dear class. we've covered thousands of years of history in our first class: pre-alphabet, cave marks, rock marks, alphabet, neolithic marks, cuneiform, hieroglyphics, the mark as physical (column, chair, wheel, etc), colossal marks, political, symbols from nature, from animals, various codexes... the point that anything is a mark.
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either you can post your comment using a google account, open ID, or anonymously.
what is important is that after your comment you sign with your actual name as it appears on my roll.
there is really no blueprint for comments. say anything you want -as long as it relates with our first discussion. I'd advice that you write your comment in Word and then copy and paste it here, since sometimes after you click "post a comment" the comment may get lost.
try to make your comment relevant. think about what you want to say. of course, you can go off an tangent -if you find it relevant.
remember a minimum of 150 words. i will close this post next wednesday at 2pm.
go ahead!
try to make your comment relevant. think about what you want to say. of course, you can go off an tangent -if you find it relevant.
remember a minimum of 150 words. i will close this post next wednesday at 2pm.
go ahead!
15 comments:
What makes this mark so interesting to me is that despite having it's beak tied shut, the flamingo does not seem to be bothered or enraged by it's hinderance. Rather, it's expression is one of either steady calmness, or that of determination and focus. Although I don't really understand the meaning behind it or why the bow doesn't seem to be tied tight even. Maybe the customer wanted a piece symbolizing having freedom like a bird but something stopping it from realizing the full potential of that freedom? But if thats the case, why not do a piece where the bird's wings are being infringed upon rather than the beak. To my knowledge, Flamingos have never been known to be extremely vocal creatures, so hindering their vocal ability doesn't make much sense to me. I really like how the artist did on the shadowing/ gradient effect on the beak too, it gave the piece some depth and made it a little less 2-D.
- Ethan Punal
Thanks for your comment Ethan. Just we avoid misunderstandings, the comment for this post doesn't have to be about Brezinski's flamingo image, but about all the stuff we discussed last week. The image is just a way to illustrate a point about marks. Better to take it from the beginning.
This image is a physical mark on someone's body. This piece lives on until the person who bears it passes away, much like any canvas. A piece only lives as long as its canvas or photo of such, like this one. This is excellent in design and I'm a huge fan of design. I design my own t-shirts and tattoos so I'm very much into it in practice. The image doesn't speak much to me. In fact, I'm not even sure what animal that is, but it's for sure a bird. The bird seems to be very calm although his/her beak is tied up. The contrast in this tattoo is striking considering it's all black. The stippling is tastefully done and not overbearing. The beak, as a design, is kind of dynamic to me. It appears almost like scissors. The shading almost makes it look like it's reflecting like metal. But why are the scissors/beak tied up? I'm not entirely sure, I would like your input on this image as well, professor.
- Gianfranco Blanco
In reference to last week’s lecture, I particularly recalled your statements regarding “style” and how it is an agent of culture. Examples of this can be clearly witnessed if you browse different fashion magazines or home décor magazines or advertisements throughout the decades. Each era has their own sense of “style” and it is interesting how although we feel that our style evolves throughout the ages, we typically – and perhaps unknowingly- tend to repeat certain trends in fashion etc. I recently came across an article regarding Taylor Swift, as we all have heard of Taylor Swift’s new album, apparently she has been receiving backlash over the graphic design of her album cover, and some say its resemblance of the old MySpace profile covers, stating that it’s not “modern” enough. I find that interesting. How “modern” is anything really? If as I mentioned we tend to repeat certain trends over and over again??
Tattoos are an interesting way to represent identity. They are such bold marks, permanently imprinting a concept onto one’s body as if it will forever be attached to their identity. The use of an animal in the composition seems to be a way of portraying that the individual feels helpless, as if their pressing environment controls their actions. I find the emphasis on the body parts to be another engaging piece of the image. The artist might have juxtaposed the long beak of the bird on top of the individual’s forearm to emphasize how the body parts may be similar. Maybe it’s symbolic of what each species uses to interact with the world, our extremities (arms and legs) and the bird's beak. Then, the knot around the bird’s beak might allude to an overarching force stopping the bird from interacting with its environment - a feeling that the individual with the tattoo might sense in their world.
-Ryan Berkun
I think that the most stimulating parts of last week's lecture were your comments that were counterintuitive to what I would have previously believed prior to your justification of the matter. For example, your commentary on the vilification of graffiti. I had never considered the irony of vilifying a natural artistic expression that is an intuitive, human inclination and has been since the origin of humanity. When you further extended that notion to questioning why is graffiti acceptable in some settings but not others, I mentally extended the question in a more philosophical sense: why are certain human inclinations acceptable in certain settings but not others? Who makes these rules? When were these rules made? Why do we continue to enforce them? I don't have answers to any of these questions, but they're interesting to ponder. Another example of a counterintuitive statement is that the more abstract a symbol is, the more useful it is. Initially when I think of abstraction I think of something with an unfixed meaning, making it difficult to comprehend and thus rendering it somewhat meaningless except to the creator him/herself. However, your explanation clarified that the more meanings a symbol has, the more useful it is because it can be used in multiple contexts for multiple audiences, etc.
-Abbie Auster
Being a senior at the University of Miami I have to say that it’s been a while since I felt this exited about taking a class. Our first lecture not only fed our minds with new ideas and information, but with a different way of seeing the world, as designers. As I walked from the classroom to my car I reflected on everything our professor had said on how we are our own designers on the way we live our lives. From the moment I stepped out of that class I began to think of how I dressed and what I eat and how I think I look compared to how others see me etc. On the other hand, It was really interesting to learn how design as been part of us ever since the Paleolithic era. It is amazing to think how the evolution of a simple rock that looks like a head later became the word “head”, and that shows the importance of leaving a mark behind.
