Saturday, April 13, 2013

your turn


15 comments:

Anonymous said...

I really enjoyed looking at poster art last class. I have always had a lot of posters on the walls of my room for various artists, bands and sports teams, and I have always found them to be very unique works of art. The posters we looked at from the 1960’s and 1970’s by American artists really struck me as interesting in the messages they conveyed. It didn’t matter what they were advertising but they incorporated a sense of humor, which is also a popular theme in posters today. The posters seem to emulate the new relaxation in moral and social values that have been known to take place during this period. This was a time when racial, gender and social barriers were beginning to be questioned. This can be seen in the poster of the pregnant man which questions traditional gender roles. Also the poster of the American Indian man eating the Jewish rye bread symbolizes the break down of religious and ethnic barriers during this time period, and lends to the idea of cultural experimentation. There is also a hint of the anti-war “hippie” culture as well in the psychedelic poster by Wes Wilson. All of these posters are inspiring because they illustrate that the youth of this time period were questioning the societal norms and asserting their individuality proudly.

Brittany Tyson

Anonymous said...

Our discussion on Polish posters was of great interest to me, particularly the way the artists used the poster, and other visual mediums, in response to the communist regimes. I was drawn by how the artists used surrealism as a backhanded, angst-filled tool for subversion.

I certainly agree that poster art has suffered a steady demise since the 1990’s, but I’m not sure to what this can be attributed. Posters are meant to be displayed in a public space in order to announce whatever message is being conveyed. Certainly in the US and other “developed” countries, the poster has been usurped by other mediums of visual communication—video billboards, animated web banners, among others-- that while they catch the viewers attention, they many times fail to have the depth of impact of a well done, well placed poster. Could it be the decline, or evolution, of the public sphere into a more private sphere?

PS – Here’s a great Bulgarian artist, Luba Lukova, who I feel was influenced by Polish artists. She grew up in the iron curtain and migrated to the US in the 1980’s. You’ll find a hint of the surrealism of the polish artists in her work.

http://altpick.com/lubalukova


Eddy Lopez

Anonymous said...

As a college student I see posters everywhere. They cover the walls on my house and of the walls of all of my friends’ houses. Posters are all around us because they are cheap forms of art that is mass-produced. It is a form of art that can be loved and appreciated by all social classes. Along with the innovation of poster art, came the increase of art bought by people of lower economic statuses. Just as the invention of the moveable type press made books affordable to the poor; poster art has made artwork available to the poor. Opening up a whole new world of culture and creativity to new minds. The spreading of art and knowledge of art is an essential part to its progression. Without spreading the gift of art, and keeping it within the same, like-minded people will cause it to become stagnant and essentially everything that makes art, art.

- Adam Berger

Anonymous said...

Posters are an interesting form of art because the main purpose of it is not just the art itself but the message it conveys. Compared to art that we look at in a museum where we interpret and analyze the beauty of the art and a deeper meaning behind it seen from the artists view and mind. However posters can be very nice designed and should perhaps also be placed in museums just for that reason! The decline of and negative impact on posters since 1990 is due to the evolution of technology and the fact that this generation have a need to interact with art they are exposed to. As we mentioned before in class, Instagram! Perhaps that would be a new way to get people to appreciate posters again if they were done in a social media perspective such as a poster app where you could touch different elements on the poster and read some interesting fact about that specific element etc. However, there is something nostalgic about the old fashion typical poster and maybe the value of the poster and the appreciation of its art would remain stronger if we kept it like that.

Jenny Finnman Leanderson

xiaodong chang said...

For the last week class, I am very interested in the Polish posters. I think there are a lot of high quality art and design in these Polish posters. And I know the Polish poster is very famous in the world. Polish posters know how to combine the requirement of government and the personal opinions of the designers. And there are many different styles of art, such as surrealism, expressionism, fauvism, etc. Polish poster also was influenced by the WW2. Just after the war, Polish government began to raise a claim to the posters, just like China. In China, during the liberation, almost all of the posters should public the Chinese Communist Party. All the posters should praise and advocate the Chairman Mao. I hear from my mother, when she was a child, each family should hang a poster of Chairman Mao in their room. If you don’t have means you don’t support Chinese Communist Party. You will deserve very serous and cruel punishment.

Xiaodong Chang

Remi Wachtenheim said...

I loved looking at the posters last class, especially the ones that involved humor. It really made me realize that an image does not need to be intense, striking, or startling to have an impact and be remembered. Sometimes, like William Taubin and Howard Zieff depict in their rye bread advertisement, being funny can also cause a viewer to stop and consider what you are saying. While any viewer would laugh at the image in their 1967 poster, “You don't have to be Jewish to love Levy’s” it also speaks to a time when America’s broad range of foreign cultures stuck together in tightknit groups. Ads like these helped integrate the cultures into the true melting pot that America is today. Bill Atherton and Alan Brooking’s poster for family planning in the 1960s is yet another humorous image with a deeper meaning. It not only promotes safe sex and urges men to think before they engage in unprotected sex, but also playfully challenges typical gender roles. Both of these posters achieve the same lasting result as a blatantly intense ad meant to shock the viewer would.

bmurr said...

I also really liked the variety of the posters from last class. The humor I think was so much more funny that a lot of the ads today in my opinion, today's advertising seems like they try to hard. I loved the ones that looked very detailed and lots of stark contrast because that reminds me of my artistic style and they gave me some inspiration. I was especially astounded by the Laberynth video, I think I can honestly say I've never seen something like that. It was so strange yet intriguing it was almost as if the whole clip came from the brain of someone on LSD or acid because I just had no idea what was coming next. It was so creative, with the weird crocodile with little legs and the bird that looked like it had Edgar Allen Poe's head. I really would like to find out more about it and see where exactly they got their inspiration from. I showed the video to several of my friends and got mostly the same reactions. My favorite poster was the Marlboro Man not just because I like the imagery and composition of the ad, but because that image is what I think of when I see Marlboros. Maybe I had seen that ad a long time ago and it stuck in my head, but all the image says is "Marlboro Man," but those two words say that a man who smokes marlboros is a tough, rugged man. It's simple but so effective.

