3/31/11
3/30/11
be a fly on the wall
Alan suggested I dig deeper into Shepard Fairey's motives now that he classified my poster under the Fairey campaign option provided in our assignment.
Read A LOT. Here's what I got from it.
For the Image:
-Confrontation.
-Orwellian Quality contrasting with Goofy Andre the Giant.
-Initially it started as simple mischief, sticker that solely said Andre the Giant has a posse.
-Goofy, Creepy, Humorous, Monolithic
-The counter-culture Big Brother- a sign that people are watching big brother as well
-Artists he mentions- Revs (Graffiti?)
-Building on Warhol.
-Pleasurable image though it's nonsensical.
-Could be an underground cult reference for Paranoids or Conservatives
-For the Consumptive viewer, owning a sticker provides belonging qualities, a souvenir, keepsake, momento. Comforting because it has cultural resonance.
-People who want to be rebellious. Underground quality- anti-establishment, societal convention.
-Pow(ER) posters pay homage to Roy Lichtenstein. emPOWERment.
For the Message:
-Ambiguity gets under people's skin because they don't know what to make out of it (Same 'temptation of meaning' Zizek talks about.)
-Fucking with the program in a society dominated by corporate imagery.
-The medium is the message- illegally placing something in the public's right of way. the act itself makes it political.
-Expression without bureaucracy is why he chose the street. Tax-payers are the bosses of government acc. to Fairey.
-People do the opposite of what they're told.
-Blowing "their" cover.
-People exaggerate everything.
-Phenomenology- process of letting things manifest themselves- things that are taken for granted are revealed.
-Reawakens the sense of wonder about one's environment
-Question the sticker and your surroundings- people aren't used to propaganda for which the motive isn't obvious.
-OBEY-no actual meaning, but causes people to react, contemplate, search for its meaning
Random words:
-The silent people
-Complete inevitability of supply and demand economics in a capitalist society
--------------------------------------------------
He worries about the quality of information in an age where "faster" seems to trump "better"-EARWAX!!
Don't need anymore distractions.
Deterioration of thoughtful communication- Neal Gabler from SUNDAY LA Times, mentions Marshall McLuhan-"the medium is the message"
So here's where I am with words.
Cut it out. Expect Delay. Bleached by meaningless gestures. Surrealist hat. To Question. I'm with Stupid Arrow. Wall-e Robot. The Flock- Becoming one of the flock- birds. Don't settle. Go for it. Push. Distraction. Distracted. David Dumb. David Boring. #$@&!
Patrick Leger illustrations
Queen of Hearts.
Queen of Hurts.
Fooling some of the people all of the time.
Spagetti? Earwax.
Tire-tired. Rubber-rubbish. An inanimate tire.
Tape your mouth. Random oblique strategy.
Put in earplugs. Earplugs?... Sticker earplugs to paste on anything that is bs.
Ignorance breeds ignorance.
LSTN listen
Accept and Proceed.
Peter Seville
Thanks for nothing.
HUSH.
Blah blah blah.
In __________ we trust.
oscillator-word that can be read in two ways.
generationalists
My head is full of stuff I don't understand. Stop being predictable.
The clown----Is this a joke
This is a lie
Make people think
Noise
Poison
Careful, this is poison
Looking but not seeing- posting where's waldo everywhere. Chuckle, fart.
Cut it out. Expect Delay. Bleached by meaningless gestures. Surrealist hat. To Question. I'm with Stupid Arrow. Wall-e Robot. The Flock- Becoming one of the flock- birds. Don't settle. Go for it. Push. Distraction. Distracted. David Dumb. David Boring. #$@&!
Patrick Leger illustrations
Queen of Hearts.
Queen of Hurts.
Fooling some of the people all of the time.
Spagetti? Earwax.
Tire-tired. Rubber-rubbish. An inanimate tire.
Tape your mouth. Random oblique strategy.
Put in earplugs. Earplugs?... Sticker earplugs to paste on anything that is bs.
Ignorance breeds ignorance.
LSTN listen
Accept and Proceed.
Peter Seville
Thanks for nothing.
