Capital and commodity

This morning's discussion was on capital and commodity.


Tessa explained the social concept of capitalism as a 'false economy', today the mass reproduction of goods which brain washes cosumers. This social structure is seen as one person's gain is another person's loss. As we are gainning goods for cheaper, the workers that made the products in developing countries are being paid less.



We veiwed through some slides of artworks that explore the fields of the capital and advertising.



The humor of the first slide interested me.


Slide no.1 Les Animaux de la Ferme, 1974 by Marcel Broodthaers. Upon first look, i didnt quite understand the idea, as it was two of the exact images, 2 of the same cow chart with name labelling under each cow. The humor appealed to me, when Tessa explained the names under each cow is actually different brand names of cars, and in the olden days, cattles are the symbol of wealth, equivalent to the status symbol we see with cars. This artwork is descired as '...looking at the way classfication system function...' in the book Modern Art: A critical introduction by Pam Meecham and Julie Sheldon.







http://books.google.co.nz/books?id=uprSdxUJ1N4C&pg=PA5&lpg=PA5&dq=les+animaux+de+la+ferme+marcel+broodthaers&source=bl&ots=yCQVVwQoOa&sig=cW3GZe7q43MaeqtOlPn82l8mFHA&hl=en&ei=NkDyS-_eBISgswOV8Z2PDg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=9&ved=0CDAQ6AEwCA#v=onepage&q=les%20animaux%20de%20la%20ferme%20marcel%20broodthaers&f=false?id=uprSdxUJ1N4C&pg=PA5&lpg=PA5&dq=les+animaux+de+la+ferme+marcel+broodthaers&source=bl&ots=yCQVVwQoOa&sig=cW3GZe7q43MaeqtOlPn82l8mFHA&hl=en&ei=NkDyS-_eBISgswOV8Z2PDg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=9&ved=0CDAQ6AEwCA#v=onepage&q=les%20animaux%20de%20la%20ferme%20marcel%20broodthaers&f=false



Even the word 'brand' originated from the marks owners burns on their cattle's skin, to mark the ownership. The repitition of the images side by side is exploring the ideal about the modern mass reprodcution in the art world, everything is a copy of a copy.


This reminds me of the artwork by Andy Warhol - Big Retrospective painting, 1979



Warhol's artworks are the best example of mass reproduction in repitition of the commodity style prints.
The artwork is very industrial wich links to the ideal of capitalism, where everything is mass produced in factories with under paid workers from foreign countries.






The second slide, The Store by Claes Oldenberg interested me in the way he manipulates the consumer minds. Oldenberg set up a shop and made all the displayed content out of the same material, as he descirbes the whole thing as a 'super texture super-collage'.







‘I find it quite natural. to work under the conditions of American technical civilisation. I know every effect, every result of the technical working processes and I believe I can control them.’ - Claes Oldenberg.

The objects in the 'Store' can not be brought, as they are not real. It can be seen as a resistance from the items themselves towards the consumers.
'The ‘political’ dimension, on which he set his sights, consequently lay in a return to the non-alienated craftsman’s existence of a pre-capitalist economy in the midst of an American society based on the division of labour. In the art world of The Store there was not a single thing that he could not potentially have been able to produce and sell.' - Michael Luthy Archiv
This work explores the idea that the modern capitalism economies can trade everything with money still there are things that could not be brought, and objects can say no to being purchased.
http://www.michaelluethy.de/scripts/claes-oldenburg-the-store-history-of-sculpture/

Tessa then showed us abit of the film- They live, directed by Carpenter, John.
To me it gave a very dominant social political message about the domination of the advertisments and how it is brainwashing the society, because the commercials are clearly telling us what to do.
The rich and consuming citizens in the movies were shown to be zombies undercover. What interested me was when Tessa stopped the film when the old lady (zombie) said, 'we got one that can see...'
This made me want to watch the rest of the film.


For our blog question today is to look at an AD in detail in terms of how it works, since we are dealing with the art in the consumer world.









