The Language of Publicity

In today’s society, we are constantly being bombarded with visual art forms. Whether they be classical paintings from the Renaissance, a towering and modern skyscraper, or even a cheesy 90’s R&B music video, they all have one thing in common. According to Carolyn Dean’s definition, these would all fall under the category of “art by intention.” In her essay “The Trouble with (The Term) Art” she advocates a distinction between art by intention and what she deems “art by appropriation.” The difference is that one work was created with the intention of being consumed for visual pleasure, while the other was not. However having been educated in the Western school of thought, many art historians cannot help but project their rigid definition of art onto civilizations that may have

This photograph is unique in introducing a new means of expression through photographic essay, recalling both artistic expression, as well as journalistic

Advertisements and social media make up majority of American culture identity. These two elements make up what society is today. Advertisements appeal to consumers through sexism and racist comments or gestures. Social media creates a platform where people are not true to themselves and allows them to become fake on the internet. These two elements make up the negative side of America’s identity. America’s identity is shown through the marketers and the consumers in America; how people carry themselves and present themselves in America also represents America’s identity.

In Stuart Ewen’s All Consuming Images, the preface “Introduction to the New Edition” opens by giving the audience varying progressing images, from break dance to Madonna to Windows 95. This demonstrates a fast change in society: what matters in the history may not be an important issue now. Ewen then questions how a book written earlier still remains important and deserves republication. The book is durable because of the fact that it was written when the idea “images are everywhere” begins to develop. From political stand point, all the images, or specifically propaganda, that people see are to manipulate people’s emotions. In economic sphere, due to the ubiquitous advertising, marketing

In accordance that artifice is the heart is the consumer culture, looking into today's society simple commercials demonstrate that aspect. For example commercials have influenced an image based culture where pictures are used to get the consumer's attention. In continuation with that actors may be photoshopped with drastic changes in weightloss.In agreement with Hedge’s proposition of illusion,”tools of mass propaganda to create a sense of faux intimacy with citizens no longer need to be competent,sincere, or honest.” This statement follows up on the types of propaganda that appeals to people for it to be successful. This is true because images appeal to people hence the term “image based culture” which in turn result in marketers

COURSE DESCRIPTION: Prerequisite: Completion of the lower division writing requirement. An introduction for the non-art major to the relationships between art and mass culture. Illustrated lectures explore the development, techniques, and ideas underlying the contemporary visual environment, including the media arts of photography and advertising, as well as painting, sculpture and architecture. Art majors may take this course for university elective credit. (Available for General Education, Arts &

In John Berger’s essay “Ways of Seeing,” he shares his view on how he feels art is seen. Mr. Berger explores how the views of people are original and how art is seen very differently. By comparing certain photographs, he goes on to let his Audience, which is represented as the academic, witness for themselves how art may come across as something specific and it can mean something completely different depending on who is studying the art. The author goes into details of why images were first used, how we used to analyze art vs how we do today, and the rarity of arts. He is able to effectively pass on his message by using the strategies of Rhetoric, which include Logos, Pathos, and Ethos.

Chris Hedges, an American journalist, gave a lecture at the New School in 2009 to discuss his book Empire of Illusion: the End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle. In the lecture, he argued that majority of Americans live in an image-based society portrayed by media, and they fascinate to follow the mainstream of celebrity culture. Most people lose their own unique identity and self-determinations, and they are turned into marketable commodities because corporations influence many aspects in society, such as economics, politics, natural environment, and moral ideology.

Therefore, the media uses celebrities to promote products, knowing that our attention will be taken by a celebrity everyone knows. According to Donatelle, the images and celebrities in the media set the standard we find attractive (para. 7). Based on the sentence, the media uses celebrities to create a perfect image of what people should look like. Americans have a phenomenon and an obsession with appearances. Yet, Soloman article talks about linking celebrities to brands so that the product used or endorse also take on an aspirational quality (para. 15). For example, enormous fans of Beyoncé will purchase her perfume to smell similar to her. Both articles state how celebrities are used as messages to get a point across to society, whether it is to promote a product or give an idea of something people should do. The media has shaped our preferences and has caused society to mimic the actions of

Two very prominent painters are photographed cut off from the work of art, seemingly stuck in a gray walled room with no artistic fervor anywhere to be seen. The photographs are bleak, but offer a sense of distance from the audience, enough to show these famous individuals as humans. Penn creates beauty through humanity, with or without the help of fashion his portraits convey truly an unhinged reality of fashion and art, unseen by the general public.

