Task 4 Semiotic analysis

52 Shades of Greed Link

"Art directed by two New York-based illustrators, a freshly designed set of 52 illustrated playing cards looks to educate the masses about some of the main contributing factors in the US to the current recession..."

 

The stylized Guy Fawkes mask displayed on each card next to the designers/illustrators name is now a well known symbol for 'Anonymous', an international network of activists and hacktivists. Since 2003 this group has grown in notoriety and become an internationally known group and this symbol is widely recognized as representing them. This shows that these cards are opposing censorship and support freedom as that's what anonymous stands for.

The red used in the card seems to represent blood and evil as the cards are showing the government in a negative light exposing the facts surrounding the recession. The man is in a suit which shows that he is a businessman, this has connotations of wealth, ruthless business mind, and cunning. His tie is red to pin point him as the main point of evil. His face is blacked out because it is not specific to one person and also that they hide themselves well from blame.

The fish in the background, Sharks and an Angler fish, are representative of danger, this links in with the business suit because he is to be viewed as a dangerous man. The fish are predators and strong ones so this denotes that the man is high up in power. The connotations of a predator;sly, stalking prey, dangerous, strong, fast and ruthless, give an overall sense of the impression they want us to get from the business man who in this is representing a group of accounting business men who have underhandedly worked the accounts to work in their favour, being ruthless to those who have borrowed from them and working in packs to help their own, like the pack of sharks in the background. 

The glass wall separating the man from the fish is cracked and breaking. The crack originated from behind the man highlighting that he (or rather the group he represents) are the cause of this distress. If the glass were to break the sharks would be able to get the man, this shows that what they've been doing has been a delicate balancing act on the edge of getting caught.

Study task 2

Our task was to write a short paragraph about a piece of art that is cross disciplinary between Fine art and Illustration, challenging the 'norm' as discussed in Marshall Arisman's article 'Is there Fine Art to Illustration?'

In the practice of Fine art the art is there to convey whatever the artist pleases whereas in illustration the art is crated through constrains and briefs with a purpose. There are pieces that use aspects of both professions breaking the 'norm' as discussed in Arisman's article 'Is there fine art to illustration?' there has become a taboo of illustrators and fine artists working cross practice as Fine art is seen as the pure art but illustration is considered selling out. Michelangelo's Sistine chapel. Fine art. But arguably there are aspects of illustration in as it has a purpose, it tells the story of creation. Having it in a chapel clearly there were constraints to his practice as it had to be relevant to its surroundings. 

I think this example should show that the line between fine art and illustration has been crossed in the past and should continue to be crossed as both disciplines offer successful and emotive pieces of art.

Image analysis exercise

 

 

The immediate mood of the pieces is different because the top picture is a British propaganda poster encouraging people to join the war whereas the bottom is an American advert for a stove/oven.  In the first image the text is neatly laid out at the bottom; the font is a classy style that’s not too informal. The text is subtle as is the message so it fits the purpose. In the second image the text is splayed at an angle so that is looks imprinted on the carpet. The font is a big, bold and bulky style, which fits the purpose as its an advertisement and its purpose is to be noticed.

The audiences for each differ greatly as one is looking for young men to go off and fight in the war and has quite a serious message whereas the other is looking to the American citizens and tempting them into buying their product.  But the way in which each image draws in their audience is similar; they are both patriotic images.  In the British one the first element of patriotism is the message as it is about fighting for your country, secondly the child is playing with beefeaters; a recognised object that represents Britain and the British way of life.

The images also share another element; that of family. Each image has tried to draw its audience in with the image of a loving family.  The top one attempts to persuades the audience by the idea of having stories to tell your children and making them proud of you. In the second image the family is used to create a homely feel giving the idea that no family is complete without this oven. The world is also seated at the table showing that with this oven the world is your family or that the oven could feed the world, both making the oven seem more desirable which is the purpose of the image.

The word ‘Great’ in the text on the top image is used, but the advert was displayed during the wart before they knew whether or not it would be a successful one. This word shows the vigilant hope of the people making the propaganda. Showing the man with his children makes it look like after the war you will continue a normal life and does not represent any of the deaths or injuries that were taking place. This image gives the war a sense of grandeur, at the time this played an important part in recruiting as moral was low and people were afraid to die. So this image played on the things that people were still proud of throughout the war and fierce to protect; Patriotism and family.

In the second image the visual synecdoche of Uncle Sam is reminiscent of the war efforts, the patriotism involved in it and represents America through his character. By using this character in the advert it almost gives a sense of duty as he was used in the American propaganda war posters  ‘Uncle Sam Needs You’ telling American citizens it was their duty and honour to fight for their country. But in the context of an advert the visual aesthetics aren’t as demanding and are much more informal. Making Uncle Sam a character of standing now the war is over and he is a hero, which is something to be admired, and hopefully that admiration will transfer over to their product the oven.

All in all the two images are very different in purpose but in the way they draw each of their audiences in the y use similar elements of patriotism and family.

5 Designs Love/Hate

The first design i have chosen that makes me passionate is a design i truly hate. The sofa's in our flat consist of lumbar support and lumbar support alone. although they are furnished in faux leather which makes them easy  wipe-able for those messy student accidents but the sleekness of the material makes all substances slide down to our stain absorbent carpet.

My second design is that of the character Pikachu. Aimed at kids they picked an adorable mouse like design. Then with a splash of sunshine yellow its ready for child viewing. The designers went all out for making it as cute as possible to draw in an audience with children then gave it powerful attacks to draw in a further crowd of children.

Derek Hess designed this poster and i love the use of the loose line form and big angry strokes. The arrangement of the text with picture is chaotic and shows the genre of the poster.

This design i love because it is my favourite mug as it has Jake from Adventure time on. The two things that i think stand out most about Jake is his crazy stretching powers which i think leaves a lot of room for experimentation for the crazy shapes his limbs can make. Secondly his eyes, the only difference between his eyes and the ones of cartoons airing now is that the whites of his eyes are reversed and he's sporting white pupils. It's a simple change but the backward nature of it fits the feel of the entire cartoon with its new odd genre.

My last chosen design falls into the hate category. The Leeds Met Broadcasting tower is a rusty colour and large and angular. The materials used were meant to encourage the growth of moss to create a tower of greenery but being in the centre of Leeds the air quality is not quite up to moss standards.