This is a tobacco advertisment of the 1950s i found in the book 'All American ADS'


This ad have used a very classic element of promoting it's product, which is using a well known figure, in this case Marlene Dietrich, who was a popular actress and singer at the time. This technique will make consumers want to purchase from this brand because of the words from this celebrity backed up by her reputation and fandom, 'I smoke a smooth cigarette -Luky Strike!'


Additionally the actress is posed in a chair, giving a connotation of elegance and class, which is appealing to the audience, as if this is showing what you will be like if you consum and use this product.
This advertisment not only use visual techniques but also convincing worbal techniques. Statics and research proof is being used here, and consumers tend to trust the words from a lab proven message.


However, one thing it failed to mention is which legitment orgnisation had done the research.


The color choice here also play a good part to compliment the ad to the viewers. Red Black and white is the dominant colors, again reinforcing the simple elegance, also giving it a very formal appearance with the bold colors. The veiwer's eyes will be drawn towards the red letters then to the red logo on the cigarette package. So it helps the eyes to move around between the visual objects to the texts and around to the actress.


The simple colors are also well used for the foundamental need, to make the reading easy for the consumers.


So it is successful in it's appeal to the crowd.

This week's topic is really useful for me as i will be dealing with some of the commodity art in my up comming essay, where i would be exploring the role of woman in ADs. Additionally im keen to watch the rest of 'They live' in my spare time, as it looks like a very entertainning film with a very strong moral to drive the film's motif.

Materiality, Surface, Affect, Site.

This week's topic covers the concept around materials, surfaces, affects and the locations; these are the 4 elements that is essential for artists to compose their artworks.

Firstly, Tessa discussed what the word Materiality means. Materiality is materials, she explained it's the 'stuff' that artists acknowledges that they are working with. In art language, it's often refered to as Media. I liked the quote that Tessa gave us of Marshell Mcluhan, 'The medium is the message'.

We viewed through some slides of works that are by artists who explores the idea around the materials they use in their art, here the content becomes irrelavent, and it's the form and what made the art that matters.

Slide no.1 by Rene Magritte 'ceci n'est pas une pipe', is a very classic example of looking seperately at the media and the content. Magritte is playing with the idea round the 'treachery of the images', confronting the viewers the obvious that this is only a picture of a pipe and is not the actual object itself. Therefore the content (which is the pipe) here becomes disregarded and the actual materials that made the painting becomes signified.

I was really interested by the works from Rohan Wealleans, Slide no. 9 and 10.

Wealleans really explores the limit of the media he use to compose his artworks, and his artworks fully emphasis on the power of the art material. He construct forms out of layers of house paint which then he carve into showing the almost organic looking layering of colors. He have been discribed as ' a maximalist with an orgiastic approach to materials, breathing new possibilities into the age-old problem of what to do with paint...' - Emma Bugden from Art & Australia magazine. I was also very excited to have found a critique from Tessa in this article as well, as she states 'The sin of appropriation, as committed by Picasso, Gauguin, et al., is here reappraised and perhaps resuscitated.' -Tessa Laird
http://www.artaustralia.com/article.asp?issue_id=189&article_id=209

A picture that came to my head when looking at the layers of paint being carved into was the paint fragment that was found in Belmont Art Park in Los Angeles. (also known as Graffiti Art Park).

This fragment is 1cm thick and shows the build up of paint over many years. Different to Wealleans's works where he layered the paints himself, this fragment is made up of paint layers from different people accumilated through years and years, almost to say it's a form of community artwork.

I like the way that this artform was made unintentionally and at the same time explores the idea that media itself is the art.

Continuing down the slides, we moved on to looking at the qualities of surface.

The work i liked the most was Marilyn Monroe by Andy Warhol, it's also a very iconic piece. I really like the machine made quality to the work. I liked the way that Tessa explained the artwork is 'moving away from the hand of the individual to reproduction.' This work not only shows the flatness surface quality of the work, it also explores the superficial surface of the rich and famous. I wasn't able to find the quote that Tessa told us in class, but i found another quote that i rather liked, and to me it shows just how shallow the superficial can be.

