Term II Assignment 1

The contemporary artist that I will be basing this essay on, is the American visual artist and graphic designer, Shepard Fairey. I will first give a brief account of his background, and then I will discuss his works in relation to their specific historical context and the contribution these images made on that particular period. I will also discuss his relevance and explain what global or local events motivated the works. Finally, I will discuss what themes are found in his works.


Shepard Fairey in his studio



Shepard Fairey was born as Frank Shepard Fairey on 15 February 1970, in Charleston, South Carolina in the United States of America. In 1992 he graduated from Rhode Island School of Design with a Bachelor of Arts in Illustration and soon became well known in the underground skateboarding scene for his street designs. Apart from his successful graphic design career, Fairey also DJ’s under the aliases DJ Diabetic and Emcee Insulin (as he has diabetes). He created the “André the Giant Has a Posse” sticker campaign in 1989 which later evolved into the “Obey Giant” campaign. Overtime the sticker has been used worldwide, following in the footsteps of the World War II icon; “Kilroy Was Here” Apart from this Fairey has a number of artworks to his name which include book covers for George Orwell’s “1984” and “Animal Farm” and a number of political and anti-war posters.


"Kilroy was here"


Book cover "1984" by George Orwell


Book cover "Animal Farm" by George Orwell

Fairey’s political and activist works are arguably his most popular works to date. As a skateboarder and street artist, Fairey’s works are aesthetically influenced by the simplicity and boldness of stencil art, which was a popular form of street art. These characteristics are manifested in his silkscreen prints, which since recently have been used as a medium for political and anti-war messages. One of these artworks is the “Hope for Darfur” campaign that was launched in September 2008. The work was commissioned by HOPE (Helping Other People Everywhere) which is a humanitarian organisation focused on supporting existing social projects that promote education and growth. The poster series focuses on the future of the children in Darfur, and it raises awareness of the political situation. Another of these works is Fairey’s anti-war, anti-bush campaign titled “War: Everybody Wants It, Except Smart People and the U.N” This artwork was produced in 2008.It focuses on the American war on the Middle East, and questions the reasoning behind that war. The most popular of Fairey’s political works is the work he produced for the Obama 2008 Presidential Campaign in 2008. This work was inspired by Fairey’s belief that Barack Obama was to be the next president of the United States of America. Fairey felt this “great conviction” because he believed that Obama was in actual fact a statesman rather than a Politian. Where others (such as Hillary Clinton) were in favour of the war on the Middle East, Obama stood firmly in opposition, a stance that Fairey also firmly believed in. As a result Fairey produced screen print portraits of Obama with the word “Hope” on them. The posters were later endorsed by the Democratic Party and revised. The word “Hope” was replaced with the word “Progress” and the word “Vote” in other renditions of the print. This particular poster series made a great contribution to Obama’s campaign. It generated awareness and support from the youth and the ordinary man on the street. Because Fairey is a respected underground street artist who is revered mostly by the youth worldwide, his works are able to generate awareness and spread political messages to the youth and to anyone who might see it posted on a wall on the streets.


"HOPE for Darfur"


“War: Everybody Wants It, Except Smart People and the U.N”


“The Obama 2008 Presidential Election Campaign”

Fairey’s works are mostly a response to current global political and social issues. Such issues include the conflict in Darfur, the Bush administration and their war on the Middle East and the conflict between Israel and Palestine to name a few. It is quite evident that the recurring themes in his works are war or a specific political stance. Examples of such works include.
I believe that such works boldly declare Shepard Fairey as an activist artist and one whose works have had a great impact on the world.

Bibliography
1. [o] http://www.thegiant.org/ Accessed on 02 May 2009
2. Orwell. G. 2008, 1984, Penguin Group (USA)
3. Orwell. G. 2008, Animal Farm, Penguin Group (USA)

Assignment 3: Modernism and the philosophies that influenced it

In this short essay, I will be discussing the philosophies that shaped Modernism, and the effect they had on Modernism. I will also discuss the goals that Modernism had, and how it failed to reach these goals. And finally I will be discussing the pivotal and turning points of the Modernist project.
I will first define Modernism and the philosophies that shaped it. Then I will discuss how these philosophies shaped Modernism by giving reference to the tenets of Modernism. I will then further discuss the goals of Modernism and how Modernism failed to achieve them, and finally I will mention and briefly discuss the pivotal and turning points of Modernism.
Modernism was a movement that is believed to have taken place somewhere between 1860 and 1970. According to Professor Catherine Lavender, Modernism is a cultural movement which rebelled against the Victorian views on society. Victorians believed in nationalism and cultural absolutism. They believed in a single way of looking at the world, a world for them that was clearly divided into good and bad, right and wrong and even civilised and savage. They firmly believed that the world was governed by God and that each creature or thing served a specific purpose. [[O] Prof. C Lavender, 1998]. In other words Modernism could be seen as a movement away from the old fashioned views of society towards more current views. Modernism was based on a set of principles that actually governed the activity of the movement. From my own understanding of Modernism, there were actually five main tenets that made up the belief system of Modernism. All of these tenets were different, but not entirely mutually exclusive in that they all worked in harmony with one another. In other words they went hand-in-hand. These tenets were based on beliefs in certain ideologies such as, the belief in an aspiration towards a universal science, the belief in the autonomous subject, the belief in art for art’s sake, the belief in creativity being innovative (or original and new if you like) and finally a belief that the present (their period) was the zenith of historical and human achievement. These tenets are explained and discussed as being of this nature by C. McDermott. [McDermott, 1992: 13]

