for Ford Motor Company to futuristic “hypervans” which have been the subject of his latest full color illustrations.

Syd Mead continues an active schedule of one-man shows, which started with an invitation to exhibit at Documenta 6, Kassel, West Germany in 1973. His work has since been exhibited in Japan, Italy, California, and Spain. In 1983, in response to an in invitation from Chrysler Corporation to be a guest speaker to their design staff, Syd Mead assembled a selection of slides to visually enhance his lecture. The resulting presentation was a resounding success and since has been expanded and enhanced with computer-generated imagery specifically assembled at the requests of such clients as Disney, Carnegie Mellon University, Purdue, Pratt University, the Society of Illustrators and many others both academic and corporate around the world. In March 2010, Syd completed a four-city tour in Australia to capacity audiences at each venue.

Always an advocate of new technologies, Syd Mead has expanded his horizons to include computer illustrations and graphics by mastering a variety of software. Beginning with the official poster of the 1991 Concours d’Elegance “Eyes on the Classics” in Detroit, Michigan, Mr. Mead has attempted to use the latest in available techniques to their best advantage. In 1993, a digital gallery consisting of 50 examples of his art with interface screens designed by him became one of the first CD-ROMs released in Japan in 1992. In 2004 in response to many requests, Mead cooperated with the Gnomon School of Visual Effects to produce a 4 volume, “How To” DVD series titled, “TECHNIQUES OF SYD MEAD” which continues to be sought after by designers around the world.

His one-man show, “Cavalcade to the Crimson Castle,” consisting of 114 original paintings and illustrations, enjoyed a three-month showing at the Center for the Arts in San Francisco in the Fall of 1996. The highlight of the show turned out to be Syd’s presentation and lecture, which attracted an audience that exceeded the available capacity of the auditorium. Subsequent personal appearances at schools across the country have attracted record numbers. A touring exhibition of his work is now in the planning stage to mark the 40th anniversary of Syd Mead, Inc.

In February 1998, Syd Mead relocated his studio to Pasadena, California, where he continues to be involved in a variety of design projects. He recently completed work on a documentary of his career with director Joaquin Montalvan. “VISUAL FUTURIST” was released in May 2007 on DVD and is available through the virtual Oblagon bookstore on the Syd Mead official webpage WWW.SYDMEAD.COM. Mead attributes success in an astonishing range of creative activities to the premise that imagination--the idea--supersedes technique.

Career history

Mead has worked on or worked for the following:

1959: Ford Motor Company's Advanced Styling Center in Dearborn, Michigan.

1960–1961: Ford Motor Company Styling in Detroit, Michigan.

1961: Futuristic paintings for a US Steel booklet.

1970: Starts own company, Syd Mead, Inc.

1976: Book of designs ''Sentinel'' published.

1978: production illustrator for the movie ''Star Trek: The Motion Picture'' (V'ger design) 1980: Begins his work as "visual futurist " on ''Blade Runner'', designing city backgrounds and vehicles. Also works as a conceptual artist of the electronic world in ''Tron'', designing lightcycles, tanks, solar sailers, and carriers. 1983: Works for the movie ''2010'' as visual futurist, designing the Leonov spaceship. 1985: Conceptual artist for ''Aliens'' (''Sulaco'' spaceship design). Consultant and designer of the "Johnny 5" robot in the movie ''Short Circuit''. Book ''Oblagon'' published.

1987: Designed space cruisers, fighters, props, and costumes for the Japanese animation ''Yamato 2520''.

Conceptual futurist for ''UFO Cover-Up?: Live!'' (1988) Conceptual artist of the future depicted in ''Solar Crisis'' (1990) Involved in ''The Spirit of '76'' (1990)

1991: ''Kronolog'' design book (compilation of ''Kronovecta'', ''Kronoteco'', and ''Kronovid'' books) published.

1991: Designed backgrounds and spacecraft for the video game ''Terraforming'' (1992, PC-Engine DUO, Japan), also known as ''Syd Mead's Terraforming'' (1993, TurboDuo, North America).

Production designer for the future Paris in From Time to Time (1992) Futuristic concept consultant for ''The Fire Next Time'' (1993) (TV)

1993: Designed vehicles for the computer game ''CyberRace''.

1994: Worked as visual consultant on designs for ''Timecop'' (guns, time machine). For ''Strange Days'', designed "sim-stim" playback deck and headgear electrodes known as "trodes" Visual consultant for Johnny Mnemonic (1995)

1995: Designed vehicles for the SegaSaturn game ''Gran Chaser'' aka ''Cyber Speedway'' (''CyberRace'''s sequel).

1997: Alien conceptual artist on the computer game ''Wing Commander: Prophecy''. 1998: Designs mobile suit mecha for the anime ''Turn A Gundam''. Credited as concept designer and mechanical designer. 2000: Works on ''Mission to Mars'' (conceptual artist) (vehicle design). Production designer in Software (2000)

2001: ''Sentury'' published.

2003: Contributes a new Light Cycle design to the PC game TRON 2.0.

2004: Gnomon Workshop educational DVDs.

2005: Worked on ''Mission: Impossible III'' (Mask Maker machine design ).

2008: Worked with Gearbox Software on ''Aliens: Colonial Marines''

2010: ''Sentury II'' published.

About Mead

Documentary films about Mead and his work include Visual Futurist: The Art & Life of Syd Mead (2006) 107 min 2019: A Future Imagined (2008) 8 min Mead also appears in movie documentaries such as ''Dangerous Days: Making Blade Runner'' and Mark Kermode's ''On the Edge of Blade Runner'' and promotional materials such as the DVD extra for Aliens and the promotional short film about making of 2010.

References

External links

Syd Mead entry at Anime.com

Blogs in JPN

Detailed information for the "Syd Mead's Terraforming" video-game at the PC Engine Software Bible

Entry for Syd Mead's Terraforming at PC-Engine Catalog Project

Event Recap: "An Audience with Syd Mead", Brisbane, March 2010

Gnomon Workshop DVD's with Syd Mead

Interviews

Starlog (USA) May 1982, Iss. 58, pg. 36-39,+61, by: Ed Naha, "Blade Runner's Syd Mead: An Artist With Designs on the Future"

Starlog (USA) November 1992, Iss. 184, by: Randy & Jean-Marc Lofficier, "Detective Future Past"

The future came true – An Interview with Syd Mead

Syd Mead's interview at Jabučnjak, July 2009

Category:1933 births Category:Living people Category:American industrial designers Category:American production designers Category:Science fiction artists

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