'If you want to know all about Andy Warhol, just look at the surface of my paintings and films and me, and there I am. There's nothing behind it. ' -Andy Warhol

http://www.oregonlive.com/art/index.ssf/2010/04/scarecrow_exhibit_at_reed_coll.html

One album cover of Madonna shared extreme similarities with the style of the Marilyn Monroe prints, with the usage of flat, bright colors. Which is ironic as this is also a picture of a celebrity.

Tessa then discussed the word 'Affect' as sensory experience. It's the impact upon viewing, that cause senses through out the body. The word is almost always used when talking about art.

I wish i could see the Flower house by Sara Hughes in person. As it's such an amazing scale of work, with warm bright colors, combined with movement. It would be like walking past a wave of flowers. The over whelming swam of colors reminded me of a work i came across in class before by Wolfgang Laib. The bright yellow flower pollen he was carefully laying on the floor, the big square of bright yellow would have been a very amazing sight.

The last topic of the day was Site. Site is where the artist work, could also be where the artist present his/her art. This is very important as to some artists the location is part of their work. My favourite work from the slides is Spiral Jetty by Robert Smithson, 1971. The work is forever changing due to the tide and the salt in the lake, but what is truely remarkable is the artwork is now part of the nature, it has become apart of the scene. I found an analysis on the location and the artwork,

'Smithson built "Spiral Jetty" in the country's saltiest lake. He chose a site called Rozel Point on the northeast shore because he liked the dark pink color of the water, an effect that results primarily from bacteria and algae that grow there. ' - Melissa Stanford.

http://www.robertsmithson.com/essays/sanford.htm

this make me think a street artist Edgar Mullar.

Mullar uses the pavement as his canvas. Seeing his art also linked back to the idea around 'Affect', as his works tricks your eyes and gives the viewer a 'wow' experience.

This week's discussion was really interesting. Im really amazed at what the artists explore with their art, and to think that the material alone can be the art is a fresh concept to me. It also make me more aware of the importance of the choice of material, surface, impact and location when creating an artwork. Which are somethings i need to put in more thought when i make my own pieces.

Note to Tessa: I wish to base my essay on the topic male gaze, i want to discuss how are women portraited visually in men's favor and the impact on women today. So i'd talk alittle on Erving Goffman's study on body language in 'Gender Advertisment'. Im still working on researching on Kristian Burford and Yvonne Todd.

Mythologies and Science Fiction.

This week's topic is about one of my favourites: dreams and Sci-Fi.

We talked about the link between dreams and mythology, as mythology is based on what people fantasize in their dreams, which is supported by Freudian theory of the 'conscious and unconscious mind'.

What interested me at the beginning of the class was when Tessa explained the difference between archetype and stereotype. As these two elements are just about used in all the Science fiction medias. Prior to the class i thought there's no difference between the two words, even after the explaination from Tessa the line between those two words is still blurry, as both of them share a common meaning, and that is the representation of an ideal type. I came to a better understanding of the words after i did alittle more digging on the internet for the difference between the words,
'-An archetype is the typical example of something, or the "original" for a number of "copies."It also is used to describe a universal symbol, e.g. heart = love.


-Stereotype is an oversimplification of something, or taking something "unique" and reducing it to one or two generic traits.'
http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/129238



Tessa then showed the class some slides that deals with the concept of dreams, mythology and Science fiction. I find it facinating looking at slide number 4. Robing the Bride by Max Ernst. Ernst being a supportor of Sigmund Freud's studies, incorperated many of ideas from Freud and used them in his painting. He was dedicated to making 'art of the unconscious'.