It is believed that this movement was shaped by certain philosophies. These philosophies include Humanism, Positivism, Materialism and the Enlightenment. Humanism emphasised the importance of man and his status. It saw man as the measure of all things and not God, and firmly supports the belief that, humans can improve themselves, thus improving their world. Positivism emphasised the progress of human thought and believed that as time went on human thought evolved and thus improved. Materialism is a belief that states that all things are made of matter or small particles. These particles are real and anything else that we attach to this matter (such as scent or taste) is subjective. And finally the enlightenment was the philosophy that placed emphasis on reason in order to ascertain truth a new knowledge. It encouraged its followers to use their own reasoning to question old traditions such as religion and superstition so as establish their own truth. [Ted Honderich, 1995]

One of the tenets of Modernism was the belief in an aspiration towards a universal science. The modernists believed that they could improve their world with science. They believed that science (which was born of human thought) was progress and that it would eventually lead them to the perfect life, Utopia. I believe that this tenet was born of humanism and positivism, as the modernists believed that human thought and the evolution of thought would improve the world. An example of this is Herbert Bayer’s “universal typeface”. The Austrian designer created this typeface with the belief that it would be used universally thus eliminating illegibility of type and thus making it easy for the typeface to be read universally. This reinforces the notion that Modernists believed their thought could improve the world. Modernists also believed in producing art for art’s sake, which was new and innovative. Modernism cut itself of from the old belief that art was only declared art if it met the standards of the critics. This disregard for old tradition, I believe was born of the enlightenment. The modernist artists used their own reasoning to determine what, for them was to be considered art. The Modernist belief in Utopia was also supported by positivism and materialism, which placed emphasis on a better future for human kind. This is evidently shown in the rise of industrialisation, whose purpose was to “urbanise” society to make life easier for man. This form of industrialisation is shown in Dziga Vertov’s brilliant 1929 silent movie, “The man with the movie camera”. I believe that these combined philosophies spawned ideas of Modernism. I believe this because they supported the core belief of Modernism, which McDermott defines as “a spirit of rationalism and objectivity that provided a sharp cut-off point from the 19th Century and its obsessions with style revivals and decorations”. [McDermott, 1992: 13]

The main goal of Modernism was the creation of a better society. The modernists believed in the idea of science in progress. They felt that progress could only be made as science itself evolved. Hence the belief that as time went on conditions would improve and become better and better, until eventually they would reach a state of Utopia in the future. I personally believe that in the end Modernism failed at achieving this goal because although it tried to improve people’s lives with the introduction of industrialisation, this inadvertently gave rise to the class system. The class system could easily be related to the Victorian views on society where everything was divided into groups such as civilised and savage. Unfortunately for the Modernists, instead of cutting themselves of from the Victorian ways they just linked themselves unintentionally back to them. These class systems saw man being grouped into the worker and the capitalist or owner classes, which lead to the exploitation and oppression of the working class.

I believe that the introduction of urbanisation or industrialisation was the pivotal point of modernism but also the beginning of the movement’s demise. I believe industrialisation was pivotal because for a short while people’s lives were improved drastically by the introduction of machinery, as productivity was increased, more jobs were created and life generally became easier. However the class system was quickly abused and this gave rise to the oppression of the worker. In addition to this, machines made it easier to duplicate work thus moving away from the idea of art being innovative and original and giving birth to the appropriation and eclecticism of Post-modernist work such as Andy Warhol’s Marylyn Monroe prints.
Thus I conclude my short essay on Modernism and the philosophies that gave rise to the movement.


