Essay

Choosing a particular period from 1800 to the present, in what ways has art or design responded to the changing social and cultural forces of that period? (2 specific examples):


Aside from the cultural stereotypes and their differentiating origins, punk and street art have, since the 1970’s, shared a balance of influencing one another. Their colossal legacies have always remained as post-modernist powerhouses, providing a free sense of expressionism driven by an endless spectrum "right" opinion, from socialism and anti-capitalism to animal rights protesting and anti-nationalism. These breathing underground cultures have always sustained themselves as figureheads to which one can bravely belong, in a community of united people and often undiluted political perspective. It is the overshadowing presence of Punk's DIY mentality that has elevated the graffiti world as a place to visually communicate and vice versa, on the subjects that matter the most, vocalizing the thoughts of the masses.

Punk spirit first began to thrive when 'The Oil crisis of 1973 resulted in worldwide recession, cuts in public spending and pronounced social tensions and inequalities' took over - (Panic Attack! Art in the Punk Years, Merrel) . This uneasy shift in the mid 70's directly parallels the state of the country today, when considering the recent economical collapse and distrust in the nation's banks, the B.P oil spill and a public uprising against government plans to cut private and public budgets. But during the mid to late 70's it was these occurrences in England that shaped what is arguably the most avant-garde and distinguishably post-modern cultural age of the 20th century. What emerged from this new era was the distraught dystopia, a "broken Britain" image. A quote from 'Punk: No One Is Innocent' by Kunsthalle Wien reinforces this idea, as Bob Geldof famously writes "Our architecture is so banal and destructive to the human spirit that walking to work is in itself a depressive experience'. Art and design embraced the use of cut-up collages that informed sharp edges and ransom note lettering, expressing a politically violent attitude that remains evident in much of the punk zines and posters of the time. Fashion took the same direction, as controversy queen Vivienne Westwood took entire control of a culture's "look" from her hub, the Sex shop amidst the madness on King's Road, London. From this place, much of Westwood's work exposed taboos including themes of sex fetish and violence, taking the governmental non-conformism to new heights as the movement was sound tracked by the biggest bands of the era, as Crass, Minor Threat, The Clash and Misfits all crusaded through the mid 70's, in to the 1980's and Thatcherism. Of them all, there is only one true band that can claim the title of most influential punk band to shake World's End. The Sex Pistols.

"On 7th June, 1977 a televised Service of Thanksgiving was held at St Paul's Cathedral in London to celebrate the twenty-five year reign of Queen Victoria II. On the same day, punk band the Sex Pistols sailed down the Thames playing out their controversial single "God Save The Queen" - (Panic Attack! Art in the Punk Years, Merrel). During that year, the record went platinum, gaining notoriety after being banned from radio stations. The power of Malcolm McLaren's timing saw his manufactured rogues climb to another level of notoriety as the classic anthem "precipitated the last and greatest outbreak of pop-based moral pandemonium", seen as "attacking Britons' social conformity and deference to the Crown". The success of the masterpiece was massively amplified when accompanied by the young designer Jamie Reid's visualization of the song's attitude and bite. Reid aided the band's cult following by producing work that immediately identified the band at their most extreme, tearing apart the Union Jack and piercing the Queen's image with a safety pin.

This was a time of unstoppable post-modern revolt on mass, and changed all sense of style on the way. Even Morrissey penned a message to the NME in response of witnessing one of the Sex Pistol's most profound gigs, stating "I'd love to see the Pistols make it. Maybe then they will be able to afford some clothes which don't look like they've been slept in".

Although the punk attitude may now have drifted away from the British conscience, street art is just one entity that continues to fly the anti-flag.

One recognizable titan to break in to he Britain's mainstream culture is frontline anti-capitalist legend Banksy. Known as much for the price-tag of his pieces as he is for his reactions to the outside world, Banksy, our own spray paint missionary is as alive today as ever, intent not on changing the world that we live in, but engaging the public so much as to provoke a positive reaction. Banksy states "The people who truly deface our neighborhoods are the companies that scrawl giant slogans across buildings and buses trying to make us feel inadequate unless we buy their stuff. They expect to be able to shout their message in your face from every available surface but you're never allowed to answer back. Well, they started the fight and the wall is weapon of choice to hit them back" - (“Wall and Piece”, Banksy). But beyond Banksy's success is the niggling idea that the mystery man has contradicted the original underground presence of graffiti art, by taking it to the most affluent of galleries; although in doing so, his work is given ironic context that often pushes the meaning behind every piece to a new level.

