Project 14 Myth is a type of speech

Project 14  Myth is a type of speech


In Myth to-day Barthes claims with a witty saussurean irony that this Lolita this poetess named Minou Drouet had her own system of signs (Barthes explains with a clinical disinterest of a scholar who likes boys not girls).  "A tree is a tree. But a tree expressed by Minou is no longer quite a tree it is decorated, adapted to a certain type of consumption laden with literary self-indulgence, revolt, images in short a type of social usage which is added to pure matter".  Barthes is out to destroy the "myth of childhood as a poet".

(Minou Drouet was a poet, musician and actress- a talented young lady Barthes used her in his text to show how myth is used in literature and can distort the signifier signified and therefore the sign)

Therefore take language, discourse speech etc to mean any significant unit or synthesis either verbal or visual, a photograph will be a kind of speech for us the same as a newspaper article even objects will become speech if they mean something long before the invention of the alphabet, objects or simple drawing etc. have been accepted as speech (telling a story, an event in history, how people lived and survived).

Myth today is a type of speech not any type language needs special conditions in order to become a myth

Dictionary definition :  Myth is a fable or narrative under which is hidden a historical or mural truth an invented story (The Westminster English Dictionary) It is therefore not confined to oral speech it can consist of modes of writing or of representations not only of writing but also photography, cinema, reporting, paintings, sport, shows etc.  all these can serve as support to mythical speech.

With regard to the"bunch of roses and a black pebble, roses particularly red roses are passion and love while black pebbles bring to mind coldest and hard these convey emotions  Another example is fire - hell different colours associated with heat, anger and hatred.  The shape of the heart  in any form other than medical represents emotions or love so is not the real representation of an organ.  It is another myth that we have created to signify where we associate where our feelings come from.  (not in the mind?).

James Ravilious 1939-1999  Photographs in black/white are so profound images of all aspects of local life (Devon) landscape, farming life in local towns and villages and their special occasions each one tells a story.

Ivor Brooks rescuing  a lamb in blizzard Miltham Dolton Devon 1978

Archie Parkhouse and Ivor Brooks moving a sick lamb  (in an old tin bath)  Dolton Devon 1976


The Mad Hatter Tea party  By Arthur Rackham  1867-1939

This picture comes from the  classic book Alice in Wonderland (a young girls search for the meaning of a confusing world strikes a chord in a peculiar tale of logic and fantasy).  It is considered to be one of he best examples of literary nonsense genre and its narrative course and structure have been enormously influential especially in the fantasy genre.

Alice is a guest at a " Mad Tea Party"  with March Hare, Mad Hatter and a Sleeping Dormouse" who remains asleep in the teapot of most of the time.

The Hatter is most likely to be a reference to Theophilus a furniture dealer know for his unorthodox inventions.

The March Hare, the Hatter and the Dormouse give several examples in which the semantic value of a sentence (A is not the same value of the converse of A)  i.e. "why you might just as well say that ` I see what I eat' is the same as `I eat what I see"  in logic this is discussing an inverse relationship.

Alice also ponders that meaning when changing chairs around a circular table then places them back where they started.  This is an observation of additions on the ring of ` integer's modulo'

Project 13: mini project on structuralist analysis

Project 13: mini project on structuralist analysis

Two examples of naturalistic paintings of a particular genre,

Example one

The artist and his wife and daughter c 1751-2 (oil on canvas) by Thomas Gainsborough (1727-1788)

This painting has more of a relaxed feeling. The painter shows husband and wife relaxing the latter taking on the role of the mother  the child positioned  between the two (the union).  Gainsborough holds a piece of paper (an allusion to his work as an artist)- is sitting at the same level as his wife (Margaret Burr the illegitimate daughter of an aristocrat)  The child could possibly be their first child Mary who died in 1748.  It is possibly that the painting was done in that year as a posthumous picture of her.  This could explain the look of depressed distraction and the  distance between each other (as if the child has come between them).  Thomas looks past us, sadly, pointlessly, his red jacket not properly buttoned, his hat not positioned right.  Margaret looks nowhere she holds a small posy of white flowers.  The child is the only one that look at us holding what seems to be a stringed purse notice her rosy cheeks.  The dog drinks from the pool

The landscape has a devastating reflection of their feelings, the tree they sit under is half bare the pool dreary the sky grey - suicidal.

