Richard Prince, Untitled (cowboy), 1989
George Lois, Esquire Cover
Variation on Milton Glaser's original I Heart NY
Milton Glaser's update on his own design after September 11, 2001
Piet Mondrian
Jaspar Johns, White Flag, encaustic on canvas, 1955
This project involves the way imagery functions in the public domain, and what becomes the public imagination. When an image becomes well-known enough to reach the status of an icon, or the iconic, it can be utilized to make a new image or work with a differing, sometimes contrasting meaning.
Some of the above imagery are examples of playing with icons using various strategies. Examples include appropriation (Richard Prince), detournement ("Iraq" and Archie, for example), and "subvertising" ("Marlboro Country"). Others borrow for the purpose of alignment or connection to the original. Some I'm not really sure if there is a reason that someone co-opts a graphic, as in the L'oreal Studio line of hair products borrowing Mondrian.
See:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Detournement
In détournement, an artist reuses elements of well-known media to create a new work with a different message, often one opposed to the original. The term "détournement", borrowed from the French, originated with the Situationist International; a similar term more familiar to English speakers would be "turnabout" or "derailment", although these terms are not used in academia and the arts world as they are inherently 'anti-art,' often involving the blatant theft and sabotage of existing elements. Détournement is similar to satirical parody, but employs more direct reuse or faithful mimicry of the original works rather than constructing a new work which merely alludes strongly to the original. It may be contrasted with recuperation, in which originally subversive works and ideas are themselves appropriated by mainstream media.
In the United States, Frank Discussion is widely known for his use of detournement in his works dating from the late 70s through the present, particularly with the Feederz. Détournement's use by Barbara Kruger familiarised many with the technique, and it was extensively and effectively used as part of the early HIV/AIDS activism of the late 1980s and early 1990s.[1] Examples of contemporary detournement include Adbusters' "subvertisements" and other instances of culture jamming, as well as poems composed collaboratively by Marlene Mountain, Paul Conneally, and others, in which quotations from such famous sources as the Ten Commandments and quotations by United States President George W. Bush are combined with haiku-like phrases to produce a larger work intended to subvert the original source.
The Neue Slowenische Kunst has a long history of aggressive détournement of extreme political ideologies, as do several industrial music groups, such as Die Krupps, Nitzer Ebb, KMFDM, and Front 242.
Also see:
Recuperation, in the sociological sense (first proposed by Guy Debord and the Situationists), is the process by which "radical" ideas and images are commodified and incorporated within mainstream society, such as the movement for civil rights in the United States or the push for women's rights. It is the opposite of detournement.
A similar dynamic often occurs in the sphere of punk rock culture: many musical styles developed from punk rock (such as Grunge, Thrash metal, Metalcore, Post-punk, Indie rock, New Wave, Emo, and Pop punk) have garnered mainstream popularity; artists of these genres have signed to major labels, and have become household names in the mainstream culture. Kurt Cobain, in his journals, often expressed resentment at how his own band played into this situation. The formerly punk-rock group Chumbawumba, has attempted to subvert the recuperation concept by intentionally "selling out" but then using their earned money to donate to the radical causes that they still support.
In gouache or digital means (or in another media with permission), appropriate four different iconic images to create new images with new meanings. The original 'hijacked' image must still be evidence, otherwise the play will not work.
Color should be a major consideration and element.
Due Tuesday, November 17
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