Different Types of Art and Design

Abstract

This chapter begins to explain how and why cultural products, such as works of art and design or visual culture, are produced in so many different forms or types. It is difficult to think of an area of visual culture that does not offer products in different forms. This prolifera-tion of forms exists in fashion, furniture design, photography and graphic design, in addition to painting, car design and film. There are different types or forms, then, and there are different types within these types. This chapter will begin to explain these different types of cultural products as developing in time and in relation to different social classes or fractions of classes. This chapter will explain the different types of art and design as the product of different social classes and fractions of classes existing and evolving in time. Different social and cultural groups, at specific times and places, use these different types of art and design to construct and communicate their identities. These artefacts exist in different forms in order to construct and communicate different social and cultural identities, then. Part of the explanation of why these things look the way they do, therefore, is that different social and cultural groups use them to differentiate themselves from each other. So, part of the explanation of the appearance of visual culture is found in the existence of different and opposing social and cultural groups.