Example 2

Girl with a Pearl Earring    (the unknown girl)    c 1665-6     Jan Vermeer (1632-1675)

Vermeer's art looks modern in someways almost photographic - the way the light gathers in bright intense areas, the sharp contrast, the dramatic perspective.  Some art historians speculate he may have been a camera obsara!  But we could be in danger of missing something if we imagine Vermeer as a photographer his realism (any realism) is not a blunt description of the world but an idea.  (Jonathan Jones The Guardian 2/11/2002)

The unknown girl floats disconnected from everything around her including you.  The power and presence  in which she looks at you is incredible as she gazes wide eyed her sensual mouth parted. As the name suggests the pearl earring is the focal point.  Vermeer depicts a beautiful young woman with a vibrant blue turban looking over her shoulder to see who is standing behind her (could it be Vermeer?).  The luminous pearl earring hangs freely and motionless giving the impression of weight and volume. this complements the white collar of her dress.

The combination of the very dark background and the brilliant use of colour in the turban and subdued colours used in her face and dress draw the eye to the girl's intimate gaze.

The speculation as to who could have been the sitter for this painting was, or could have been a servant girl with whom Vermeer began a relationship and painted her wearing his wife's pearl earring.

next we go on to portrait photography formal and informal

Example 1

George Armstrong Custer and Elizabeth Bacon Custer 1860-1865
by Mathew  B Brady 1822-1896

Like Gainsborough's paintings the subjects in this early photograph adopt a frontal view the sitters are
looking directly at the photographer and the posture is of the subjects is staged. The nature of the pose is similar to the immobility  of  most of Gainsborough's paintings (it is not natural).  Elizabeth sitting hands together on lap straight backed, gown perfectly layed out.  George standing in  attendance to his wife one hand on the back of the chair the other behind his back neither have a smile (was this deemed improper in those days.  I suppose this could have been a personal photo or one used to distribute to his followers.

Example 2 

Untitled Firm Still no. 6 1977
by Cindy Sherman
Black and White

Sherman began making the sixty-nine photos in 1977, the first six were an experiment.  Fan magazine glimpses into the roles of women played by Sherman herself.  The photo looks like a movie still or a publicity pix purported to catch the blonde in an unguarded moment at home (this one lounging on the bed).

Sherman poses as a woman daydreaming, she holds a mirror, (a cliched symbol of vanity) in one hand
Momentarily her blank stare triggers a double-take could she become a victim of crime in a police photo killed by the mechanical gaze of the camera, or perhaps awaiting her lover!

Project 12 Rhetoric of the image

Project 12 Rhetoric of the image

1) Etymology - explains origin and history of words
2) Rhetoric - is a type of speaking, writing, visual work used to persuade an audience of validity or truth in a statement or image
3) Semiotics - the study of signs and sign processes - closely related to linguistics.  Is divided into three branches
               a) Semantics  - Relations between signs and the things to which they refer
               b) Syntactics - Relation among sign in formal st ructions
               c) Pragmatics - Relation between signs and the effects they have on people who uses them

Semiotics is the common umbrella term to describe both the Saussurean and the Peirean approach (Ferdinand de Saussure and Charles Sanders Peirce)

Fiske defines semiotics as being essentially a theoretical approach to communications in that its aim is to establish widely applicable principles (Fiske, 1982,p.118) which means that semiotics can be used in anything in the mass media from TV, radio, films,photos, newspapers posters and advents in magazines.

Semiotics is sometimes referred to as "semiology" as the sign of signs or theory of signs others include body language posture facial expressions clothes worn etc.

The advertisers have in their minds exactly who their target is aimed at.  Since the making of them is costly and complex business those involved in the production select and choose ways (for example they choose the image, highlighting, typography, focus camera angle etc.  (one example is to spray a food product with a substance that gives an extra `eat me` look i.e. a shine)

Such a team will draw upon there own perceived concepts and ideas of what the product is about and the target audience it is aimed at.  So in effect adverts consist of many messages (dyer 1986, p.135) but it is up to the individual how they interpret the image they see- and this will be according to the reader/ viewers cultural views.