Bibliography
1. [O] Lavender. C. 1998 Modernism-A Working Definition www.library.csi.cuny.edu/dept/history/Lavender/moddef.html
Accessed on 11-04-09
2. McDermott. C. 1992 The Modern Movement in McDermott. C. 1992 Essential Design Bloomsbury Publishing, London
3. Honderich. T. 1995 The Oxford Companion to Philosophy 1995 Oxford University Press, London

Filmography
1. Dziga Vertov, The Man with the Movie Camera, Soviet Union, 1929

Visual Analysis

1.1. According to the online dictionary, Wiktionary, industrialisation is a process of economic change whereby a human society is transformed from a pre-industrial to an industrial state. [Wiktionary, 2009, [O]]
Industrialisation could be seen as the rise of the working class, due to the introduction of machinery based factories. These led to higher productivity in the Secondary stage of production (manufacturing). Fritz Lang’s “Metropolis” and Dziga Vertov’s “The Man with the Movie Camera” are both centred on the theme of industrialisation. Both movies focus on the human classes created by industrialisation and their interaction or relationships with the industrial machinery. Although both movies emphasise the importance of the machine and the hard labour of the working class, they approach this differently. Lang’s “Metropolis” portrays the machine as an extension, or even part of the worker’s body (and vice versa). This is insinuated by the almost mechanical movement of the workers, and their close synchronised interaction with the machinery. An example of this is the scene where Freder is calibrating the one machine by physically moving the arms of the clock in sync with the flashing light sequence of the machine. Vertov’s “The Man with the Movie Camera” portrays man and the machinery as two separate entities, but with the common goal of productivity. Vertov uses a variation extreme close ups of the machinery and jump cuts to personify these machines. Thus placing equal importance on them with the workers who are also depicted operating the machinery.
Hence I believe that both films empathise with the working class and show a greater appreciation for the industrial machinery.

1.2. I believe that it is true that the movie camera does introduce us to unconscious optics. And this notion is applicable to both “Metropolis” and “The Man with the Movie Camera”. In “The Man with the Movie Camera”, Vertov makes great use of extreme close ups. The camera allows him zoom in everyday aspects of life that are normally viewed from a safe distance, such as machinery. These aspects are familiar to us but the camera adds another dimension to them. We all know how a locomotive or the gears in a machine works. But when we view them from an extreme angle a greater appreciation is developed for the complexity. In “Metropolis” the same is also true of the way Lang uses extreme close ups of the machinery in the city. It is arguable that these sort of extreme close ups subliminally suggest importance of the subject to the viewer. Thus changing the viewer’s perception of the subject and even creating a bias in favour of the suggested notion.

1.3. Oxford’s online dictionary defines capitalism as being, “an economic and political system in which a country’s trade and industry are controlled by private owners for profit, rather than by the state. The same source defines socialism as, “a political and economic theory of social organisation which advocates that the means of production, distribution and exchange should be owned or regulated by the community as a whole”. [Oxford Dictionary, 2009, [O]]
In Lang’s “Metropolis”, capitalism is represented by the “thinkers”, such as Johann Fredersen. These “thinkers” live high above the earth in luxurious modernist and Art Deco stylised buildings. These Art Deco buildings also represent capitalism, as Art Deco is believed to represent the bourgeois. Socialism is represented by the workers such as Maria. These workers live and work underground, in unsavoury conditions. Figuratively, the capitalist thinkers are referred to as the “head”, whilst the workers are referred to as the “hands”.
In Vertov’s “The Man with the Movie Camera”, capitalism is represented by the population who are shown riding leisurely in cars, or getting groomed and pampering themselves in Odessa’s beauty salons. Socialism on the other hand is represented by the machinery (which is presented as a character), and the workers who are shown hard work either maintaining the machinery, or interacting with it i.e. oiling the gears of the machinery or typing on a type writer. Figuratively capitalism is also represented in funeral scene where women are crying. And socialism is represented in the juxtaposing scene where a baby is being born.
I believe both films carry a message of hope in favour of socialism. In “Metropolis” this hope takes the form of Freder, Johann’s son who is referred to as the heart by the workers. Freder becomes the mediator between the “head” (capitalists) and the “hand” (socialists) and as a result of this common understanding and peace are achieved. Whereas in “The Man with the Movie Camera” the association of capitalism with the funeral insinuates that is a dying ideology or it is already dead. And the association of the birth of the baby with socialism suggests that a new ideology will be born and it will surpass capitalism.