Jean Kilbourne, a media specialist, raises an interesting point in one of her lectures when she states, “The average American is exposed to 3000 advertisements per day. Yet, everyone in America still feels personally exempt from the media. They say, “I don’t pay attention to ads. I just tune them out. They have no effect on me.”” She later states most of the people who have said this to her were wearing Gap™ tee-shirts. Whether people realize it or not, there is a direct correlation between the media and an individual’s identity. Along with products, the media also sells values, views, images, and concepts of normalcy. The media tells us who we are and who we should be. Unfortunately, many times the media tells us things that have a major

Returning to Benjamin, he writes that, “Even the most perfect reproduction of a work of art is lacking in one element: its presence in time and space” (Benjamin II) which corroborates the speaker of the poem’s stance that, “Meaning takes place in time” (Solie 38). Although Benjamin’s thoughts focus more on the ubiquity and lack of authenticity that occurs with mass image production and reproduction, “Bitumen” shares some of these concerns, tracing the development of modern proliferation of images from the first imagining techniques of Joseph-Nicéphore Niépce, to the “photochrome postcards” (32) of late 19th century, up to video- sharing websites. The speaker of “Bitumen” looks to construct a timeline of image mediation alongside the aestheticization of catastrophe. Even calamitous weather events, which “Bitumen” ties to the “unseasonable” (34) weather that results from global warming, becomes a sublime, photogenic spectacle with the ubiquity and quotidian character of modern image and film: “tornados on YouTube relieve us of our boredom” (“Bitumen” 33). The speaker of “Bitumen” argues that these mediations pacify rather than invigorate, and replace what should be fear and action with awe and

Art critic Robert Hughes once said, “People inscribe their histories, beliefs, attitudes, desires and dreams in the images they make.” When discussing the mediums of photography and cinema, this belief of Hughes is not very hard to process and understand. Images, whether they be still or moving, can transform their audiences to places they have either never been before or which they long to return to. Images have been transporting audiences for centuries thanks to both the mediums of photography and cinema and together they gone through many changes and developments. When careful consideration is given to these two mediums, it is acceptable to say that they will forever be intertwined, and that they have been interrelated forms of

When one looks at an image from Calvin Klein, Victoria's Secret, or Versace, the first appeal comes from beautiful models. These individuals are normally jumping, laughing and representing every idealistic way of life by manifesting the idea of a blind promise. Unfortunately, these images are not only created with the intent of being manipulative, but also to resemble the present history involving societal roles. At the moment, Ads are able to capture the political ideologies or the social influences in order to represent the position of modern times. On the other hand, the Versace brand recently released a new campaign on Fall clothes bringing to light a different topic. At a quick glance, the Versace Advertisement depicts the everyday family of four. However, through John Berger’s Ways of Seeing, the picture represents the hegemonic portrayal of male dominance, the suppressive forces of society on women, and the influence publicity has on the surveyed. Through this lens, one can understand the social relations and expectations publicity creates for individuals.

Advertisements work in such a way that we grow to envy those we are not; they exploit our perceived flaws by displaying a person who is the living and breathing version of who we wish to be. John Berger in his book, Ways of Seeing, explains that publicity works by convincing his reader that advertisements use envy to entice the public to buy products: “Publicity persuades us...by showing us people who have apparently been transformed and are, as a result, enviable” (131). Though Berger published his book in 1972, his arguments about envy and publicity still hold truth, perhaps now more than ever. Furthermore, the more present advertisements are in our everyday life, the more envious our society becomes. With the power of envy, those who fall under its spell become choiceless, and therefore powerless. Berger also argues in his book that there is a correlation between the number of advertisements we see and the less freedom Americans possess. However, Berger believes that capitalism hides this powerlessness with the illusion of choice: “Publicity helps to mask and compensate for all that is undemocratic within society” (149). This idea Berger has relates not only to the advertisement of products, but also to present-day politics. Withheld information creates power using envy which is used in both advertisements and the US government. As more envy is created with modern day technology, and we become more immersed into social media, the further we stray from democracy.