The first advert I have chosen is that of  L'Oreal men expert vita lift (seen in Live magazine supplement (The mail on Sunday)  This is a magazine aimed at the man of the house with many articles that are expensive.  The adverts is mainly black and white being of  Hugh Laurie (who has recently been advertising the product on TV)   To the right of this photo the product itself with a red hue round it which makes it stand out for the page.  Hugh Laurie has  a knowing expression with a hint of a smile with  the words in brackets "Keep on being yourself "  and under the product  (its not a face lift, its a vita lift).    


The next is Potters Herbals ( In the You magazine supplement to the Mail on Sunday newspaper). The picture again is in black and white which shows an a gentleman in top hat 1800s clothes, finger to his lips, the background is misty (similar to an early photograph) of the sky line and trees the products are in colour one orange, one green and one pink each with a different product (chest mixture, cough mixture and catarrh mixture) I think the advert is saying that the longer the company  has been going (since 1812) the better the product.  Also the products being in colour stand out to catch the eye.


The last product I have chosen is that of a perfume product  Daisy (Marc Jacobs) (also in the You magazine) This advent shows a clear blue sky a field of daises a woman holding the perfume in both hands raised,  face raised to the sun eyes closed mouth slightly open long hair gently blowing in the wind wearing a pure white dress.  This gives the impression of a perfume that is light  and gives the feeling of warm summer days in the countryside.  The colours of the advert are gentle.

Project 11 the thorny subject of taste

Project 11 the thorny subject of taste



Dick Hedbdige the bottom line on planet one

War of the worlds

Two different worlds the first Power and Knowledge  ordered so as to give written and spoken word to the second mere imagery i.e. scribes (learned people) determine the rules and grammar - draw the line between them and the subordinate caste whose job is to produce a publication of images and written text to the public in general.  Each movement is like a work in a sentence - this sentence is called history.  In the second world the higher order has been abolished - Truth if it exists at all is first and foremost pictured in images which have their own power and subsequent effects - looking takes over from seeing sensing over knowing words pale in to insignificance. Thus there is nothing behind the image so no hidden truth to be revealed - does this imply that a lot art to-day does not require explanations just a title and what the subject is made of and called?

No meaning no classes no history just a continuous precession of images and or shadowy likeness.

Hebdige makes the distinction between high and popular culture  by comparing the magazines The Face (popular cultures) and  Ten 8  (high culture) which is used as a springboard showing the difference between modernist and post-modernist visual culture.  I think that Hebdige is saying that there is the younger audience defined by The Face who are not moulded by the culture of the older generation. In the modernist world
shown by Ten 8 knowledge is ordered by rules and traditions.  Images are situated in a historical and theoretical framework.

In the post-modernist world (The Face) this previous view has been changed the once vertical way has made way for the horizontal,  So it is no longer the function of language to explain the origin or functions of the image portrayed.

The key argument of Hebdige against what he call "the peoples of the post"  is that he questions the politics of representation and it does not matter if Social Realism has been removed as being superficial.  The Face supersedes the traditional (Ten 8.)

Popular Culture  commonly known as pop culture is the totality of ideas, perspective, attitudes, images etc. that are deemed preferred though an informal consensus.  Also it is heavily influenced by the mass media and permeates the everyday life of  people - also the term of the 19th century original use referred to the education of the lower classes the current meaning is culture for mass consumption.

A postmodernist approach to popular culture would no longer recognise the difference between high and popular culture.

High culture definition - Excellence taste in the fine arts and humanities (ballet, opera etc)

Low culture definition  - was considered to be Kitsch things low culture was popular with the masses and in poor taste (pop music - cinema etc)

In the light of developments in  the media and other branches of the arts and culture in the second world war an analogy Dick Hebdige uses for a Port Modernist world (high) is round.

Examples of contemporary popular culture are

Rita Ackerman African Nurse 2005-8
Ida Applebroog Modern Olympia 2002
Francis Bacon Triptych 1971
Jennifer Bartlett Houses 2005
Maurice Bensyon World Skin 1997
 
High Round Culture

Edward Hodges Bailey Eve at the Fountain
John Corwall Bernard and the Big Boys
Mary Knott He's not heavy
James White Frank and empties 2003

High Referencing popular culture

Andy Warhol Campbell's Tomato Juice box 1964
Wayne Thibaud  Three machines 1963
David Hockney Bigger Splash 1967
Alex Kat  Vincent with mouth open 1970
Jim Dine The Robe following her 1984-85 

Note:   I am now beginning to understand at look at this subject in different ways.  I know I have still a lot to learn but it is becoming a little clearer

Project 10 the society of the spectacle

Project 10 the society of the spectacle.


