Stepping into the ever-changing world of contemporary installation artist Olafur Eliasson.
Olafur Eliasson is an installation artist who was born and raised in Denmark and Iceland. His European roots and style are often seen in his work. He is not afraid to step out of the box by experimenting with many different mediums and scales whether that is large installations, paintings, sculptures, a small photographic series or film. As well, he has a keen focus on environmentally conscious design work which is why he often incorporates the earth’s elements such as water, ice, the sun and plants into his work.
The goal for this project was to create a book that would showcase the artist’s work. The exhilarating challenge was to design with the objective in mind of encompassing the feeling of the artist without taking away from the art through the layout, design cover and case.
From the beginning of receiving the project, I aimed to make it feel as though you are walking into one of his exhibitions.
The conceptualization of the intention I set for myself started with the book case. I wanted to create a way to represent his bold work. This was done by using the idea of textures, layers that are apparent in his work. Inspired by the feeling of “Your Spiral View” with the help of 3D printer Etienne Racine, we were able to create the 3D printed book case. The material used was biodegradable PLA; this aligns with the values of the artist on environmentally conscious work. Furthermore, I chose to have the case in black to contrast with his colourful work. As well, this surprise of opening up the book and seeing all the colours links back to the idea of walking into one of his exhibitions and feeling transformed by the unexpected elements of his work.
Eliasson is an artist who works in three main categories of colours which are yellow & warm colours, multi-colour/rainbows and blue & silver reflections. When noticing this colour sequence it immediately became the different sections of the book. This then led to having a colour-coordinated gallery at the end of each section so you can visualize the extent of the use of these specific colours.
The title of the book “Revolution” came from a video where Eliasson talks about the progress we are making in terms of environmentally conscious art and how it is a revolution from where we started. It was important to showcase his European roots. This was done through the chosen typeface Aktiv Grotesk. As well as, the tight gutters and lots of white space.
OLAFUR ELIASSON’S ‘YOUR SPIRAL VIEW’
This clean book that is full of contrast allowed to make something that was eye-catching and evoked the feeling of the artist. I was able to explore a new medium and step outside of my comfort zone which was nerve-racking but really paid off and has pushed my creativity further.