HUSH.
Blah blah blah.
In __________ we trust.
oscillator-word that can be read in two ways.
generationalists
My head is full of stuff I don't understand. Stop being predictable.
The clown----Is this a joke
This is a lie
Make people think
Noise
Poison
Careful, this is poison
Looking but not seeing- posting where's waldo everywhere. Chuckle, fart.
3/29/11
This one reminds me of my concept.
Jenny Holzer's List of Truisms: Here are the ones that stood out for me. I don't necessarily believe in all of them, but they're pretty striking >>>
>>>being judgmental is a sign of life
>>>deviants are sacrificed to increase group solidarity
>>>drama often obscures the real issues
>>>enjoy yourself because you can't change anything anyway
>>>emotional responses ar as valuable as intellectual responses
>>>fear is the greatest incapacitator
>>>going with the flow is soothing but risky
>>>if you aren't political your personal life should be exemplary
>>>it's better to be lonely than to be with inferior people
>>>knowledge should be advanced at all costs
>>>men are not monogamous by nature
>>>moderation kills the spirit
>>>myth can make reality more intelligible
>>>noise can be hostile
>>>people won't behave if they have nothing to lose
>>>re channeling destructive impulses is a sign of maturity
>>>romantic love was invented to manipulate women
>>>sometimes science advances faster than it should
>>>taking a strong stand publicizes the opposite position
>>>the idea of transcendence is used to obscure oppression
>>>there are too few immutable truths today
>>>timidity is laughable
>>>we must make sacrifices to maintain our quality of life
New Imagery
Immediately after class I started writing things that popped up in my head:
A plunger, A vacuum. Things whose goal as a tool is to and things that suck other things in. We are constantly sucked in by earwax. It tempts us. It's hard for us to focus on things that are important because we are bombarded by a number of things that may not be so important.
Scrutinize
Focus
Dumbo, Mocked for his big ears
Rudolph, Mocked for his big red nose
Josef Muller Brockmann Noise Pollution image
Cornel West philosophy
Helen Keller
Barney
Someone who feeds us shit
Something that feeds us shit
Most importantly I was looking for type books to start working on the logo design for my Thesis and came across this Cassandre poster that I had completely forgotten about: L'Intransigeant, 1925. Simplified and stylized imagery of the cubists and compositional quality of collage allowed Cassandre to translate representational form into visual symbols. The figure's head is next to a telegraph pole. Only portions of the words are revealed of the typography. Such positive and negative elements provide the representational quality of a collage.
Composition surrounded around the three implied circles: the eye, the ear, and the mouth: Perfect!
Could I attempt to alter and somewhat reuse this image as my symbol? Maybe its not immediately recognizable to the general public, but it is sooo awesome. Thoughts?
Class Concept Critique
Few things from today's class:
My idea of illustrating the human ear to use as imagery for EARWAX was a little off target, but nevertheless, I think a step in the right direction. The reason for the image being wrong as I was picturing it is because it would seem like an awareness for some sort of audiological concern, or auditory problems... which isn't exactly what I'm going for. I need the message to be direct, and I can't approach it in the same way as a band poster because though there may be layers of meaning in my message, I need the initial reaction to be immediate and only after this initial reaction do I want for the viewer to question and contemplate what it is that I am trying to say. So...I was asked to rediscover what it is that earwax causes, and eventually determine the message that I am attempting to push to the public. Here are the notes I have down in my book:
Earwax causes the clogging of the brain, diminishment of intelligence. Fuels ignorance. Spreads ignorance.
Things that aren't helpful are earwax. Earwax comes from people, media, etc.
New sentences:
---------I want people to know that it's important to filter the information that we receive- we need to know what's good and what's bad in the influx of info sent in our direction.
---------Wax can protect your ears- Like people who say ignorance is bliss. But an excess can make you unable to hear, you become clogged/naive. And the spread of this information is unconscious.
---------Eventually if we don't filter information, we are no longer active participants in society or life.
---------We need to criticize constantly to live actively. Constantly question, constantly be curious so that we can avoid certain pollutions that do more harm that good.
