Costume Design 

Vadym Meller made this costume design using gouache, watercolor and paper, a combination of modest materials. The design is striking, isn’t it? Notice how the paint is applied: the stark, geometric shapes, the thinness of the paper, and the ways in which Meller coaxes out form and depth with carefully placed color. This approach to art-making comes from Russian Constructivism, which really exploded after the Russian Revolution of 1917, and greatly influenced the aesthetics of modern theater, as well as architecture and product design. Constructivism sought to find a universal visual language that was free from the burden of history. The movement was committed to abstraction, utility, and industrial materials. This was a moment of immense social upheaval, where artists hoped that their practices could somehow contribute to the creation of a new world. Costume design, then, was a way of shaping what that world would look like, one figure at a time.