Forrest Gump: Research into the stylistic thematics

Surrealism and Dadaism both go toward abstraction and returns to representational forms of art.

Surrealism and Dadaism are fundamentally juxtaposed, yet in all its dichotomy, inextricably linked.

 

Surrealism Dadaism
Surrealism creates new art Dadaism is fundamentally anti-art
Has a sense of aesthetics Conceptual and goes against traditional schools of aesthetics and style
Focusing much on painting Works across almost all genres
Brings out Freudian theory: works on the subconscious and dreams; actualizes and interprets it Political response to challenge existing authority

 

As I am someone who has an almost anarchist curiosity about delving into and questioning the status quo and current politics, I was very drawn towards Dadaist ideals. However, I felt that it was ingenuine to merely ape the Style of Dadaism in my work, as Dadaism is not a visual style, but an expressive style of ideas. The entire Dada concept was to overthrow restrictive boundaries of artistic styles which limit free expression, and thusly it felt awkward to be placed in another box should I attempt to copy the Dadaism style.

However, I still did some research and inspiration to gain more insight into how I should use certain visual techniques to aid my artistic presentation. Stylistically, I was inspired by my research on Theo van Doesberg. He is associated with the Dadaism movement, using clean lines and curves direct the viewer’s eye, creating a sense of elegant movement and direction.

 

Theo van Doesburg- Dancers 1916

 

This style is very effective in guiding the viewer’s eye to certain highlights of the image, allowing them to traverse the entire image without stopping awkwardly, creating the visual flow. This can reflect the entire flow of capitalist ideology, which presents itself so unctuous that it is easily spooned down the masses’ throats and accepted as the status quo.

 

I decided to focus on the theme of capitalist ideology in my art pieces, using the lens of Dadaism to guide me to convey insight and critique on the system, hoping to de-stabilise it and subvert it through my works.

Forest Gump: Final Presentation

Forest Gump: Final Presentation

Today I explore and rebuke the sexual propaganda of capitalist ideology.

In our society where capitalism is fundamentally entrenched, I’ve noticed a vicious weaponization of sexuality to sell insidious messages, feeding the masses propaganda like consumerism to keep us obedient and unaware of the trappings of the capitalist system. This is particularly evident in advertisements.

Dolce and Gabbana- Spring/Summer 2007

Instead of marketing the product by emphasising on its inherent value, advertisements have grotesquely twisted the natural human sexuality into an object of desire, pandering to the basest human desire to sell their products. By association with the seductiveness of the sexual images, the idea which the sexualised image is trying to sell becomes alluring too. Through seemingly innocuous and cheeky enjoyment of naughty images, we are shoved the love for materialism and hyper-consumerism, where consumers are encouraged to buy more than they really need just to show it off, trapping us in the capitalist mechanics of society by our own obfuscation. By pandering and exploiting our ideals of class-consciousness, they fuel conspicuous consumerism.  


Good advertisement does not just circulate information. 

It penetrates the public mind with desires and belief.

-William Bernbach


The image of the woman is used as a symbol of capitalist ideology, precisely apt because she is the image of constant obsession and fixation in advertising media. She is objectified, oppressed, liberated and empowered by the capitalist media. She is the subject, the object and the moving force in forming desire, existing in the liminality between muse and masterpiece. Media’s utmost constant fixation on the female causes her to become a reflection of what capitalist ideology strives towards. 


The woman is depicted in various salacious and provocative poses, but never in a helpless tone. It reinforces that the woman is a unique identify with personal liberties and power, viciously weaponising her sexuality as a means to power. Sensual factors are played up and ever constant, reflecting on the jarring, intent to catch attention via the shock factor. Women’s natural sexuality is been perverted by the capitalist lens into a way of advertisement, appealing to the lowest common denominator to further the capitalist regime. 