Messages:
####### Your ears need to have filters. Filtered ears build stronger societies and better overall communications among a society's members. This way we can avoid manipulation.
####### Our growths are stunted by earwax.
####### More metaphorically, we need to be able to pick out this earwax. Q-tips for everyone!
####### Earwax has to exist because we're not perfect. Earwax is a necessary evil.
Input from Alan:
1. Need to make this iconographic. Need a symbol like Andre the Giant. Needs to be linked to reality like Andre is a pop culture reference, very appropriate for Fairey's design imagery.
2. Important words are: Hearing, Knowing, and Questioning. Find and take note of symbolic representations or icons that represent these three words.
3. Co-opt: Take, Reuse.
4. Program like an architect, then take an icon and make it happen.
5. Approach doesn't need to end with a poster, could even involve stickers/buttons or something else.
6. Chose anything as the name/image for this concept because it doesn't need to make sense right away: Using bananas to advertise for Mustangs.
Because my poster is manifesting change, or bringing some kind of awareness to a concern, my poster is classified as the First Option poster. So I need to really focus on deconstructing Shepard Fairey. How did he do what he did, and to not forget how essential the design of his campaign is in the end result.
What's next...... Go back to Jenny Holzer's Truisms. Why are they so effective? Holzer at first placed these truisms everywhere, and people started wondering about them. Their interest was sparked. You need to get it just right.
My idea of illustrating the human ear to use as imagery for EARWAX was a little off target, but nevertheless, I think a step in the right direction. The reason for the image being wrong as I was picturing it is because it would seem like an awareness for some sort of audiological concern, or auditory problems... which isn't exactly what I'm going for. I need the message to be direct, and I can't approach it in the same way as a band poster because though there may be layers of meaning in my message, I need the initial reaction to be immediate and only after this initial reaction do I want for the viewer to question and contemplate what it is that I am trying to say. So...I was asked to rediscover what it is that earwax causes, and eventually determine the message that I am attempting to push to the public. Here are the notes I have down in my book:
Earwax causes the clogging of the brain, diminishment of intelligence. Fuels ignorance. Spreads ignorance.
Things that aren't helpful are earwax. Earwax comes from people, media, etc.
New sentences:
---------I want people to know that it's important to filter the information that we receive- we need to know what's good and what's bad in the influx of info sent in our direction.
---------Wax can protect your ears- Like people who say ignorance is bliss. But an excess can make you unable to hear, you become clogged/naive. And the spread of this information is unconscious.
---------Eventually if we don't filter information, we are no longer active participants in society or life.
---------We need to criticize constantly to live actively. Constantly question, constantly be curious so that we can avoid certain pollutions that do more harm that good.
Messages:
####### Your ears need to have filters. Filtered ears build stronger societies and better overall communications among a society's members. This way we can avoid manipulation.
####### Our growths are stunted by earwax.
####### More metaphorically, we need to be able to pick out this earwax. Q-tips for everyone!
####### Earwax has to exist because we're not perfect. Earwax is a necessary evil.
Input from Alan:
1. Need to make this iconographic. Need a symbol like Andre the Giant. Needs to be linked to reality like Andre is a pop culture reference, very appropriate for Fairey's design imagery.
2. Important words are: Hearing, Knowing, and Questioning. Find and take note of symbolic representations or icons that represent these three words.
3. Co-opt: Take, Reuse.
4. Program like an architect, then take an icon and make it happen.
5. Approach doesn't need to end with a poster, could even involve stickers/buttons or something else.
6. Chose anything as the name/image for this concept because it doesn't need to make sense right away: Using bananas to advertise for Mustangs.
Because my poster is manifesting change, or bringing some kind of awareness to a concern, my poster is classified as the First Option poster. So I need to really focus on deconstructing Shepard Fairey. How did he do what he did, and to not forget how essential the design of his campaign is in the end result.
What's next...... Go back to Jenny Holzer's Truisms. Why are they so effective? Holzer at first placed these truisms everywhere, and people started wondering about them. Their interest was sparked. You need to get it just right.
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