Lou Ros is a Paris based artist. He started his art career as a street artist and a graffiti artist. Most of his work incorporates figures or portraits, with some abstraction. One part of Ros' work that I think will influence my work is his use of thin layers of paint. I usually paint very thickly and with many layers, however I think it would be interesting to vary the thickness of the paint in different areas throughout a painting. That is what I am trying to do with my current home project, so that the background collage of the maps still shows through. I also like Ros' use of abstraction, because it makes his pieces much more dynamic. Although he does not state much about his content, I think that the abstraction of the faces in many of his portraits relates to the ideas of identity and anonymity, which are things that I may want to explore in my work, because they sort of relate to my greater theme of change.
Nikki Rosato is a DC based painter and sculptor. Her best known work is her intricate paper cutting, like the above piece, which is a road map with the area in between the roads cut out. This picture does not really do the work justice, because you cannot see the negative space due to the white background. She combines maps with the human figure because she sees many parallels between the two. I think that Rosato's work is applicable to my ow work because she is using paper cutting to create intricate figures, and I have also been experimenting with paper cutting. I sort of moved away from that method because I wanted to do more painting, however seeing Rosato's work makes me want to try paper cutting again using a different method. I think it could be cool to do some very intricate, thin designs and overlay them on a painting. I also like Rosato's use of maps because they create an interesting design and texture, and because they can be interpreted a lot of different ways in a piece's content. It is also a coincidence because my home project incorporates a collage of maps.
As a whole, ISIS and Soviet Russia do not have much in common. One is based in religion, while the other was blatantly anti-religion, and one is active now, while the other was dismantled decades ago. However, one thing that ISIS and the USSR have in common is their extensive use of propaganda. Throughout history, powerful and restrictive regimes such as these have used images of propaganda to spread their messages and generate support for their actions. The articles "ISIS steal Brian McCarty's Gaza photo for propaganda to recruit new members" and "Socialist Realism’s Russian Renaissance" discuss the types of propaganda that these groups use and why they are effective.
ISIS's main method of recruiting members is through the internet, specifically social media. This makes photography an effective form of propaganda for their cause, because it can be easily manipulated and distributed to a wide audience. By using the internet, they also make it difficult for their message to be removed or silenced, because it is nearly impossible to ever completely delete something from the internet once it is posted due to people saving and reposting things on social media. In Brian McCarty's case, he succeeded in having the photo removed from its original post on Twitter, but "it continues to pop up from time to time." (Kitching 4) The type of propaganda discussed in the article on Soviet Russia is very different from the images that ISIS uses now. Socialist Realism is a style mandated under Stalin, which "was to be for and about workers and depict an idealized version of everyday life." (Neumeyer 3) The paintings show happy images of determined, successful Russian workers and families. They have the clear goal of displaying a positive image of Soviet society, however the society that these paintings depict is nothing like the actual lives of people living in the Soviet Union under Stalin. The government pushed artists to create these paintings to spread a lie of prosperity throughout the country and to the outside world. One interesting difference between the types of propaganda used by ISIS and the USSR is the topics that they focus on. Images used by ISIS depict the idea that the world is against them and that they are wrongly under constant attack from the rest of the world. This message makes people feel angry and like an injustice is being committed, which motivates them to join the cause. On the other hand, Socialist Realism depicts positive, prosperous images that are meant to generate pride in one's country. This pride makes people feel more loyal to their country, and leads to greater support of their government. |
AuthorI am an art student at Maggie Walker Governor's School. On this site I post project progress, research, and photos of my final work. Archives
May 2018
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