- Sara Valbuena
During last week’s class discussion, I was extremely fascinated with pre-alphabet marks and how objects (ie. A chair) can be turned into letters.
As far as the discussion about whether graffiti is a form of vandalism or art; personally, I think that graffiti is not a form of vandalism. Even though majority of the population would argue against that. In my belief graffiti is only a form of vandalism when the art is making a negative statement against society. In other words, graffiti can be considered a form of art when it has meaning to it and people enjoy looking at it. Graffiti has many forms and people look at it very differently. In today’s society graffiti is becoming more popular among the targeted audience. People are impressed with walking around a neighborhood or city area and seeing a wall full of beautiful art work. Graffiti brings a lot of color into dull areas and makes people want to walk around outside and explore the walls as if it was a gallery.
-Sydney Shugarman
A fundamental idea mentioned in the lecture was that graphic design was the making if a mark, whether path eolithic, doodling or coding. Here someone has made a permanent mark on their arm. All marks have their own unique language, and to someone, this bird holds a meaning for something else than simply a bird. Marks can mean different things to different people. The Head of Athena coin Tetradrachm signed by Eucleidas circa 405-400 BC shows the importance of dolphin as a cultural symbol. It has its own sentimental value.
This can be reiterated in a later debate of whether graffiti is vandalism or not; to some, it is art and a mark that has simply entered the time at that given moment. To other’s it is a criminal act. As time progresses, design and marks have the power to adapt and develop (as seen in Hammurabi Code), encompassing the idea that style is an agent of culture, meaning that our ‘language’ and use of marks develop in the culture it surrounds whether it is celebrating the dead or as propaganda to give the impression of political prosperity. Marks influence a nation, but also have the power to adapt and remain in a constant state of flux throughout time. Highlighted also, was the importance for graphic designers to have their own typeface.
Gemma Finegold
The question of what constitutes design was really interesting in the class discussion, from scrapes into rock to extremely thought out plans to ephemeral, fleeting performances. All cultures and groups have a desire to leave marks and create their own form of marks, which correspond to their identity and communication. It’s also fascinating to see how whole groups have a unique style, then individuals within that define themselves within those parameters, and entire groups evolve stylistically. What I find really interesting is how individuals can have such a clear, differentiated aesthetic when they are only marginally different than others. its amazing how one can so clearly see the creator behind the creation, how people have their own individual style, intentional or otherwise. If everyone in this class drew a smiley face, no two would be the same, all would carry distinct traces of their owner.
PS. The Ferrari you have pictured is a LaFerrari, which have been recently selling for around $3.5 Million, not $350,000.
Stephen Carlson
During this discussion I found interesting that design covers so many years of history, starting all the way back from pre-historic times to modern works like graffiti. The concept that essentially everything is a mark really caught my attention because in that case mostly everything in this world can be seen as design. Like in class when we discussed the way we dress, look, and eat can be considered design because the individual decides which clothes to accessorize themselves, what they want to eat, and finally how they want to look. Changing these things the individual is essentially designing themselves without knowing. This made me realize that design is a part of everyday life. Without design humans would be very dull and indifferent. After the class discussion I will forever have a different view on graffiti and the way it can be viewed as artistic value.
- Christopher Green
When I was a kid I asked my uncle what graffiti was because we were driving into NY passing many graffiti murals. He told me that graffiti was just angry artists who had run out of paper. When we were looking at the Neolithic cave drawings I thought of what he had said. These people were not angry, but they were trying to tell a story and document their life. I compared this to the vandalized walls that have their home in Manhattan and thought that both these groups of people are just trying to tell a story. The Column of Trajan is a great example of how art became so integrated into the political world, but especially into everyday life. Much like wall markings from the caves of Lascaux the figures on the Column of Trajan tell a story. Where is the line between art and graffiti? Do we just consider it all art even though it is technical criminal? I found a painting the other day of barbed wire and a graffiti mural that was completely illegible lettering. The painting sold for $10,000. How does something become public art or just graffiti?
(I missed the first class, so I’m not sure this is going in the right direction). Victoria Faber-Castell.
The first thing that I noticed about the bird tattoo, which stands out not only in its size (covering what seems to be an entire forearm) but its artistic merit, is that the beak is extremely sharp. Its length reminds of a pair of scissors or two blades. Therefore I think it’s even more interesting that it is neatly tied close with a thin string. There are multiple possible interpretations which I could think to this. For one, the string may serve as a protective mechanism of a potentially harmful bite. On the other hand, the imagery of the tied beak brings up the notion of restriction and taking of freedom. Also I think its interesting that the tattoo is black and white and not colourful. When I think of birds, I usually think of colourful Birds of Paradise which are playfully colourful, or having some lively feature. The tattoo however is in black and white, giving the image a more serious tone. I think it is interesting how design can create precise individual aesthetic and emotional responses, evening by changing such little features.
The tattoo on the body of a man is a bird with a long tied beak. I am not sure about the meaning that the artist want to express; maybe it is the contrast of the symbolic freedom and environmental restrictions or it is just an ironic picture. I search some other tattoos created by this artist and most of these pictures are similar-using common objects but a little bit different, like an ink bottle with a straw or a pair of glasses with three lens. The tattoo is a design, is just another kind of mark in the flesh. As our professor said in the lecture, “Every design happens for a reason”. You don’t have to figure out what these designs or marks really mean but actually you can see, you can feel the practice is in the mark itself. I found interesting what our professor said in the discussion. Design is everything and people are marking themselves all the time even if they say they hate the way they look. "You love the way you look when you hate the way you look".
-Pu Zhou
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