Contemporary Illustration - links - Abstract Art

I read a chapter of this book looking at illustration in reference to abstract art. A lot of Male's theories really correlate with my understanding of abstract art movements of the past, and how I would see them to influence contemporary illustration. 

KEY QUOTES :

‘Illustration practice is not judged purely by visual literacy and technical qualities, but is a discipline that is firmly established as one that engenders the best intellectual engagement with subject matter, problem solving and visual communication’ - therefore how does it relate to abstract expressionism? how can we achieve a purer form of abstraction in illustration? - examples Nicolas Burrows, Atelier Bingo etc. 

Conceptual illustration 

‘This implies a way of depicting content by utilising a number of ideas and methods of communication, illusion, symbolism and expressionism’ 

‘This type of visual stylization started to evolve during the 1950s, in the United States when issues and themes, as publicised in magazines, were becoming more critical and complex. There seemed a need to present the viewer with much more enigmatic and ambiguous images that invited deeper interpretation’

‘Today, it its photography and not drawing that dominates the pages of magazines and roadside billboards’ ‘this has presented illustrators with a much more challenging role; to be both interpretative and to convey the ‘texture’ of a topic or idea rather than, like photography, present just the ‘veneer’ or ‘surface’ of the subject’ - same as impressionism!

‘Surrealism, abstract expressionism and cubism have provided illustrators with immeasurable influence regarding the nature of imagery, exemplified by the expressive application of color and form that marries elements of realism and abstraction’ - supporting a direct relation between the two. 

‘The biggest influence on conceptual illustration : surrealism’ - look at the work of Rene Magritte! 

‘Abstract; stylistically abstruse and unpictorial, free from representation’

'Sought to develop pictorial forms which would express innermost feelings rather than represent the outside world. They employed exaggeration, distorted and vivid colours rendered with a vigorous energy. This form of image-making, which employs such described effects and painterly treatments has been and can be seen throughout all contexts of illustration practice’

Male, A (2007). Illustration, A theoretical and contextual perspective . Switzerland : AVA Publishing . p54-70.