Being the most notorious, Banksy certainly wasn't the first backlit painter to stencil reactions to the modern world. Instead Frenchman Blek Le Rat stood as the true innovator of stencil street art - heavily influencing "Banksy" early on in his career, and practically paving Banksy's destiny to become everything we know him to be.

Although his depictions of Lady Diana along the Tate Modern (of which Banksy later goes on to tribute with fake "Di-Faced Tenners", and of abducted reporter Florence Aubena, may have been reprinted repeated reminders of those that were lost, it is his creation of the iconic Parisian sewer rats that generate the boldest statement of all. These rats represented squalor amidst the urban environment, a creature of vermin and fear. Blek's book goes on to quote, "Rats, as marginalized members of society, are perhaps the only subversives and are said to be one of the few animals that will survive humankind in the event of an apocalypse" - (“Getting Through the Walls”, Prou, S & “King Adz”), whereas Banksy identifies them as "Capable of bringing entire civilizations to their knees". Both Sybille Prou, the author of Blek Le Rat's book, and Banksy are proving that these rats symbolize the deepest foundations of the city, and the people that make it, the lower class families that power industry, ghosts of the Modernist city. Behind the legion of Blek's and Banksy's rats, even these street vermin began their journey in the works of American punk artist Christy Rupp, entitled "The Rat Patrol" in 1979. Both spray paint superstars are evidently reviving the Punk idea of an uprising, and how Britain's pyramid society depends on those grafting at the bottom, effectively turning the cogs that generate everything on which we depend.

The most prominent of social upheavals in recent times is the mass reaction to decisions made by the coalition government of November 2010. Joining the national congregation of upset students were both graffiti artists and punk rioters alike, prepared to set their views in stone through violence and vandalism. Those with spray cans in their hands documented their anger on the streets of London, delivering messages of injustice and betrayal through silhouetted portraits of the men in charge, often accompanied by aggressive statements, emitting the aggression out to the rest of the country. Since those very first protests, designers and students united to produce punk influenced placards and banners to flaunt their support within the marches. It is plain to see then, through the eyes of the most passionate, that post-modernist art continues to thrive, documenting the failings of our modern world and the promise that comes with it.

Sadly, the wave of punk has dissolved away, leaving a lack of imagination and inspiration for our young songwriters and lyricists to document modern struggles within the current political and economical climate we find ourselves in. Maybe it is through this silenced voice that in the near future, talent may just rise and amplify the thoughts of the thousands, rather than create music to just escape in to, create music to become involved. 

Graffiti though, still stands strong as a pillar of recognizable contemporary art. For example, today's work includes that of Urban Blooz - a typically anti-capitalist collective art project that works as a reaction to the colonization of public spaces by advertisement. The project's most significant work involves invading blank advertising spaces, and pasting black and white depictions of the setting behind it, creating an almost inverted "x-ray" effect when viewed from the right angle.

To entirely understand the relationship between the pinnacle of punk art and the emerging popularity of street art, it is best to compare two images that relate to each other in some way. Two of the boldest images from both post-modernist cultures are Jamie Reid’s “God Save The Queen”, featured earlier, and a homage to the piece by street artist D*Face.  In D*Face's piece, the work stands tall as both a spoof and as a tribute to Jamie Reid's work, possibly commenting on the long term inefficiency of the punk movement and how it lacked the motion to change, or simply reviving the spirit of punk itself. Or maybe it's something else, defining Punk's underground presence as still brooding and boiling under the surface of a mainly modernist world, waiting to bend the bars and break out of it's cage. Either way, it creates an interesting contrast between the D*Face recreation, and Reid's original collage. D*Face's version becomes a cartoonish representation in his parodical and satirical style, not belittling Reid's original one bit, but paying homage in the way he knows best. It could even be argued that D*Face is highlighting the sense of unpredictability and uncontrolled side of the graffiti world.

