Tramsterdam (2024)Acrylic painting by Steve White

The International Typographic Style is also known as the Swiss Style because the Swiss are not only world leaders in banks, chocolate and cheese fondue but also typographic design. Swiss Style originated in the 1940s as a backlash to the more ornate artistic styles such as French Art Nouveau. Swiss Style relied on a pared-back minimal look rather than fancy pants artistic flamboyance. Thus in Swiss Style typeface serifs were out, sans serifs were in, and typeface was manipulated alarmingly as shown by the work of Swiss punk typographer Wolfgang Weingart who handled type like a serial killer, manically hacking fonts to pieces without mercy. The typeface here is the standard sans serif Adams CG PRO. Not filling in the whole of the letters is an attempt to simulate the tracks in which the wheels of Amsterdam trams run. Weingart would undoubtedly have run over 'Tramsterdam' with a tram, slicing it to pieces and reconstructing it at different parts of the canvas. Hey ho.

Materials used:

Acrylics

Details:

• Acrylic painting on Canvas
• One of a kind artwork
• Size: 100 x 70 x 3.5cm (unframed) / 100 x 70cm (actual image size)
• Ready to hang
• Signed on the front
• Style: Graphic, illustrative and typographic
• Subject: Architecture and cityscapes

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