Visiting the Tate Modern on display was the work of political activist group Guerrilla Girls. Dealing within issues on feminism and equal rights the Guerrilla Girls have been raising awareness of inequalities especially in the art world. The artwork uses large black type to really put the emphasis on the issues at hand. The Guerrilla Girls attitude towards promoting change is very admirable and should be celbrated. Inclution of this piece of work should be benifical in my magazine. Their style is different and the medium they work in is unsual. This large direct use of type is something to think about replicating within my workings.
Steven Heller, design writer, New York
First published in Eye no. 58 vol. 15, 2005
This articale on the re-examining poltical art from this catalogue of 120 posters from the US brought together in an exhibition
held at Stanford University and the
Wolfsonian MuseumFlorida Int at Florida International University. Explaining the catalogue intended to be 'a ‘macrohistory’ of the political poster, focusing on how
mass movements played decisive roles in effecting social change' the writers speaks of having a decisive infuence in social change. The writing goes on to speak about a social need to response at time to social and poltical upheaval stating '
Graphics have long played a role in both stirring the populace and
keeping them in line.' this being through the depiction of the truth 'Forging a potentially unruly mass into an obedient entity using covert
and overt graphic depictions – either through deception or truth – is a
key challenge for any propagandist and not unique to dictatorships.' This anaysis of what defines poltical art and design and how it pushes the conventions of what we understand. Thinking about this interms of my own practical responce could a online based magazine be as infuential as the poster at this time. As information is communicated to the general public almost excusivly in an online format a online magazine could be seen as appropraite but I must concider the format this is shown in. Whether its on a page turner website, as a online PDF or as part of some kind of social media post. These are all considerations that will be key in making my practical piece accessable, which is for me a key principle of my work.
JR is a french photographer, graffiti artist and poltical activist. His work is totally unique in terms of size and scale. Pasting up large images realting to issues on migration, war and social injustice. The artists aproch is unlike any other and the large scale pieces are really iconic. As his practice is so different inculsion in my publication would make the design much more engaging and add soemthing different. This book titled 'Can Art Change the World? could be a interesting reference point within this project to see how this artist speaks of his work in the public space.
The
artist James Bridle has created these instillation piece in responce to
the UK and US military forces frequent bombing of Iraq, Siria and
Afganastan. The drone war is a issue that seems to be at times over
looked but this art piece highlights amazingly the size of this problem.
James Bridle's art is very contempary and deals with a lot of real
social and poltical issues, inclusion of his work in my designs is
soemthing I'm greatly considering. As there are currently seven
different examples of this Shadow Drone piece in my magazine inculding
this project will be very engagging and showing how an issue can be
highlighted in many different places around the world.
As a comment on sociopolitical culture including these Donald Trump effigies as part of the magazine is something that I feel is current and engaging. Looking at the effigies as a sculptural piece is something very interesting. I love these images of Trump being mad and then burnt. Including these images in my work I think is something a little different but very engaging and enjoyable.
Its not very nice that was politically driven exhibition in 2014 displayed in The lighthouse, Glasgow. The content featured examples of graphic design fueled by political and social issues. This exhibition relates very well to my theme for my practical work, the expressive use of type shown here is a example of what can be achieved simply through typography.
I may decided to include this artwork shown to the left in my magazine celebrating political art and design. The content is a little different to what is typically seen in political art and would be a interesting and engaging change.
Thinking about my practical work within this project analysing firstly, How my practical work can be read, What can I do to insure it makes an impact, Is there anything I can do to make it more accessible to everyone and what is the best way to communicate the power of political art? Considering these questions will inform my design decisions and in turn create a more engaging and appropriate practical piece in response to my essay question.
Thinking about how my practical work can be read I have been discussing perviously about putting my designs on to some kind of online space, this would widen the audience and as Ai Wei Wei says, the internet is the greatest art form of the twenty first century. This will then make my designs more accessible to everyone and communicate the power of political art to a younger audience as this is were they see the most part of information.
To insure the designs make an impact and best represent the theme of iconic political art in response to social and political upheaval I want to use very graphic, large type alongside some strong images, this will make the design hopefully stand out and be eye catching, I think the cover image within this is very important as this is what needs to draw the reader in most. In this project I think creating an online magazine is an area of graphics I have always wanted to experiment with and could be the best solution to this project.