 

Dadaism is more of an intellectual style rather than an artistic one, thusly there aren’t many distinct stylistic preferences which define it. Dadaism came as a rebellious rejection of the authority of previous schools and mainstream styles of aesthetiscm. It was also a rejection and response to bourgeoise capitalism. I took stylistic inspiration for my artworks from the distinctive Art Nouveau and advertisments, which were used to create alluring images suggestive of meaning to us, tempting us. By using the style of art nouveau, characterised by flowing lines, to depict a meaning that is inherently anti-capitalism, I subvert the meaning of the bourgeoise style n favour of dadaist ideals. 

Stylistically, I was inspired by my research on Theo van Doesberg. His style of constructivism which presents itself in clean lines and curves direct the viewer’s eye, creating a sense of elegant movement and direction. Sexualising the natural body creates an almost sinful, hypnotic images. The leading lines and play in symmetry create lines of movement for our eyes to follow. 

In my works, I’ve consistently implemented symmetry and gestalt to create a sense of unification in my artworks, bring up a sensuous quality in the linework. Sensual factors are played up and ever constant, reflecting on the jarring, intent to catch attention via the shock factor. 

The curving lines create leading lines for the eye to follow, giving the piece a hypnotic feel. The woman and cash are both prominent symbols of rewards in the capitalist system, representing the hedonistic view of happiness of the capitalist ideology. Our eyes travel through the seductive image and cyclical image of money in a smooth progression, reflecting how we are easy to accept what we see as natural and part of the status quo. The images of hands reaching towards the scintillating beauty and the money reinforce the idea that both are incredibly desirable, drawing us in with their desirability. These objects of desirability appeal largely to our sense of class consciousness and entrance us, obfuscating us from the actual state of our illusionment. This obfuscation is represented by the puzzle like framing. The curvilinear framing of the entire piece reflects the shape of a puzzle, evoking how we are only viewing one element of the puzzle, and blinded from the entire picture and unaware of how we are manipulated.

 

  • Joy states that the shape of the puzzle is not evident, should emphasize the shape of the puzzle to make it more recognizable for clearer symbolism.

 

This piece is strongly evocative of advertisements which aimed to evoke the authority and prestige of high art. The arch, for instance, aims to reflect the ancient Roman arches, attempting to give the piece an air of superior antiquity. Yet, the most of the piece evidently subverts the artistic style choice and it works to reveal the true nature and meaning of the artwork.

Our hands all grapple with the images of scintillating beauties, as if grasping hard for the trophies of capitalist merits, and in turn lusting hardly after the capitalist ideology. However, the woman, representing the capitalist idea, is presented in a strong manner, highly poised. Her personal liberties and power are emphasised as she is shown to be higher in stature than the people grasping after her.  Even her damsel-like pose is subverted by the presence of the deceptive eye and tongue. The string above the center lady’s face is a cats cradle, a game where string is manipulated into a maze of shapes. This forms a mask above her face, emphasising the meaning of deception and manipulation. The lady in the centre is also an abstract representation of the Heineken bottle, as shown from the abstract label of “Superior Quality” on her body, proving how the capitalist society uses images of sexuality as a weapon to suggest consumerism to us. Thoroughly, this piece subverts conventional, respected aesthetic prevalent in the capitalist market, revealing the sinister workings of how capitalism weaponizes sexuality as a means to promote its ideology.

 

 

The third piece comes as more of a reflection on the insidiousness and reveals the negativity of the insidious capitalist society. Through the more disjunct use of textures and lines, this piece looks inherently more dada-istic and critiques the constant over-sexposure in capitalist propaganda. 
The woman in the picture lies downfallen and helpless admit the mass of seductive imagery. This is displaying how we, like the woman have sold our personal integrity and choices in exchange for the suggestive benefits the capitalist system promises us, reflecting our state of disempowerment as our personal freedoms of choice are constrained heavily by the capitalist system of disenfranchisement. Yet we are too blind or helpless to extricate ourselves from our (un)knowing complicity, and step towards our personal freedom. The hands grasping at empty negative space further the consensus of our personal helplessness and further illustrate that the promises that the capitalist ideology promise are illusionary. 

