Visual Metaphors

After attending the Andy Warhol exhibit at the Tucson Museum of art I started to think about visual metaphors in his work. Most of Warhol’s commercial work contains visual metaphors in someway or another. The Campbell’s soup series, and other reproductions of celebrities’ covey his message of commercializing the commercial. However I decided to discuss the images that were most meaningful to me.

I found the message in his endangered species series most interesting to me:




















http://www.artbrokerage.com/artretail/images/main/warhol_endangered/Andy_WarholEndangered_Species_Suite_of_10.jpg

Epitomizing endangered species on such a scale while placing them together in a series, with an abundant use of color Warhol visualized the plight of the animals. He gave the animals a voice and a context by presenting them in that way. Not only did it provoke thought the metaphor he conveyed in the images (among other messages) was that there is beauty in rarity.

Propaganda

I think this is some propaganda you have to see. I was looking up Russian communist propaganda because it somewhat relates to my paper on Alexander Rodchenko. I stumbled upon this site: http://zazzle.com

(Take a look at the site where the postcard is sold. Please bare with me the link is very long.)

Click on the link and look closely at the image that says, “Spreading the wealth since 1917”. Notice the man in the foreground is President Barack Obama and following him are other genuine socialist leaders (some of which I cannot name). I have heard the overstated and untrue claims on different news outlets about certain groups claiming the President is a socialist. But to see it in this context on a post card for sale online among other communist/socialist postcards was a very interesting form of propaganda. Especially since it is obviously by a private organization. Literally I was just searching “propaganda in post revolutionary Russia” and this is what came up.

Another aspect that was shocking to me about this postcard was the subtlety. When I found it I had been browsing through the post cards for a while before I realized what the image contained. It reminds me of a political cartoon. Although I don’t agree with the image it makes it’s point very clear in an astute manner. All in all it is very thought provoking what you can come across on the Internet.

I found this image by searching the title of the postcard on Google images.
























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Design, Culture, and Language

The first place I started in my attempt to define these three words (design, culture and language) was http://www.wordnik.com/. It is my favorite online dictionary complete with examples from texts and definitions from multiple dictionaries. It has a whole online dictionary culture.

I found that many of the minor definitions of design relate to outlining or sketching an idea. That intrigued me because those definitions note the mapping principle of design. It is important to include the creative process in the definition of design. With that in mind I concluded that the definition of design is: the progressive creation of an idea into a final product.

To define culture I took another approach. I thought of what culture can be. The culture of a company or other institutions, the sociological definition of culture, and high culture were the ones that came to mind. The definition culture is the collective conscience of a group.

My unofficial definition of language is language defined by its relationship to structure and meaning. The way I define it does not necessarily have to relate to linguistics. There can be a language of a design, a work of art, literature or, anything that can be analyzed.

An example of how the three intersect is the creative process. In the development of a novel the novelist designs their inventory of literary elements to incorporate into their book. Depending on the culture of the novelist the novel will have certain points of reference. Finally, a novelist uses language to articulate their narrative.

:: hillmancurtis :: Bobbi Brown Profile ::

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When I went to www.hillmancurtis.com I viewed two videos about Bobbi Brown the makeup artist. She tickled my fancy because the beauty and fashion industries go hand in hand. Since fashion is where my interest is I like to keep up on beauty and fashion trends. Bobbi Brown had an interesting design philosophy. She considers each woman she is applying makeup to. Her medium is so personal to each client. In the video she said she, “dreams in color.” She loves to wear makeup, make makeup, and apply makeup on other women.

http://www2.pictures.gi.zimbio.com/Bobbi+Brown+Make+Up+LPGA+Golfers+igZJEwEfnlSl.jpg

There were two videos about her on the site. One was a profile on her and the other was about how women felt after she made them up. It was interesting to see both sides. Her and her finished products. The beauty industry is an interesting aspect of design, the packaging, the products, and how the products are used. The application of makeup can be considered art at times. It fascinated me when she said, “it is better to feel than to think.” Which is a crucial part of the design process.

The final product for Bobbi Brown is a woman who is happy and comfortable with her makeup. She said that it is about the woman finding herself in the makeup and not about a woman being someone else by wearing makeup. I think this an organic approach to an art that can be considered superficial.



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