Visual Communication: ITAP Lecture 3

CONNECTIVITY

At the third week ITAP lecture we talked about Connectivity. Two of the 5 key principles which interested me the most were:

Notions of Originality

On many occasions I wasn’t aware that some ideas e.g. in advertisement, were stolen from another artist. The ITAP lecture opened my eyes and I looked more deeply into the history of art and the history of photography. It is good to steal ideas for the inspirational purpose or to wake up the imagination. Therefore to achieve that it is recommended to read old books, look at old paintings, photographs and everything visual what could be an inspiration because everything has use, even the smallest detail. It is great to find ideas which speak directly to your soul, like for example political concepts which can be re contextualised. A piece of artwork may look original but very often it is an idea redeveloped from a pre existing source. So the idea itself is not new, the new form of the idea is reshaped, reworked. However the line is very fine between our own idea and stealing ideas from someone else, this is called plagiarism.

I love the quote of Jim Jarmush: ,,Nothing is original’’.

Below we can see the form which has been used many times for different ideas or commercial work and for contemporary commentary. It is a E.T. c.1982 theatrical poster and ceiling paintings in the Sistine Chapel by Michael Angelo created between 1508-1512.

It is important to ask the questions. What is the original intention behind the piece of work? Who is the audience for the work? What is the content? When you contextualise something you need to ask yourself: what is it about? What is it for? It must be culturally specific but based on original source. It is not important from where the idea was taken but where it is taken to. What is the final context and message?

The piece below 'Melanie Manchot - The Fontainebleau Series' 2001 is a reproduction of a piece created in 1594, yet this has been recreated again in 1998 by Mario Sorrenti for a YSL ad Campaign. We can see the similarities of both work but they have different meaning.

Unknown artist - Gabrielle d'Estrées - c.1594

Melanie Manchot – The Fontainebleau Series –c.2001

Mario Sorrenti – YSL ad Campaign - c.1998

Re contextualised Ideas and Concepts In Contemporary Culture

Cultural context in the piece of art makes relevant difference. Idea re contextualised in various forms which are recognised.


Lucas Cranach - Adam and Eve – c.1520

Peter Paul Rubens Adam and Eve -c.1628-1629

The ideas which have been reshaped and recreated have titles which are the signposts in contemporary art for viewers. It gives attention to time frame which goes with a piece of artwork. John Currin, is a contemporary painter who recreates images which may be called pornographic pictures. The fact that he uses paint instead of photography or moving image has changed the context and we read it differently. He has re contextualised the idea to modern context. The title is a signpost.