#neoplasticism

Round 1, Match 58 — Opium vs. De Stijl

Opium, also known as Vamp, is a fashion and musical aesthetic that originated in the early 2020s, stemming from the artistic direction of Playboi Carti and his record label of the same name, Opium. Visually, the aesthetic is defined by a fusion of avant-garde high fashion (specifically the "darkwear" of Rick Owens and Balenciaga) with the rebellious iconography of 1970s Punk and Black Metal. It represents a shift in hip-hop fashion away from the colorful designer streetwear of the 2010s (e.g., Hypebeast culture) toward a monochromatic, gothic, and silhouette-focused look. Musically, it is associated with "Rage" beats; heavy, distorted synthesizers and erratic vocal performances that mimic the energy of a punk rock mosh pit. The Opium aesthetic draws heavily from German Expressionism (e.g., Nosferatu), occultism, and anarchist imagery. Photography often utilizes "deep-fried" editing, thermal/infrared cameras, or high-flash night photography to create a disorienting, drug-induced atmosphere. Graphic design within the aesthetic references Black Metal logos with illegible, spiky typography, anarchy symbols, and the pervasive "00" numeric branding. Through artists like Ken Carson, the aesthetic often incorporates shock-site imagery and digital decay, documented specifically as Goreweb.

vs.

De Stijl (Dutch for "The Style"), also known as Neoplasticism, was a Dutch art movement founded in Leiden in 1917. Centered around the artist and theorist Theo van Doesburg and the journal of the same name, the movement brought together artists, designers, and architects who advocated for a pure, universal form of abstraction. Proponents of De Stijl believed that art could be a vehicle for spiritual and social harmony, and they sought to achieve this by reducing visual compositions to their essential elements of form and color. The artistic philosophy of the movement, primarily developed by painter Piet Mondrian, was called Neoplasticism. It was governed by a strict set of rules: a visual language restricted to straight horizontal and vertical lines, and a palette limited to the three primary colors (red, blue, and yellow) alongside the "non-colors" of white, black, and gray. In their view, vertical and horizontal lines represented the fundamental dualities of the universe, such as spirit and matter, and their dynamic interplay could create universal balance and order. All subjective elements, including expressive brushwork, curved lines, and naturalistic representation, were eliminated to achieve this objective purity.

Neoplasticism is a child's game.

Source: DailyArt

Still-life

The Book Zone.

Wanted to combine one of my favorite art vanguard (Neoplastism) and one of my favorite BFDI characters (Book).