2. I am going to analyse the themes found in Fritz Lang’s “Metropolis” and compare them to the themes in Ridley Scott’s “Blade Runner”.
I believe there are three main themes that are found in “Metropolis”. These are; the portrayal of the future city, the portrayal of social classes and the representation of the machine. I believe that these themes can also be found in “Blade Runner”.
Both “Metropolis” and “Blade Runner” are set in the future. Both films depict a dystopian society where the living conditions are miserable. In”Metropolis” the harsh living conditions seem only to apply to the workers whereas in “Blade Runner” the harsh living conditions seem to be experienced by everyone. On the surface the city in “Metropolis” is made up of Art Deco and modernist design inspired buildings. However, the city of the workers underground is cramped, uncomfortable, miserable and dark, which is similar to the portrayal of Los Angeles in the future in “Blade Runner”. Here although the city is lit up by electronic billboards and the large amount of vehicles hovering in the air or down on the busy streets, it still seems very dark and miserable. I find the city in “Blade Runner” to be chaotic when compared to the uniformity of the movement and dress of the workers in “Metropolis”. The Hong Kong inspired city in “Blade Runner” is plagued by a diversity of races, creeds, nationalities and species which make it even more chaotic.
Another theme that I believe is shared by the two films is the development of classes. In “Metropolis” the two classes are the thinkers (the head) and the workers (the hand). In “Blade Runner” the classes are divided into two. The one side being the humans and the other being the “replicants” who are genetically manufactured beings, created to perform hazardous and degrading work on Earth’s off world colonies. The replicants are similar to the workers (the hand), who are just used for labour. Whereas the humans, like the thinkers (the head) could be seen as the super class as they enjoy privileges and the freedom not known to the replicants and the workers.
I believe both films share similarities in their portrayal of the machine. In “Metropolis” the machine is portrayed as being part of the worker (or vice versa). In much simpler words they are one. This is suggested by machine-like movement of the workers and by their interaction with the machines. An example of this is shown in the scene where Freder becomes part of the machine when he has to calibrate it in sync with the flashing light sequence of the machine. In “Blade Runner” the machines are represented by the replicants which are actually half human, half machine, which is merely suggested in “Metropolis”. In both films the machinery is an aid to productivity and is portrayed as the means that sustains the world.
I have analysed and compared the themes found in “Metropolis” and “Blade Runner”.


Bibliography
Ask Oxford, 2009, Capitalism. [O]. Available:
http://www.askoxford.com/concise_oed/capitalism?view=uk
Accessed on 2009-03-06
Ask Oxford, 2009, Socialism. [O]. Available:
http://www.askoxford.com/concise_oed/socialism?view=uk
Accessed on 2009-03-06
Wiktionary, 2009. Industrialisation, [O]. Available:
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/industrialisation
Accessed on 2009-03-06

Filmography
Dziga Vertov, The Man with the Movie Camera, Soviet Union, 1929
Fritz Lang, Metropolis, Germany, 1929
Ridley Scott, Blade Runner, USA, 1982

Positivism

According to Wikipedia, positivism is a philosophy which holds that the only authentic knowledge is that based on actual sense experience. Such knowledge can come only from affirmation of theories through strict scientific method.

Positivism. [O]. Available:
http://www.wikipedia.org/positivism
Accessed on 2009-02-04

Enlightenment

Enlightenment is a movement that started in England during the 17th Century, and was further developed in France and Germany in the 18th Century. The period of its predominant practise is known as the Age of Reason. This was so because the movement encouraged the individual to use reason, which contrasted the superstitious, irrationality and imposed religious beliefs associated with the Middle Ages. Immanuel Kant described it as being the “emergence of man from his self-imposed infancy”. This “infancy” was seen as the inability to use one’s own reason without the aid or another. An inability caused by one’s lack of courage to step out and think for his or herself.

Immanuel Kant

Enlightenment. [O]. Available:

http://www.english.upenn.edu/~mgamer/Etexts/kant.html

Accessed on 2009-02-04



Roger Jones

The Enlightenment. [O]. Available:

http://www.philosopher.org.uk/

Accessed on 2009-02-20



T.W Adorno and M. Horocheimer, Dialect of Enlightenment. tr. J. Cumming (New York 1972)

Materialism

According to an article on Wikipedia, materialism is a philosophy that holds that the only thing that can be truly proven to exist is physical matter. It states that all things are composed of material and all phenomena are the result of material interactions; therefore, matter is the only substance.

Materialism. [O]. Available:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Materialism
Accessed on 2009-02-04

Humanism

Humanism places emphasis on man and his power, status, importance, achievements, interests and authority. The movement arose in the 5th Century B.C when the Sophists and the Socrates “called down philosophy from heaven to earth” by introducing social, political and moral questions. When linked to the Renaissance, humanism is denoted as a move away from God to man as the centre as the centre of interest. Despite this, humanism is not regarded as atheist as it acknowledges God as creator and supreme authority however it states that His activity is less immediate. This led to the notion that the universe was governed by generals laws, laid down by God. Humanism also encouraged a belief in man’s ability to learn more about the universe by his own efforts, and eventually gain more and more control over it.

Humanism. [O]. Available:
http://www.novelguide.com/a/discover/
Accessed on 2009-02-04

A. Rabil Jr. (ed), Renaissance Humanism (Philadelphia 1988)