Art Fiduciaire uses the techniques and artistic movements explored by humanity.
Humanity has always created art from the need to document and preserve history, express feelings, fear, and reality. Above all to leave traces of our environment, lifestyle and thoughts which tell a story about culture. Primitive humans manifested art through cave paintings and bone carvings. This creative energy and force of expression spread throughout the world to tell a story before we had language. We learn about past cultures and the heritage of societies that gives us, as well as future generations, a means to tell a new story through art.
Art can be a challenge and force us to open ourselves to emotions. Art provides a diverse range of necessities and comforts. The use of art in various political and social issues to organise campaigns and create awareness is indispensable. Being inspired by art and design allows us to build ideas, messages, and change, through the selection of graphic signs and symbols, composing two or three-dimensional concepts. That is, design comes from a society’s requirement while having a responsibility to it in the way it communicates to its audience. Art brings an optimistic perspective about the future and can be used to help spread a message of inspiration, encouraging people to achieve great things. Art enhances communication between people, to focus on common issues for the betterment of humanity and the broader environment. Arts matter because it allows an individual a platform to express their creativity with the world.
© Gabriela González | “Niñas Con Máscara / Niñas Diosas”, 2020
The difference between art and design is mainly purpose; the design has a client who defines the objective given to what is designed. Where art implies and associates ideas, feeding its own ambiguity. Art is a form of communicating thoughts; design on the other hand is precise, denotative and straightforward.
Artists use artistic expression through multiple investigations and experiments, capturing the world around them to gain understanding, build communities, and their thoughts on different perspectives, interpretations, and transformation. The banknote designer is a creator of a product serving an economic purpose which is to design concepts within four levels of dimensions: aesthetics, technicality, safety and industrial production.
Art enhances communication between people, to focus on common issues for the betterment of humanity and the broader environment.
(banknote concept)
The connection between these dimensions is supported by an artistic thought, giving the currency a value beyond being purely economic, that is the artistic-cultural value.
A banknote belongs to the language of design and visual communication, yet it is considered by people as a piece of art. Its symbolism offers style options as resources to integrate aesthetics with technique. Its appearance responds to the designs mission, adding conceptual and cultural significance.
The banknote design is based on elementary and technological levels that are decoded by society. The designing of a banknote is a production work, meaning the design process is conceptual. However, the design must be nourished by other structural dimensions, such as theories addressing the design process’s methodologies, as well as current artistic social and cultural environments.
Many visual elements composed on the design of the banknote are geometric figures (circles, squares, triangles, etc), that repeat in symmetry until perceiving a visual expression called geometrical art. The multiple levels of visual expression on the banknotes through abstraction and symbolism offer options of styles and resources to integrate the aesthetic with techniques. The banknote is designed for technical and security levels that will be decoded by people and reading machines.
As societies evolve so does the currency adjusting to changes, adopting new formats including daring and innovative designs. In this way, the currency is a nation’s letter of introduction. It is not surprising that being such an important piece, it becomes a vehicle for artistic expression which reflects a cultural reality.
Banknote design involves analysis and technique among multiple disciplines, this is why criticism of banknotes must be subject to three main elements: the theory that relates to the context and knowledge; the technique that demands the objectivity, and the ideology, which is no more than thoughts that describe cultural and social values, that is to say, human perception.