Weltanschauung - definition comprehensive view of the world and human life.  Freud's observation on the notion of weltanschauung were in fact only concerned with religion,  he also mentioned art, which for him was "almost harmless and beneficent it does not seek to be anything but an illusion,"  another definition is that "it is a comprehensive worldview from a specific point of view."

Debord's  meaning of  the spectacle is possibly "an unusual or interesting science, large public show on an object of derision or ridicule.  Does this mean that pushing the bounds of art to such an extent so as to shock and thus become famous for this and not for the artistic value?

Like many like minded people Debord seems to have started a trend that is still attired to though the bounders which are being pushed further.  I would like to think that we are not controlled  but I think with that amount of advertising (you must have so and so or your live is not complete) we must be dictated  to in
some respect although we may not be aware of it. 

Reflection the meaning of

Marx view of this is
       a) is to regard or treat the process of viewing as if it had concrete or material existence it involves separating  out something from the original context and placing it in a completely different area thus giving a different meaning or out look   (appropriation art?)

According to Dr Jeanne.S.M. Willette and Art History unstated - Reification is used to further the interests of the ruling class.  The desire to acquire certain commodities was based upon an ideology of "success," expressed though objects.  The property purchased reinforced the capitalist system, which is dependant upon constant buying which, in turn supports the power position of those who control the mode of production.  The desire to own property is legitimated through ideology encouraging consumption.  To counter arguments that capitalism exploits the working class, the real consequences of desire is falsified, hidden, or denied in a process called "dissimulation." 
  

Barbarous taste project 9 contd.

Barbarous taste project 9 contd.


I agree with the concept with regard to people's unease when posing for a photograph, generally most do except possibly the professionals who expect this as part of their profession and on occasions will play up to the camera, whereas others are uneasy when put in that situation and so cannot relax in which the end results become force.

Eltnocentricity- based on the attitude that ones own group is superior

Are we conditioned as to what is considered as beauty by the media etc? Is Keint saying that some believe that every image has to perform a use in peoples lives i.e. as selling a product i.e. in advertising, newspapers etc.  Are we expected to believe that because so and so says that this painting, sculpture, prose, make of goods etc. is the best and that you should look no further thus being dictated to?   If so with regard to some modern works I am inclined to reject as I find it difficult to understand what the artist is saying and why some times the work has to be so explicit It seems as though in their wish to become known they have to shock the onlooker.  But one cannot expect all works of art to perform to our own tastes, as everyone has their own likes or dislikes.  (I recently watched a program on David Nash (sculpture in wood) found it very interesting in what one can achieve with wood  and enjoyed the end results).

Quote from Pierre Bourdieu " Photograph's which take too many liberties with the human body provoke unease and or indignation: `If you are going to take it you might as well take the whole thing mightn't you? The face is missing its irritating.' ` It isn't bad, but I would like to see the expression in the face.  I'd have taken the face as well' (hands of a peasant woman 'these hands mean work' Russell Lee Untitled, from The Family of Man' exhibition 1955) though in this case I do find this picture interesting as in my opinion it shows an older person whose hands show that they have worked hard.  And one could imagine the facial expression  as that of a hard working person with a story to tell.

Quote from Sheila Hancock (watercolour program watched recently)  "These days we seem to look at everything though a lens  i.e. camera film etc.  Whereas watercolours oils etc show emotion and pain of the world though  the effort and time taken to observe".

Project 9 Barbarous taste

Photography can been seen as a true picture though according the `Encyclopedie Francaise' any work of art reflects the personalty of the creator .  Photographs record an image but not the original subject as seen by the naked eye.
The artist's sincerity is measured by his or her effort and sacrifice to the work of art where as in some cases the photographic image is produced with less effort and study of the subject.

Aesthete  - one devoted to the principles of whatever is beautiful.