 

  • Joy reflects that the texture of the nipples was too garish and distracting
  • The gestalt technique used for the heads were not looking to anything in particular, thusly a waste of potential. I originally thought of making them look towards the female genitalia in the negative space in between the palms, increasing the entire aspect of the weaponization and perversion of sexuality. Joy reflects that its good to go all the way and make it clearer.

 

We, consumers, are also not removed from the blame. Our constant fixation with instant gratification, and demand for advertising media that entertains us, crippling the integrity of the industry. However, as we choose to whine about the current state of affairs, we are an integral part of the equation as advertising panders to prevailing societal attitudes and tastes.

These pieces reflect how advertisements are always portrayed as very seductive and alluring, thusly pandering to our basal wants and convincing us to purchase that product. Through the artworks, I hope to encourage organic thought that will liberate us being needlessly fooled by capitalist advertisings.

 

  • Completed at 1145, 23/10/2017, but only finished updating and uploading by 0010, 24/10/2018, due to internet connectivity issues. Please forgive me and give me some allowance

Forrest Gump- Process: Ideation and Exploration

Women in Media

I’ve always been very intrigued by the images of women in media. More often than not, the media focuses and worships them based on their sexuality. One example is Marilyn Monroe. Her photos have been mimicked and re-shot by different actresses, like Britney, Paris, and Lindsay. Monroe was, in a sense, the original tabloid queen, her image and likeness still retain marketability. Coincidentally, all these women live their lives under the scrutiny of the media, and their sexualities are weaponized, willingly or not, selling their images for their self-sustainability in the entertainment media industry. 

Women can technically be emblematic of the media, precisely apt because she is the image of constant obsession and fixation in media. In a world where women’s sexuality is weaponized, women attempt to take control of some of their objectification as a method to attack and survive. This draws parallels as to how media will use vicious methods against its competitors to ensure their livelihoods and survival. 

Against the exponential increase of accessible information in our fast-moving digital age, NM has to struggle aggressively against the tides of competitors in order to stay relevant. 


“Suggestiveness”

Concept: News Media uses the element of desire and suggestiveness to sell its messages to its audience.


My piece focuses on society using suggestiveness to mask disease, presenting it in a circular state of decay. The disease is how News Media has lost its proper sense of respectability and is falling into the rabbit hole of gutter politics, by using vapid and aggressive ways to clickbait people into reading. Many images are used in this composition to depict the prevalence of images creating a cluster of competition.

The composition starts in a cyclical downward spiral, with a large focus on the top on Monroe, slowly dwindling down decreasing in size till the final image of a woman with a hairdryer. The composition highlights the exponential increase in violence in the suggestive images, from an increasing metaphorical weaponization of sexuality- women using sexuality to their own advantage, as evidenced by Monroe, to a literal weaponization of sexuality- as evidenced from the actual weaponization of the hairdryer, which is a traditional feminine symbol. 

The spiral creates an element of interactiveness as the composition can now be turned around, highlighting how the violence of sexuality is used exponentially through media’s eye, using it as a weapon to sell its messages.

 

After the review, Joy said that this idea was too large and I needed to narrow down my scope to something more concrete. She explained that I needed to meet my classmates halfway and allow them to understand at least half of what I am talking to them about. My ideas and perspectives should only come across as hints or suggestions so to provide internal thought and reflection from the viewer.


Personally, I was feeling very conflicted about my topic too.

“Media uses women to sell itself, so what?”


After much more research, I decided to link it to the concrete relatable theme of Capitalism. Media uses these scintillating images for an important purpose beyond ensuring self-sustainability. It sells ideas. This comes as a particularly interesting topic which i explore more in my post here: https://oss.adm.ntu.edu.sg/yuol0001/forest-gump-final-presentation/