Upon D*Face's website, is the quote "I wanted to encourage people to not just to 'see', but to look at what surrounds them and their lives, reflecting our increasingly bizarre popular culture, re-thinking and reworking cultural figures and genres to comment on our ethos of conspicuous consumption. A Pandora’s box of bittersweet delights - sweet and sugary on the surface, but with an unfamiliar, uncomfortable, taste beneath" (www.dface.co.uk/why). These two sentences ultimately reveal D*Face's attitude towards the modern world, displaying a relatively radical outlook which highlights our shallow desire for easy escapism, as opposed to the healthier ideal of positive and effective change, which punk and street art have always strived to enforce.

It’s plain to see that both worlds have documented the post-modern world passionately, defining issues and reacting to them creatively. In the last 10 years where street art has blossomed the most, the presence of punk has shrunk to a point where it’s hardly noticeable today, with a decline in politically themed songwriting. As street art continues to plant across walls, maybe one day punk will enjoy a long lasting revival.


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Bibliography:


Publications:


Savage, J. (1991), 'England's Dreaming: Sex Pistols and Punk Rock', Faber and Faber, London.


Wien, K. (2009), 'Punk: No One Is Innocent', Kunst Nurnberg, Germany.


The Mott Collection. (2010), 'Loud Flash: British Punk On Paper', Haunch of Venison Publishing, London.


C100. (2006), 'The Art of Rebellion', Publikat, Germany.


Prou, S. & "King Adz". (2009), 'Blek Le Rat: Getting Through The Walls', Thames and Hudson, London.


Sladen, M. & Yedgar, A. (2007), 'Panic Attack!: Art In The Punk Years', Merrel, London & New York.


Banksy (Author Unknown). (2006), 'Wall and Piece, Century, London.

Online Sources:

Author Unknown / Administrator. (2003), 'See-through Tree'. Source:
http://cargocollective.com/urbanblooz#91845/See-through-Tree

Cooper, R. (2008), 'A Brief History of Punk'. Source:
http://punkmusic.about.com/od/punk101/a/punkhistory2.htm

Author Unknown / Administrator. (2010), 'Manifesto of Stencilism'. Source:
http://blekmyvibe.free.fr/pages%20html/StencilbirthbyblekIORG.html

Author Unknown / Administrator. (2006), 'Profile'. Source:
http://www.jamiereid.org/about/

"D*Face". (2007), 'Why?'. Source:
http://www.dface.co.uk/why

Amusement Art (Copyright) / Author Unknown. (2011), 'Who is Mr. Brainwash'. Source:
http://mrbrainwash.com/about/about.html

Author Unknown / Administrator. (2010), 'Banksy - Outdoors'. Source:
http://www.banksy.co.uk/outdoors/outusa/horizontal_1.htm

The Avant-Garde

Avant-Garde stands for innovation, pioneering, challenge and progression in all circles of the creative world. Although this meaning of “pushing things forward” may be clear, the knowledge of this description has been lost amidst globalization and capitalism intent on globally selling products of artistic value.Dotted throughout history are some of the most famous representations of avant-garde art, which in it’s day shocked and challenged cultural and sociological values. The term itself translates from French as the “advancing guard” – implying that this art strives to fight for something new and dedicate itself to radical ideas. Their art two directions which an artist can choose to embrace the avant-garde, either by producing work that is socially committed and enforces political mess,, or by producing art that only seeks to expand ideas of art itself, harking back to the phrase “art for art’s sake”.

David Carson stands as an “advancing guard” when challenging the conventions of legibility and readability in typography. Carson took experimental approaches to the treatment and arrangement of the letter and the word. This work was, and still is, seen as rebellious and controversial in the eyes of typographers and designers, much in the same way that Adbusters attempt to reverse the effects of advertising and capitalism on culture through the use of alternative visual language, guerilla art and viral campaigns that revolve from the centre of Adbuster's magazine.

Colours of Benetton 

Cocuk, Adam, (2009) "David Carson", http://barisyilmaz.files.wordpress.com/2009/06/david-carson-legibility.jpg?w=463&h=464

Author unknown, (2005) "Ad Busting and Culture Jamming

The Satya Interview with Kalle Lasn", http://www.satyamag.com/sat.site.images/adbusters1.jpg

Task: Reading a Photograph

The repeated message within the text is that we, the viewer, can either choose a passive response to the photo, or a critical analysis. Instead of taking this passive approach of just looking, we are encouraged by the author to dissect the details of the image, to explore it. For example, we can interpret the context of a photo simply by the composition and positioning, the photographer's perspective and approach towards the subject, and the subject itself, the context within the image and it's surroundings, the details. From here we can delve in to the scene itself, as opposed to only looking. This is what is meant by reading the photo, by picking it apart, questioning and speculating it, therefore allowing us to discover themes within the image that would've otherwise gone unnoticed. These connotations are easily noticeable through the truthfulness of the photo, and the lack of evidence as to how the image was made. We are seeing a reflection of the photographer's experience, and the text describes that it is possible to describe the atmosphere in the photo's situation, as the camera acts as a “witness to events”.

