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It could be said that the Lascaux Caves are where visual communication first started. the images depicted are of animals, human figures and abstract signs. These images could be a representation of tasks carried out through the painters lives. To me, I find the idea of human's treating visual communication pieces interesting, and the juxtaposition of how art was created, and the overall visual aesthetic back then to what people perceive as art now is intriguing.
Richard Long's attempted to describe that there are themes of ancient, primal movement laced within modern contemporary art. He challenges this idea by clearly presenting people with pieces that clearly contain similar colours, shapes and routine as of those created when the world first started, and society back then expressed forms of art.
Display methods in general, within exhibitions, drive to play on emotion. The way pieces of art are institutionalised can effect the pieces that are being displayed, and in turn influence peoples emotions. Society can also be automatically coded to think certain thoughts caused by hype that surrounds certain exhibitions, artists and individual pieces. A certain example of this is the Papel Altar and Frescoes. These paintings that surround onlookers seem to be surrounded by this hype that you can reach higher state of consciousness, by viewing images of dominance. These collections that represent power, tower above as you gaze.
The famous Mona Lisa painting has always, and will be surrounded by this sense of individual, intricate beauty, that no one is really conscious of why it is so famous. To me, it is one of them paintings that people have a desire and drive to see just so they can say they have seen it. hundreds of tourists each day scramble to catch a glimpse of this painting. I went to Paris and walked all the way to The Louvre. The queue filled the museum square. To be honest I did have the intention on seeing the Mona Lisa, hover, I still didn't understand why people would want to see a painting that in comparison looks a lot like paintings of that era.
Banksy and many street artist take the idea of viewing art to be exclusive and particular and turns it on it's head by creating art in places that anyone can see. The images that are created are powerful, and a lot of the time hard-hitting and controversial.
To me, Jackson Pollock is just like anyone else. What he produced wasn't special, and to me anyone could do it. Pollock was glorified, and made into this symbol of western decadence. Pollock did play a large role in how art developed and evolved, however his pieces don't really have any significance to me. His paintings may have started off with a meaning, however they were neutralised by the masses, which seems to be a habit of society.
Roy Liechtenstein demonstrates the ridiculousness of splatting paint by creating an image of cartoon-style paint. He used the modern pop art style, and turned this popular art style into a piece that ridicules Pollocks glorified, simple paintings that only appealed to the masses. Liechtenstein used this popular culture style to attack other cultures.
Shepard Fairey was employed to created presidential posters for Obama. The posters created proved to be an iconic success and have been re-appropriate within popular-culture. However, a few years later, Shepard Fairey fought back against communism and society by turning the original design on it's head. In a way, he contextualised his own creating and used it against America to show corruption.
Nick Ut's photographs communicate human tragedy in a way that shocks delicate, blind and ignorant members of society. He creates powerful messages using photography, that make people really think about how the other half lives. For me, it is difficult to look at these images of people the second before they are murdered.
The Guerrilla girls fought against misogamy, sexism and racism within modern art in the 80's. Their poster's on billboards demonstrated the importance of size, and public viewing of their strong messages and statistics. The statistics they use really make you think, and personally because I am doing animation, I do see how the art world is very male driven. I haven't come across a lot of sexism just yet because we are all young, but from what I've heard, the institutions are extremely male driven as well. Even from reading animation books, you can clearly see how the male mind perceive themselves as being superior.
England is considered to be an interesting, photogenic and symbolic piece of commissioned art. Constables "The Haywain" clearly depicts symbolism and society of that age. The scenic landscape, the classic english architect and slaves working peacefully in the distance. When fully analysing this piece, you can clearly see the power behind each detail. England will always be a place of class wars, and it is demonstrated perfectly within this piece.
The juxtaposition between what was considered success years ago, and success and happiness now is drastic. demonstrated in the painting "Mr and Mrs Andrews" the idea of happiness and completeness is visualised by presenting us with a couple, a large beautiful landscape, expensive extravagant clothes and a gun. Even in the cardboard body language you can see how much poet Mr Andrews has. However, nowadays within advertisement, happiness and success is depicted through images of large families showing expressions of joy and wealth. This has caused society to feel incomplete without the fantasy of a happy family, and feel that they are obsolete without the company.
Oliviero Toscani's most famous photograph is of David Kirby dying of aids, surrounded by his family. This image to me is extremely hard hitting and powerful. Some may say the image relates to christ, an image that transcends suffering and existential torture.
Another interesting form of visual communication is Victorian Post Mortem Photography. It seems like a bizarre idea, to dress the deceased in formal clothes, and take pictures of them to try and create life within an image. These images have an extremely eerie feeling once you find out that the subject is dead. Some may say that these are images of playing god or cheating death through attempting to create life through something lifeless.
Overall, I found this lecture extremely interesting. I enjoy exploring various styles and images of visual communication, and creating an understanding of different opinions, and how society perceive what they see as works of art.
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