Research & sketchbook development

Further from my decision to look at Transcriptions, re-makes and re-imagining of art & design i had a look at a load of re-made or 'parody' designs of classic art and iconic logos and imagery. Seeing how many reworks of the same images had been done to death (American Gothic comes to mind) it made me think about why people would go out of their way to almost totally replicate an existing painting, only to change a couple of elements in it to change the meaning of the image, or modernise it, or add SpongeBob to it? Also, it's one thing to show craft in re-producing someone else's painting process, but a lot of the examples didn't really bring anything extra to the original - most of them were trying to bring some comedy to it, but didn't always hit the target. The inclusion of 'Minions' is an example of this. Minions are bloody everywhere, and there not even slightly amusing. Other examples that caught my eye are featured below.

A lot of the re-imagined logos and paintings that I've included appealed to me either because they made me laugh, or because it had a clever concept and the way the work has been altered to give it a new spin - but as far as coming up with a concept for my publication i'm not sure where i'd go with it. Making Colonel Saunders fat, bastardising the 'Son of Man' by Magritte (below), making iPood logos  - it's all been done over and over, and I'm not really sure how much creative credibility you can take from that line of illustration, if any.

One image i stumbled across was of the Mona Lisa (see above), painted in the cubist style of Picasso, created by another different artist (haven't been able to track down a name). It got me thinking about the possibilities of maybe creating a series of images of everyday,recognisable objects but mimicking the production process of famous practitioners of the past. My knowledge of artist history is 'somewhat' rusty so i will need to have a search for some prime examples. I also realise that painting is not what i do, so trying to recreate the painting style of some of the past masters maybe not be practical, especially considering the time I've left myself to sort this out in.

Learning support

To say a visit to student support was a bit late in the day is a giant understatement, but i did finally seek some guide dance regarding my essay, and the production of it. Came away some with notes and help tips about structure etc etc, so hopefully this will give me a better of what the hell I'm doing. Session summary- Title: How American horror films from the 50s reflect the social and political situation at the time Words: 3000 Organised chronological research – too many films at the moment – need to whittle it down, make it more focused Introduction (roughly 300 words): -       Introducing your subject, what the essay will contain, questions it aims to answer -       Outline the sources, the films, directors, theorists you will reference Main body: -       Background on the political/social situation in America at the time and how this influenced the horror industry generally – might use a couple of quotations to support this -       Analysis of film 1 – story line, style, technical/production observations, how this impacts the style, social commentary -       Analysis of film 2 – all above, but also comparisons to previous -       Analysis of film 3 – all of above, but comparisons to 1 and 2 – how did certain styles develop/ how did the political situation change/how did this affect the film? Conclusion: -       Summarising what the essay has explored, key comparisons, key features/styles of film, key political/social changes/events that impacted on film -       Not saying anything new Use film stills as images to reference – use figure 1… Citations – make sure you cite all your findings – quotes and paraphrasing e.g. (Smith, 2002, p.20) or ‘Smith has stated that…(2002, p.20)] Watch out for referencing films as this is different to books – use film title instead of director Harvard Referencing: http://www.open.ac.uk/libraryservices/documents/Harvard_citation_hlp.pdf http://mhm.hud.ac.uk/academic-skills/Harvard-referencinglong.pdf

Essay research & development

Better late than never. Actually I'm not sure about that, but there is progress of sorts, involving me making notes of starting points and things to research into.


- Start with a bit about the growth of suburbia, Suburbs starting growing rapidly from 1945…
(find quotes info about this)


- What makes 'suburban values' different to other peoples values, and why.
Suburbia- ordered, neat, all have own space. Part of a community, but clearly marked boundaries between. Neat, rather than chaos of city.


- 1940s, America's biggest external threat was Communist Russia.why?
find a book explaining the rise of the Soviet Union during and after WW2    

- Cold War. background info & quotes. 

- 1945 Abombs on Hiroshima & Nagasaki ,show of strength from US to Russia

  

- 1940s- fear of 'alien' invasion.Increased fears brought about ny Senator McCarthy 'founder' of McCarthyism. he spearheaded a communist witch hunt of prominent american figures. Actors, directors, artists.

- Films of 50s- how they reflected this threat:

war of the worlds (1953) - WATCH- is there any brainwashing in it? This could be linked to the idea that Soviet citizens were brainwashed.

Invasion of the body snatchers (1953) - enemy walks among us. Aliens- slave to leader. McCarthyist tones.