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. Donald Baechler is a New York based artist. When he was in school, he became bored with New York, and moved to Frankfurt to continue his studies there. His work brings together elements of pop culture, folk art, childhood, and classical art history. He constantly collects book pages, photographs, and many other random scraps to use in his work, even though he has now gathered so many that he cannot use them all. One of the main things I like about Baechler’s work is his style of drawing, because it has nice line quality and is not too detailed. It is similar to the kind of style that I am trying to achieve in my current piece. I also like his method of collecting items that he finds without a specific piece in mind. I think that I might start doing that because an idea for a piece could come from items that I collect.
Mark Bradford is a Los Angeled based artist. He used materials that he finds in the street to make large scale collage works. His work usually addresses issues such as immigration and civil rights. I was inspired by Bradford’s work to try the new process that I am using in my current project, the layering of paper and then cutting designs into it. Bradford’s content does not really relate to my work, however I like the way he includes a clear message in each piece without making it too obvious, such as in this one where you have to look closely to realize that it is the constitution. I think in future projects I want to try doing more layers and using diverse materials to create a more dynamic texture like Bradford does.
Over MLK day weekend, I went to visit my brother in New York. While we were there, we visited the Whitney Museum of American Art. The main exhibit that was up was “An Incomplete History of Protest: Selections from the Whitney’s Collection.” I was excited to see this exhibit because it directly relates to a lot of the stuff we have talked about in class this year, and it included some really cool pieces. Some of the works that I found most interesting were the vintage Vietnam War protest posters. Although they might not technically be “fine art,” they tell a lot about the culture at the time and they use the elements/principles of art in unique ways to help get their message across. Another thing I liked about this exhibition is that it covered a wide range of topics, from war, to racism, to feminist issues, and more. This diversity also meant that the styles and media used in each of the pieces varied greatly, so you could see how artists interpreted and portrayed the messages behind their works in different ways. One thing that I thought was sort of funny was that there were Guerrilla Girls posters protesting the Whitney in the exhibition. In a way, however, I also thought it was a bit hypocritical for the Guerrilla Girls’ work to be hanging in an institution that they have protested against for so long.
For this project, I have decided to collage layers of newspaper painted different colors, which I am then going to cut into to show the layers underneath. I want the content of this piece to be about change, however I haven't decided what design/shapes/objects I am going to cut into the paper yet.
These articles discuss common themes and ideas seen in war related art throughout history. Although war has changed greatly since the time of Goya, one of the first artists to depict the horrors of war rather than just glorious battle scenes, many of the themes remain the same. The article "When Modern Art Met Modern Warfare" discusses how World War I changed war art, however the New York Times article, "Horror Is a Constant, as Artists Depict War" shows that although there was some change, there were also still many similarities to art created before the war. The NY Times article compares modern war photography with 19th century paintings such as Goya's to show that the atrocities depicted in war art are the same now as they were in the past.
I found the modern art/modern warfare article interesting because it talked about how war changed the entire art world, not just art that was related to war. After WWI, British art transitioned to "the steady, reassuring hands of tradition," (Michel 2) because modern art was considered unpredictable. It is understandable that people would want to go back to traditional art styles after the war, because the world had changed so much so fast that they felt comforted by an art style that was old and well known. These readings relate to our discussions on protest art earlier in the year, because both types of art are reactions to suffering and injustice. However, the examples of war art shown in these readings are more of an emotional reaction to the suffering seen in war instead of outright protests against war. Even if they are not initially meant to create protest or carry a specifically "anti-war" message, these artworks depict the violence and pain that war causes, which upset and anger people. The emotions that these pieces stir in people is what makes war art into protest art. |
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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