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.