The boy’s vacant and hurt stare is aimed not at the camera, but the photographer, as if we ourselves are experiencing this scene through the eyes of Arbus. Along with the boy’s glare, his head is awkwardly tilted, as if questioning his surroundings, or the photographer herself. The image also captures the boy’s quivering and clamped mouth. But is the boy as unstable as the photo may imply? What we see as a tense and tortured look about the boy is in fact his expression of impatience towards Arbus, since this is one photo of many depicting him as an otherwise happy child, we witness his vacant joyfulness as the boy becomes agitated by Diane Arbus’ intent on finding “the right angle”. It is only through this one moment we see an expression of his anger and upset, but without the knowledge of other photos we conclude that the boy is somewhat mentally instable, fragile, and as a freakish outcast. The context has been changed and the truth warped, but what we now see is a portrayal of the child in an unnatural and provoked state that classes the photo as something composed and planned by Arbus herself.

But without this knowledge of other photos, we see the opposite of his true personality. His presence in the shade of a tree appears to represent his lack of involvement in the rest of society, as passers by meander in the sunlight the boy is abandoned and lost. This sense of helplessness is also confirmed by the fact that the young boy is pictured alone, indicating he is considered an outcast based on his mental condition. His clothes add to his image of a broken child, one strap of his dungaree shorts dangling over his right arm, as the left hand clenches a hand grenade – a symbol of the child’s mental fragility and instability. His right hand is crippling tense, almost disfigured, with another grenade seemingly absent, but reaching forwards for help.

This photo contributes to Arbus’ collection of Americans on the edge of society, whether their state is provoked or not.

Portfolio Task 4 - Post-Modernism.

"Corkin, S" (2004) "Kasabian Debut Album Artwork" - http://metalizonte.blogspot.com/2009_04_01_archive.html

This cover is a homage to the Russian Revolution, continuining the use of iconography such as Che Guevara's silhouette. This image is particularly relevant in the shadow of the Iraq war through it's militant theme, but also triggers ideas of protest and anti-patriotism, a rising up of the people.

 "Blek Le Rat" (2005) "Princess Diana" - http://www.artofthestate.co.uk/graffiti/blek_le_rat_diana_night.htm
As featured previously in my essay, Blek's pasted picture of Princess Diana visualises her as a memory, and a royal loss that shouldn't be forgotton. It is this social narration that makes Blek a post-modern artist in his own right, reflected much more in his catalogue of work.

 "Decapitator" (2010) "Rolling Stone Cover" - http://slamxhype.com/art-design/the-decapitator-interview-with-juxtapoz/
Decapitator works as a strongly anti-capitalist Guerilla artist and defacer. His intent is to simply sabotage a modern image, until it becomes darkly humourus and beyond "just an advertisement". His work could also be seen as a metaphor for society literally "losing their heads" amidst the delusion of the modern world.

Unknown Dutch Collective (2007) "Don't Trust Bush - Part of a series" - http://graffitiresearchlab.com/laser-tag/  / http://graffitiresearchlab.com/projects/laser-tag/
By engineering a giant laser projector, this Dutch collective beam their messages on to the side of massive buildings and landmarks worldwide. What is communicated normally points a finger at political atrocity, but following on from the guerilla direction, contains tones of humour.

"Adbusters" Collective (2008) "American Flag" http://jenelledesilva.wordpress.com/2008/11/23/the-forefront-of-resistance-to-capitalist-surplus/
This billboard immitation by renowned collective and anti-Capitalist magazine "Adbusters" comments on the heavily materialistic and highly consumerist culture. Much like most post-modern work, the message in the design dictates a better way of life, depicting the logos of various heavyweight corporations in the America, literally taking over the pride (through the stars) of the US.