Neoliberal Corporate Surrealism - Aesthetic Highlight #19

[Emmy Fitz]

Neoliberal Corporate Surrealism (1990s)

Neoliberal Corporate Surrealism is an aesthetic that was popular during the first chunk of the '90s. A style adjacent to Global Village Coffeehouse, it was seen in many corporate economic and tech-related magazines from the time, notable for its soft colors and shapes inspired by various art movements from the early 20th century.

This style reminds me of something I saw as a child but I can't quite put my finger on it. A board game, maybe? Maybe my grandparents' old copy of Taboo or Scattergories? Not sure.​

 

[SolidStateSurvivor]

I always associated this style with old Microsoft clip art.

I actually kinda like the airbrushed styled ones that wackily merge business people with old technology, but my god I hate the weirdly proportioned ones that ended up becoming the modern "big tech"/"globhomo" art style.

 

[kodeb8]

I unironically like this more than the fucking "corporate memphis" style.

 

[nakadashi]

I always associated this style with old Microsoft clip art.
View attachment 71008

I actually kinda like the airbrushed styled ones that wackily merge business people with old technology, but my god I hate the weirdly proportioned ones that ended up becoming the modern "big tech"/"globhomo" art style.

Jesus I have memories of me playing with Microsoft PowerPoint for literal hours as a child.
I didn't have internet back then so I naturally gravitated towards the only program that had pretty colors lmao.
Apparently that was a generational thing since I've heard some youtubers around my age talking how they used to play with PowerPoint lol.

 

[selfKaiHarness]

I missed that style back then, it made me feel comfy by just looking at old clip art from the 90s. I wish that style would come back, had so much character and soul than Corporate Men's piss style.

 

[Vaporsleep]

I always associated this style with old Microsoft clip art.
View attachment 71008

I actually kinda like the airbrushed styled ones that wackily merge business people with old technology, but my god I hate the weirdly proportioned ones that ended up becoming the modern "big tech"/"globhomo" art style.

I have memories of these *exact* ones way back when lil vw was typing up shitty one-page papers in the school computer lab. Simpler times.

 

[SolidStateSurvivor]

Jesus I have memories of me playing with Microsoft PowerPoint for literal hours as a child.

I used to do the same thing, PowerPoint, Windows Movie Maker, and Paint were my go to's as a kid. I'd try to make animations in it but also try and make actual power points on things I liked to "present" to my parents. Part of the reason I'm so fond of old websites/geocities is that a lot of my "research" for those would lead me into those sorts of hobbyist sites.

 

[Emmy Fitz]

 

[Captain]

Unlike Corporate Mempiss.....this continues the optimism of the 90s forward. It sort of paints an fuzzy feeling in your mind while conveying ideas that otherwise wouldn't. It's not unlike the Netscape splash screen that bends your idea of reality around an artistic inturpritation. As with that Netscape screen, it is similar to its romantic personification of the early web. This is what 1995 looked and felt like.

 

[brentw]

As others have mentioned, despite some similarities to Corporate Memphis, I actually appreciate this style.
I don't think it's just nostalgia, although I'll admit I have nostalgic feelings for it. There's more to this art than corporate Memphis.
More effort. More emotion. This still feels like legitimate art, whereas modern globohomo styles like Corporate Memphis feel like the antithesis of art.

 

[Emmy Fitz]

 

[Punp]

The art from this movement had some solid themes:

Abstraction of the human form into meeple-shaped proportions with chunky, rectangular limbs and small, sideways-facing heads

Emulation of analogue art styles (chalk, ink, linocut)

Dream-like vistas and clouds

Visual analogues, metaphors and thematic focus (i.e. small units of meaning which made them apt for clipart)

There was an art reference book that used to be distributed to advertising angencies with example pieces from artists which was full of this. I will research and return when I can find the name of the publication.