Process
For this first image I have used two photos one is of Donald Trump’s face and the other a plain brick wall. The reason I have chosen to do this is because Donald Trump is a big character in the political world because of his extreme views, he has divided a large amount of people. Also in his manifesto he says and strongly believes that there should be a wall build between the United States and Mexico to prevent Mexican immigration, the wall is here to represent this. This is why there is the Text that says “GREAT WALL OF TRUMP” in red and black text. I choose the colour red because it represents blood and danger which is what many people would associate with Donald Trump because of his views on war and how he wants to use nuclear weapons. The colour black connotes evil and dark themes such as war, it also connotes intelligences, which Donald Trump is otherwise he would not be completing in a presidential campaign for the U.S President.
If I was to self-reflect my work, I would say that the idea and concept is very strong by using a very controversial subject like politics is. However, I would say the technical side of the image could be improved as the Photoshop here are very poor. Despite this I think that the audience will love this image, because of the fact that it doesn’t look professional it connotes that Donald Trump is kind of a joke to politics, which the audience will find amusing which is what appropriation is really about.
My second image is a family walking along a beach, what I have done to this image is crop it to really focus on the family. I have also raised the brightness of the image, I have done this because usually associate family time as bright and colourful to connote happiness. But this one is unusually dark even with the brightness of the image raised. Also the body language of the family seems very calm and relaxed, we are not used to seeing this in these types of images if you look at family holiday websites the people in the photos are usually very excited and happy all wearing bright clothing. In this photo the dominant colour of clothes are black and grey, this is not the stereotypical family holiday photo we are used to seeing, and that is the reason I have chosen it.
I think the meaning and the concept of the image is very interesting and strong, with how you normally see family holiday pictures as bright and happy but this one really isn’t. But again I think the technical process I when through was weak, because I only raised the brightness of the image and did a simple crop.
I think the audience will like this image as it will remind them of their family, holidays, and parenthood. This means the photo will give them happy thoughts of their family, so they should appreciate this photo.
Research
For my first photo I was inspired by this image by Shepard Fairey, this is where I got the inspiration from to create a politically motivated piece. He was Born in Charleston, South Carolina, but now lives and creates his work in LA. He has won many awards over his career including the Honorary doctorate, Pratt Institute in 2015, and the Artist residency for The Contemporary Museum, Honolulu, Hawaii in 2005. This shows that he has continued to make great art all the way through his career by winning awards consistently throughout his career.
This image of Barack Obama is probably the most famous artwork in his career, in 2008 this poster of Obama signified him bringing hope to the people of the USA, now however people might think of the poster in a number of different ways such as “success” now that his presidential reign is now over his supporters may think of him bring progress to the USA, or if you weren’t a fan of Obama you think of this poster as “sarcasm” or a “joke”. The audience of this poster will all react in different ways because we all interpret art differently because we all see at different times in our life and in society which means we all view art differently depending on our upbringing and cultural background.
His art has been well known for tackling social and political views through the form of images. It has come across quite a lot of critique over the years but what art doesn’t especially when tackling very controversial issues, which makes him a very brave artist in the industry today. However, Shepard himself believes that he is a populist, this basically means he wants to create art about social issues and politics for the ordinary people, not the elites of this world.
This image has a very strong red tinge, which is not very noticeable on the left hand side of the image but as we move our attention across the image to the right hand side it becomes much more noticeable very strong on the left hand side. But this colour is very appropriated in this image because lest think what the colour red connotes, leadership, strength, passion, and determination. All of these qualities you would associate with Obama.
Looking through Shepard Fairey’s work you can see that he tends to repeat this sort of retro style in his work, using the similar colours mainly red, orange, and tints of yellow.
My other inspiration came from this photo called Marilyn by Andy Warhol. Andy Warhol is an American painter, film maker and author. This shows that he has multiple creative talents.
One of his most well-known pieces is this photo by of Marilyn Monroe. What I like about this appropriation is the fact that a lot of thought has gone into it. The fact that most of image is pink which is a stereotypical “girly” colour, which matches Marilyn because she is also known for being a very stereotypical “girly” girl.
Also the hair has been heavily edited to create a very bright unrealistic fake blonde, maybe suggesting how she would act up for the camera’s a lot in her career and acting completely different to how she felt. Or maybe its playing on the fact that she was also known for being the stereotypical “dumb blonde” or maybe both.
Also the fact that the image looks very fake might remind the audience that she was known as a manufactured star with a made up name and only ever really seen as a sex symbol under the male gaze.
This is what makes an appropriation image great the fact that the audience take so many different messages from what they are seeing and different interpretations depending on their cultural background which causes debate and therefore the artist is very happy because debate creates popularity.
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