Introduction
Anemoia refers to nostalgia for an era one has never personally encountered; it encapsulates the longing for experiences or objects that are currently absent, such as Frutiger Aero. Through my artistic endeavours, I aim to express my affection for this sentiment and convey to viewers the essence of my emotional experiences. For me, the sensation of anemoia is inherently soothing, often evoked by revisiting locations from my childhood, such as the vividly recalled children's wing of a hospital adorned with fish murals on the walls and suspended from the ceiling while I awaited a check-up. These comforting memories encompass the details mentioned above and reflections on toys, games, and shows from my youth, all of which evoke pleasant recollections of simpler times.
This fascination with the aesthetic emerged from my desire to evoke similar feelings in others. My interpretations of this overlooked aesthetic may resonate with viewers who have encountered it in the past, even if only fleetingly, such as in a store or through digital media. I intend to delve into this aesthetic by recreating my interpretations using imagery from my daily surroundings. Additionally, I will emphasise the absence of human presence, thereby imparting a pristine quality to the scenes, as human activity often disrupts the natural state of environments, rendering them less appealing. Consequently, my artworks will strive to embody a sense of purity and untouched beauty.
Artist Research
A huge inspiration for this art style is Christian Riese Lassen; he is best known for being able to paint a vibrant, idealised vision of the natural world and its oceans; he was inspired by moving to the Hawaiian island of Maui as a child. The precision of his work showcases his ability to schedule ahead and his extreme organisational skills. Being an artist is the only career he has ever had. He was born to be an artist, and his paintings are in museums and exclusive private collections worldwide.
'It is called "marine art" and depicts the nature of the South Sea in a glittering style with the central motifs of Hawaii's undersea landscapes and marine life, such as dolphins.
The work gained popularity as inexpensive prints, lithographs, and jigsaw puzzles. Because the painting business method was extensively involved in improving its popularity in Japan, it was ignored by the art world's mainstream, just like Hiro Yamagata, due to his antipathy to its sales strategy.' – Wikipedia, Japan.
Three other artists that inspire are music artists, one of them being Infinity Frequencies on Spotify, more specifically their album Computer Afterlife (2014), as the cover art contains an old box computer in the middle of a blue, shiny background that is semi-low quality, thus fitting the early internet aesthetic. The music album contains multiple instrumental tracks that include a mellow and simple melody that is sometimes lightly muffled to make it seem old; all the while, some white noise is playing in the background, as this brings out reverbs and adds clarity.
The other artist on Spotify who has inspired me is Xploshi, with their album Rafflesia Online (2023). The album's cover is a glassy flower on a blue background with some light shining down, making it look glassy and shiny. The music consists of simple beats with a catchy melody that feels like it belongs in a shopping centre from the early 2000s and the internet in the same period; it's almost dream-like.
Another musical artist inspired me is Frutiger Aero: Final Destination (2024) by Koday Jackson. The background of the album cover consists of a small mix of light, a green and white blur. In contrast, the middle ground shows shiny cartoon-looking leaves with water droplets reflecting off light, and the foreground contains the globe in green with glossy features on its surface and more light reflecting off it, all while a green cartoon butterfly sits on its top. All the songs include simple beats and melodies, along with sounds you don't often hear in modern music, which helps make the music sound more retro and contain little base. Depending on the song's tempo, it seems dream-like, almost as if you're transported to the past, where there was nothing to worry about.
These songs make me feel nostalgic for times I have never experienced, and they also fit in with the theme I chose for my project.
Research on the topic
Frutiger Aero is a design aesthetic popular from the mid-2000s to the early 2010s. It was presented with a fresh, refined, calm style that succeeded the Y2K aesthetic. "Frutiger Aero" comes from Adrian Frutiger, a Swiss typeface designer who created many humanist typefaces in older computing interfaces and Windows Aero. The typefaces feature a glassy look for reflective control buttons and window borders.
Frutiger Aero was prevalent in user interfaces, internet aesthetics, tech, marketing, and logos to make the viewers notice the target more. Some design elements of Frutiger Aero include Glossy, shiny textures, a tertiary colour palette, bubbles, sparkling bokeh, grass, flowers, and nature (like butterflies and sealife).
Images used for inspiration
(Windows Vista, by Microsoft)
My experimentations
Latest to oldest, inspired by the various aspects of the aesthetic, including underwater and technology,
Final pieces
As these images were printed, I chose the size of A2 so that there is a border around the physical, enlarged image so it doesn't get damaged while presented. Seeing as the room that these images have been presented in shows a lot of natural light, and I found out that the reflections on the smooth paper make it appear glossy, better than I could have imagines it.