Pierre Bourdieu seems to be saying that in some aspects photography is a lower form of art - using a machine to obtain the desired  effect.  The camera is subordinate to the artist- but the outcome is without a doubt that photography fulfills the expectations that the working class seeks (could that not apply to any class of people?)

With the camera a photo  can be taking instantly with  the right conditions where as with a painting you have to sketch, note colours  prepare canvas etc before you even begin to produce your painting.  

Project 8 The work of art in the age of mechinical reproduction

Project 8 The work of art in the art of mechinial reproduction

(see V& A post re camera-less photographing)

Tautological -repeating the same thing

Walter Benjamin 1892


Works of art can be reproduced in large numbers so become assessable to all, these come in many ways as postcards used in advertisement's in this case helps to sell a product, wallpaper etc.

Walter Benjamin states that the process of picture reproduction was freed from the artist and accelerated as the camera lens could capture instantaneously.  While authenticity perquisite to the presence of the original is outside technical reproducibly the reproduction process i.e. the photo makes it independent from the original.  This means that a copy of the original photo can be used outside its original contexts, although then the quality of the original is depreciated.

The aura is natural to art work mechanical reproduction of artwork eliminates this from the reproductions.  Society is passionate to overcome the uniqueness of reality by accepting reproductions Benjamin states

"To pry an object from its shell to destroy its aura is a mark of perception whose ' sense of quality of things' has increased to such a degree that it extracts it even from a unique object be means of reproduction ".

I think that there is no substitute for a visit to a gallery to experience the real work even if it is not in its original setting in a way it is a kind of pilgrimage for those unable to travel to see the works of art  that are kept in private collections and galleries in other countries.


The improvement in reproduction methods and possibilities through technological advancement strengthens Benjamin's arguments making his ideas more relevant today. 

The failure of the Soviets experiment does not alter the validity of Benjamin's case I think his ideas are applicable today though human perception, capitalism has changed because of historical circumstances (Marxism has not become obsolete with the collapse of the Soviet Union).

John Berger's 1926 case was a lot easy to understand, it also helped to look at the T.V. programs that I managed to see on U.Tube, although I did read  Benjamin's essay 3 or 4 times being able to watch  I found to easier to understand. Combined with reading both theories, In some aspects I think that being able to purchase copies of art gives you more scope to be able to study individual paintings and or artists at your leisure, also these days you are able to access galleries etc though the Internet.  In some respect a work of art being removed from its original site either grows or fades in the meaning it subverts.  It is no longer where or of whom the work of art was made for to it losses some of its uniqueness. Also when a camera reproduces an imagine of the work of art it destroys and thus its meaning is altered and multiplied.

Nostalgia comes to the for in art because of the camera - familiarity breeds apathy.  The reproduction is used to suppress, it is used politically and commercially as mentioned before in advertisements etc.  When it is used with a background of music or words  it can change your perception of the painting etc as in Berger's example of Van Gough's  Wheat field.

John Berger " Seeing comes before word, a child looks and recognises before it can speak" (Way's of Seeing)

Shadow catchers at V & A london

Shadow Catchers at V and A London

Five international artists have changed the assumption that the camera is necessary to make a photograph. By casting shadows on light sensitive casting paper or chemically manipulating its surface the artists seem to capture the presence of objects, figures or glowing lights, giving exciting images and ofter surreal or abstract effects and symbolic content.  These camera-less photo's were explored at the beginning of photography and have recently been re-discovered so I would imagine with a little help from modern technology the artists were able to achieve the end results.

Images made with a camera imply a documentary role, in contract camera-less photograph show what has never existed as they are always the 'the orginal' because they are not made from a negative.

The artists involved in this exhibition are Pierre Cordier, Susan Derges, Adam Fuss, Gary Fabian Miller and Floiris Neususs.   

thoughts of the subject of modern art (10/01/2011)

When you see an object, photograph, plant, etc and you look at the shape and not the subject itself. You may think I could use this in a painting drawing etc. Does that subject become a means to an end, by changing the composition of the painting so that the object becomes something different.

i.e.  when using the outline of the object chosen, lets take a tree trunk the outline of which could become a part of a subject I am painting ?? i.e. using the shape as part of another drawing a part of a sculpture.