This work is interesting also for the time it was painted, which i think had an effect on this work. Around the time this painting was created, Ernst was having several love affairs, despite the fact he have a wife and a son. One particular relationship he had was with another surrealist artist Leonora Carrington. Maybe she was an idea used in the painting??





http://www.brooklynrail.org/2005/05/artseen/max-ernst-a-retrospective5/05/artseen/max-ernst-a-retrospective


In the painting the woman figure is transforming into a bird like creature, similar to the half human half bird like creature on her left, this links directly to Egyptain mythlogical beings. A reason for the usage of birds was the memory of the death of his pet bird on the same night that his sister was born.

'confounding the images of human beings with birds and other creatures. The bird part is a symbol of freedom, and free will, while the human part represents the superego, focusing on control' - Max Ernst
http://gallagherseniorhonors.blogspot.com/2008/05/creative-mind-and-life-of-max-ernst.html

After the further research, i understood the idea of the link between a one's unconcious mind- dreams, creates inspirations and fantasies.

This connects nicely to a more modern fantasy concept, in slide number. 18-21 by Cao Fei.
here the models are dressed up as cartoon characters, though looking like they are from another world, and living out their fantasy, overly cramped apartment lifestyle and heavily polluted city scape in the distant background is the reality that they are living in.

May the Fourth being 'Star Wars' Day, we analysed the original movie (1977). The character i wish to study on is Luke Skywalker.
The character to me is a representation of a classic hero, an ideal 'stereotypical hero'.

The Stereotypical classic hero will always bare some of the following qualities:
Young, good looking, brave and ambitious. However often uncertain before their 'wake up call', they are seen as too strong headed, naive or not ready to fight yet. Sometimes, even unwilling to be involved in the situation, as the character might be traumatized from similar events or simply dont wish to get into the violence.

Luke's character was seen in the beginning of the film as being a dreamer, who desires adventures. The scene with the twin suns setting the horizon captures that fantasy/dream like world of Luke Skywalker. An event will occur that will set the classic hero to a quest, which will be the main drive of the plot for the story. The event often being the slaughtering/ endangering of the character's family member(s), concequently setting the character off to revenge and battle the evil. On the hero's way, he/she will encounter very stereotypical characters, like Obi-Wan Ben, who is the classic wise old man, similar to characters such as Dumbledore from Harry Potter or Dandulf from Lord of the Rings. This character will provide as a guide for the hero on his path, more than often they are the ones to provide the symbolic weapon for the hero.
In the first Star Wars film, the quest was for Luke to become a Jedi Knight, after the death of his uncle and aunty.









A character that comes straight into my head is Jonny Rico from Starship Troopers (1997), directed by Paul Verhoeven. Similar to Luke, Jonny was a dreamer, he dreamed of being a hero and do humanity proud, but his determination was put in doubt after the death of a team mate, loosing his courage he was ready to return home, it is then his home was destroyed and his family was killed that sparked his quest to revenge his parents.

Almost every story of a hero will follow this pattern, and their motive will be engine that drives the plot. Some of my favourite film references of the classic hero that all follows the same pattern are Red Sonja (1985) by Richard Fleischer, Daredevil directed by Mark Steven Johnson, Elektra by Rob Bowman, Clash of the Titans (2010) by Louis Leterrier.

All the above films feature the linear pattern of the Classic hero and conquers evil.

A game worth mentioning on this topic is Mass effect 2, where the game itself is very much like a movie, and you are playing as Commander Shepard, who is the hero/heroine (gender and appearance by player's choice). What kind of person Commader Shepard choose to be is completely by player's choice, and each choice will contribute to how your story ends. This game really explores the 'Hero' character in depth, it lets you feel what it's really like as a hero, how people treat you and the weight you carries on your shoulder knowing that lives may end by consequences of your choice of action.




(unfinnished painting of my Commander Shepard)







I really enjoyed this week's discussion on concept of Mythology and Science fiction, and i was interested in learning about the connection it have to the Freudian theories on the 'unconscious mind', which is the start of Surrealistic artists. I am a fan of Surrealism art and Science fiction, and wish to compose the dream like fantasy elements into my own practice.