Response To Readings

Responding One:  Reading One

            The practice of looking is something that is part of our everyday life; it is our way of making sense of the world.  “In the reading Practice of Looking: an Introduction to Visual Culture,” touches on many point on how the image would affect our society as a whole. This article is a look at the different form and function of the image.

                         The reading I have found had many good points on our world and imaging technology. For one thing we as humans tend to see before we speak and as indicated in the reading we use systems to construct meaning of the material world (like writing). For example I was drinking apple juice out of a Samuel Adam’s glass and every assumed that it was beer because beer is associated with a beer cup. I can see why they thought this because of the representation of the glass.

            The myth of photographic truth I found was another good examination of our visual culture. What I have notice about our society is that everything is pretty much Photoshop. From elongating models necks and changing someone’s features with just a click of a button, which this is a form of imaging technology this also includes paintings and video technology. This has had a tremendous effect on our society and how they view what is ideal beauty.  Also how it can relate to things like court room photography, like with the lighting in the photo rather it is darker or lighter it can persuade the audience to see the person as guilty or not guilty.

            This reading also touches on images and ideology which i found very interesting because it is intriguing to see other cultures and how they use the image to express their beliefs. Like how in some Middle Eastern cultures a covered women is an ideology of beauty and for more North American ideology it is more like a pop star ideology of beauty. The reading uses great examples of an ideology and how it relates to culture. Mostly because before I read the reading I had trouble really classifying what an ideology really meant to modern culture. Like mostly I have examined past ideology and have not been really aware of modern ideology and the effect on our society. Thought I have been living in these ideologies the reading really laid then out in a way that could be understood by the masses.

            This reading I found was very useful to me in clarifying the different aspects of the image in our world culture. It was very effective in highlighting key points in the world of image technology. Though this article made very valid points on our image culture it was like reading common sense, it essentially talked about the world we live in every day. Though I can see this reading being very useful for the student in a field where image technology is important, which I happen to be in a field that is based around the image.    

Response Two: The Nature of the Problem

                In the life of an artist we all share a similar fear, the fear of not succeeding. That for some reason we are not even good enough to call ourselves artist. In the book Art & Fear the writer reflects a lot on the process of creating art and why many give up on creating? Why we leave so many things unfinished, and why we try so hard to have perfect art. As a young artist myself these types of uncertainties often arise when I am creating a piece, and in the following I will explore these questions in relation to the reading.

                 I use to have a hard time creating mostly because of the ideal of the only great artist out there are the talented ones, and if you are not the talented one what worth does your art have.  The same if you do not achieve perfection.  Like how the author said “the belief persists that among some artist (and a lot of ex- artist) that doing art means doing things flawlessly,” though this remains to be proven not true. Like the works of Picasso, his rendition of reality is not a perfect copy of reality but a geometric view of the world. I myself do not believe in the ideals of perfection, such as how it was written in the reading we are only human. That are work will be flawed no matter how hard we try to perfect.

                In the reading the author talks about Magic, like how people presume that great pieces of work have a magical component. That we as artist tend to be incredibly harsh on our work because it doesn’t quite measure up to the magical highly appraised art up on a gallery wall. This I can relate too, when I see such work I always question what makes this piece so special and how I can get that through on my work. The truth is thought is that that piece of work may not be that much more special than yours. That you should try to create art that means something to you. It may not be magical or special to someone else but to you it is a reflection of who you are as an artist presented in a way so that the whole world can see. The magic is doing what you love and doing your best at that. 

                From trying to be perfect or even someone else’s idea of what great art may be we often as artist get lost. This also can lead to unfinished work from being uncertain on whether or not are work is even worth doing. In the end art is not judged by how similar it may be to another piece but on how your work is a reflection of you. That the work you do is done because you love creating so stop comparing your work to someone else’s best and stick to your own. That is basically the just of the reading that in order to keep on creating you must not have fear of creating your work.    

Response Three: Analyzing an Advertisement 

             The image I choose to analyze was an advertisement about a hybrid car called Karma made by Fisker. The entire essence of the ad was to show how this car was designed and inspired by nature. This ad will be broken down and examined using the six perspectives of analyzing this advertisement. I will use these six perspectives to examine the ad and how it relates to today’s culture.

            Personal perspective of the ad is that I see it as a contradiction because they were trying to make a car seem a part of nature which a car is not a natural design. They were comparing the shape of the dash to the rolling desert mountains. Thought this is a useful technique because they were trying to sell the product to an environmentally friendly society, which will provoke the thought that if it designed based on nature then it must be environmentally friendly. This can also relate to changing the history of the car because historically the car is a machine. By the advertiser taking the car and making it a part of nature it is changing the history of the car and making it less of an unnatural machine, this is also the historical perspective of the ad.

             The technology perspective of the ad once again uses nature to sell the product. From using bright natural colors such as; the brilliant green leaf and also using photo’s of nature. Like how they had a shot of a tiger’s eyes and placed it by the photo of the head lights this shows the relation of nature in the design of the car. Another effect of this is that the colors of photo’s of nature catches the eye of the viewer, which is effective when it comes to selling the product. It grabs your attention and directs your attention to all aspects of the Ad.

            The cultural perspective of this ad is directed towards the ideal of being a green culture. This car is advertised to be made mostly out of recycled material; this plays in to the ideals of the environmentally conscious cultures, and it also has solar panels in the roof. This car also plays to the conscious of the culture by naming the car Karma. By naming the car Karma Fisker is saying that by driving this car it will give you good Karma because you are helping to save the environment just by driving this car.

            The ethical perspective of this ad is how the end justifies the mean. This is so because this ad is saying that by buying this expensive car you will be better off in the end. That this car is more energy efficient and better fuel economy and it will eventually pay itself off with the money you save. A critical perspective of this ad is that it is showing the effect of the environmentally aware. How our culture has changed from wanting the biggest most expensive car to getting the most fuel-efficient car.

            In using the six Perspectives I was able to break down this ad on the new Fisker car called Karma. I was able to look at the ad from a personal to a cultural perspective, and look at from my point of view to a whole cultures point of view. By examining this ad using the perspectives I was able to understand the content of the ad in a more in depth way and bring it back to our more environmentally aware culture of today.