Design Art

For well over a hundred years artists have blurred the distinction between ´art´ and ´design´, creating works for which Alex Coles has coined the term ´DesignArt´. In a pioneering study of this dynamic area of art-making, he traces its course from the early twentieth century to the present day, when such works have become a dominant feature of the contemporary art scene and are pervasive in key international exhibitions and biennials. From Matisse´s plush interior for Rockefeller’s town house to the playful environments Jorge Pardo creates today; from the paintings of Bridget Riley appropriated by the fashion world in the 1960s to the fabric designs Takashi Murakami recently conceived with Marc Jacobs, Alex Coles has identified a major and previously uncharted strand in art history. DesignArt is the first critical account of its diverse histories, polemics and practices.