One last thing. These are a series of lectures given over the past few years on a variety of different subjects by academic super heros. Fairly intense but very interesting.
find them here
Thursday, 2 October 2008
Russian Revolution Propoganda Posters
There's something about these images I have always loved - the colours, the slightly absurd content, the stylisation of them. The proliferation of these colourful images transformed towns in the communist state, and in effect created a street art that was available to all.
The big designers were:
A. Sokolov
B Lebeshev
Adolf Strakhov
Shassi Kobelev
V Malakhow
if you wanted to know...
El Lissitsky
Famous Russian artist and graphic designer, as well as being proficient in about every other form of design. Hugely influential in the Bauhaus movement as well as constructivism. A bit of a 'don'. His work has huge appeal to me, so very stylised.
David Hopkins - Dada and Surrealism
To find out more about the stuff below, I suggest reading this book, it's fairly short and gives a comprehensive overview of both movements.
Dada and Surrealism
Dada is an artistic movement that began in Switzerland, but then spread across Europe primarily to Paris, and then to America due to some of the movements main 'players', Marcel Duchamp, Francis Picabia and Man Ray. Andre Breton is worth noting here, but he was arguably more influential in the Surrealist movement I think, as were the others to an extent.
Their activities covered many spectrums including the publication of journals, public gatherings and demonstrations, literature, film, graphic design, theatre and visual art. The funny thing is is that Dada is 'anti-art' art. It was a reaction to the bourgeois art world, they embraced chaos, they were reacting against the traditional aesthetics of art, they were intentionally 'opposite'. They looked to offend, and there is an underlying sense of wit and humour to their work.
It eventually evolved into Surrealism, but there are distinct differences between the two (books have been written on the subject, not enough space here...!). It was again a cultural movement that embraced art, film and the written word (La Revolution Surrealiste is of particular importance). Elements of surprise, juxtaposition and expression are apparent in their work, and I'm sure many of you are very familiar with a lot of the paintings and the artists involved in this movement.
There's so much on this subject to go and read, I find it really fascinating and the concepts behind a lot of the work is very applicable to anyones work today - it's an alternative way of looking at things. To sum up, Andre Breton once said whilst discussing Aesthetics,
"From a surrealist point of view, the way in which a picture is painted is virtually irrelevant. It is the mental reality that the picture 'looked onto' that is all important."
Images 1 - Rene Margritte, Time Transfixed
Image 2 - Joan Miro - Naked woman climing staircase
Images 3 & 4 - examples of Dada graphics
Image 5 - very funny. L.H.O.O.Q. when pronounced in French reads, 'She has a hot ass'...
Vienesse Actionism
Having mentioned this so much, I may as well explain further. It was an art movement that belonged to a group of Austrians who grew up with the memory of WW2; their work was a reaction against the political oppresion and socail hypocrasy of their country at the time. The main participants were Gunter Brus (below), Otto Muhl, Hermann Nitsch and Rudolf Schwarzkogler.
They loved nakedness, violence, destruction and general degredation. Their work does differ visually, but there are distinct aesthetic and thematic trends between them. To explain this, Otto Muhl said, "...material action is painting that has spread beyond the picture surface. The human body, a laid table or a room becomes the picture surface. Time is added to the dimension of the body and space."
A strange bunch really...
(2nd image - Robert Schwarzkogler, 3rd image - Otto Muhl)
There's an intersting article about them here.
Gunter Brus
Gunter Brus was an Austrian performance artist, draughtsman, painter and film maker, and was born in 1938. With others he was a founder-member of the Aktionismus group (Viennese Actionism). Brus conceived of his Aktionen (action - call to art) in terms of paintings, where the body occupied the centre of a clearly defined space. Just as he had previously scratched and degraded the fabric of his paintings to the point of destruction whilst working in such a medium, in his Aktionen he portrayed various acts of self-mutilation.
In his Aktionen after 1967, Brus pushed himself to further physical and mental extremes as he analysed his own body and its functions. Symbolism was generally dispensed with in the performances, as Brus publicly urinated, defecated and cut himself with a razor-blade.