Bailey Murray

Anonymous said...

I was very surprised to hear about the times article about algebra. Thank you for bringing it to our attention because it was super interesting. I think his ideas about why it should be eliminated are ridiculous. Math is about exercising your brain and challenging yourself. Just because it may not be useful in life doesn’t mean that learning it in school won’t make you a smarter person. If a subject is a roadblock to someone graduating, it does not mean it should be eliminated. Why not eliminate English and History for anyone it challenges. We didn’t talk about Sieff and Taubin’s You Don’t Have to be Jewish to love Levy’s. But I think it is very cute and funny and I really appreciated it. I did not like how Mieczyslaw reverted to the gothic. I am usually impressed by gothic architecture, but I find the art ugly and unappealing.

If anyone else was interested in the article, here is the link to it...

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/29/opinion/sunday/is-algebra-necessary.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

Justine Fenner

Unknown said...

Poster art is some of my favorite art. Above all other forms it is for an audience and has an intended message. You don't make a poster just to make a poster. You have a purpose whether it be to advertise a product, an event or to call attention to an issue or rally support for a cause. There are so many reasons. But posters are unique because they are art. Not only does your message have to be readable but attractive and attention getting. It's a flyer and a protester all in one. The poster that I loved most from the last lecture was the Jimi Hendrix poster by Waldemar Swierzy. It came up twice in the blog in Polish posters and as an influence to the Cuban Revolutionary posters. The color pops off the muted background as if it were glowing paired with the expression on Jimi Hendrix’ face pulls in the audience and I thinks tells us a lot about the music behind the poster.

Unknown said...

Although I was not able to attend class last week, I am intrigued by the posters shown and discussed in the blog. Movie posters, Music posters and any promotional posters used to hand done, works of art. The amount of time and effort that was put into posters of the past is amazing, and in today's digital age, that workmanship has changed so much.

More then anything, I've always enjoyed concert posters, and it seems like the best ones always reflect the characteristics of the band or musician they are promoting. Nel Jacobson, Rex Ray, and Mike Klay are some of the better artist I have seen do concert posters.

Some of their work can be seen here: http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2008/09/28/60-inspiring-concert-posters-from-10-amazing-artists/

Anonymous said...

I was intrigued by Franciszek Starowieyski's super realism drawings. I find this movement in general to be quite interesting with its emphasis on monsters, aliens, skulls and animals. These super realism drawings similar to surrealism pieces are the artists tapping into their psychic automatism. Our culture has such a fascination with super natural beings and it’s hard to avoid in daily life through movies, tv shows, and literature. It’s interesting to compare these examples to Starowieyski’s from the 1970s.

-Ana Calderone

Anonymous said...

I was intrigued by Franciszek Starowieyski's super realism drawings. I find this movement in general to be quite interesting with its emphasis on monsters, aliens, skulls and animals. These super realism drawings similar to surrealism pieces are the artists tapping into their psychic automatism. Our culture has such a fascination with super natural beings and it’s hard to avoid in daily life through movies, tv shows, and literature. It’s interesting to compare these examples to Starowieyski’s from the 1970s.

-Ana Calderone

Unknown said...

I was very interested by the work of April Greiman because of her work’s musical feel. Each image looks like its moving to a beat. She was recognized as one of the first designers to embrace computer technology as a design tool. Her work is not as concise as others seen before her time. In fact I find that it takes some time to understand what her message is. In the works of Lubalin for example. After first glance you immediately have a good idea as to what his message is. However, Greiman’s work is not so. Perhaps it is because of her technological knowledge that she is able to easily apply more and layer her work in short spaces of time, making her message less clear. It is interesting to how different work appears when it is produced with the aid of computer technology.

Anonymous said...

As many others have posted on here, I too enjoyed the many different posters from last week's class. The meaning of a poster is not only meant to captivate an audience's eye, but is also a blank canvas for the artist's imagination to paint on. Basically anything goes. As a young girl I always hung posters up in my room. I would hang them up like pieces of art because they appealed to me. The captivating thing about posters is that it ties to many hobbies that people may enjoy. If you love sports, music, movies, science, history, technology, etc there is almost always a poster for them all. I was also very interested in the superrealist poster art done by Franciszek Starowieyski. His gothic and grotesque looking designs captures the eye and pushes the boundaries of contemporary art. Exploring such dark themes was probably a huge risk for him which I believed he executed flawlessly.

Tashina Arota

Anonymous said...

The film “The Labyrinth” by Jan Lenica really perplexed me, I found it really unusual and eerie, and it really interested me. I didn’t really understand what was going on the entire time, so I did some research on it. I found out that films were silent only until around the 1930s, so I found it curious that this film, which was made in 1961, was silent. I also found it interesting that Jan Lenica was not a filmmaker, he was a graphic designer & cartoonist. This film was made simply from using colored paper, old photographs, junk objects, and fragments of drawings by using the collage and cutout techniques. It’s meant to be funny, satirical, surrealistically grotesque, absurd, and even horrific. The story behind it all is simply about an individual who seeks from totalitarian rule (the city/labyrinth). It is considered one of the finest political animations ever made, and I agree that it is a very unique film I will never forget.

Kateryna