In his work entitled 'Self Paining', Brus covered his whole body in white paint, and then painted black lines over himself to suggest cracks. The collaged pins, razor blades and pen-knife take on the ritual significance of tools of torture, making Brus's body like that of a saint. By using his body in this way, Brus was trying to introduce raw human emotion into art (as opposed to symbolising it, as mentioned earlier). The collage is typical of the counter-culture which encompassed the Vienesse Actionists.
I think Brus himself sums up everything (if it's not already blatently obvious!!)
"Breaking taboos has almost become a style in my work."
Extreme stuff I'm sure you'll agree...
Robert Mapplethorpe
Robert Mapplethorpe was an American photographer known for his large-scale, highly stylized black and white portraits, photos of flowers and naked men. The frank, homosexual eroticism of some of the work of his middle period triggered a more general controversy about the public funding of artworks.
Although his work deals with sex (in particular, homosexuality), violence, and race, three extremely sensitive and often confrontational themes, its pristine quality enabled his photography to bridge the gap between provocative subject matter and artistic respectability.
Mapplethorpe's notoriety came from a series of sexually explicit photographs of Manhattan's gay community which he made during the 1970s. The implied violence and sadomasochism of some of these images have caused some to label them pornography. Others feel that because Mapplethorpe was a part of the community which he recorded, he helped New York gays to define themselves in a positive way. Even now, seven years after his death, wherever his work is exhibited it is accompanied with outcries of moral outrage. Mapplethorpe explored the extremities of the New York gay scene and documented it for all time. He recognised that it was a period that had a time limit on itself and for him also. The photographs from that period can no longer be taken because the scene has changed so dramatically with the advent of AIDS and also society's increasing tolerance towards homosexuals. He eroticised the leather scene too. His obsessive personality eroticised life and his passion made his subjects icons because of his Catholic background. The leather scene reflected his Catholic background of martyrs suffering violent deaths or enduring self-torture.
There are other photos I would like to include, but they are pure filth, so I haven't...
Diane Arbus
Another photographer people should know about, I find her choice of subjects particularly interesting - often people on the edge of society such as tramps/prostitutes etc (which was contrary to photographic convention at the time), things that 'don't quite fit'. One of her more well known images of two female twins famously inspired Stanley Kubrik in 'The Shining' - the resemblance is obvious. Also of note is the intrinsic dullness of the prints, which adds to the thought provoking content.
Jean - Luc Godard - Weekend
'A film lost in the cosmos/ A film found in the trash'
The trailer is of poor quality and with some oriental subtitles on it, and you can't really see the type, but you do see a bit of the 'long shot'. Well worth watching.
Also as an afterthought, notice the way 'weekend' split up (images at top unfortunately). Like a cul-de-sac. Interesting if you watch the film. A great example of good 'bad' type.
Wednesday, 1 October 2008
Pieter Hugo
Young South African photographer, tipped to be great. Have a look at his website, I particularly like his 'Hyene and other men' series - the interaction between man and beast is of note.
Erwin Blumenfeld
Erwin Blumenfeld is one of the most famous photographers of the 20th century, hailing from Berlin. My particular interest in him leads from his Dada and Surrealist influences. He definitely incorporates the visual language and techniques of these artistic movements. His interesting and experimental images often include processes such as collage, solarisation, multiple exposures and the combination of negative and positive printing. For instance in his work 'city lights', he uses simple props and stage effects to convey the almost fantastical aura of modern (in that day) day life.
Rineke Dijkstra
A dutch photographer (primarily) who I don't really know much about. Saw a half hour long 'film' of hers at a gallery, and couldn't stop laughing (everyone else was silent - although this is 'art', there is a definite element of humour). In it she gets her subjects to stand in front of a camera, puts on some music and lets them get on with 'it', with very differing results from each person. An interesting investigation into the awkwardness of the human. I can only find a couple of crap camera phone videos of it unfortunately and it doesn't do it justice at all (for instance it should be projected with 2 screen next to each other), but anyway...
This third video shows some of his other work, and a bit of the above mentioned video
Nido Bird Food
Lovely illustrations in a really amusing style. Funny concept too, describing your birds as 'sir' or 'madame', giving them a sense of respect.
Calvin Klein
This is a personal response to the question I asked at the end of my Olivero Toscani post.
I can't find any images of it, but Calvin Klein, in 1999, used images of young children in underwear as an advertising campaign.
Unsurprisingly, it was pulled after one day.
I wonder if the reaction would be even stronger in this day in age?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)