http://www.varoom-mag.com/

FROM FOLK CULTURE TO MODERN BRITISH
The current generation of artists, inspired by Folk Art, are forging a new British vernacular in illustration. To them Folk Art means more than drawing owls or men with beards. Jonny Hannah and Chris Brown reveal how they are working within a trade...
http://www.varoom-mag.com/webonly/index.html - good interview with different generations of illustrators

The Sneetches on the Beaches

I have chosen this Dr Seuss story as my example of an author who is exposing and breaking the commercial culture ideology.

The story starts with these yellow little creatures, some with green stars on their bellies and some without. The star bellied sneetches see themselves as superior, and are the 'in' crowd, the plain sneetches continually try to get in with the group but are shunned.

Then, along comes Sylvester McMonkey McBean, with his incredible star-on machine, and offers to supply the plain sneetches (for a small fee) with stars. They are all overjoyed at this news, and happily queue up and pay up so they can join the star bellied sneetches in the cool gang.

The original star bellied sneetches are outraged that their previous superiority has been undermined, and McBean, being the clever, opportunist capitalist that he is also has a spectacular star-off machine, for a nominal fee, of course. The sneetches queue up and happily pay to have their stars removed and regain superiority.

Sylvester McMonkey McBean is an impartial opportunist, he has no interest in who has stars and who doesn't, he just happily takes the money. Predictably the star bellied sneetches then queue up to have their new stars removed, and so the plain sneetches go back and have stars added, and so the cycle continues, with greater and greater momentum, until the sneetches themselves seem to not know who is who, and all their money has run out. McBean packs up his machine and trundles away with money overflowing, the sneetches are left in chaos, some with multiple stars on their bellies, backs, heads, some with none.

The sneetches eventually realise their foolishness, they realise that at the end of the day a star or no star doesn't make you superior, and happily play with each other, regardless of markings.


It is a story of overcoming false aspirational desires, it rages against the capitalist machine that takes our money for no other reason than exploitation and false dreams, and tries to prove that we all have our own qualities that are equal in merit. This is a recurring theme with Dr Seuss, one of his famous quotes being, "Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind."

Buy Nothing Day

Buy Nothing Day (BND) is an international day of protest against consumerism observed by social activists. Typically celebrated the Friday after American Thanksgiving in North America and the following day internationally, in 2009 the dates are November 27 and 28 respectively. It was founded by Vancouver artist Ted Dave and subsequently promoted by Adbusters magazine, based in Canada.

The Man In The White Suit

The Man In The White Suit is a satirical Ealing comedy made in 1951 and features Alec Guiness. I thought of this film because it is about a man Sidney Stratton who invents a fabric that is such a brilliant white that it propels dirt and cannot any absorb dye. The suit seems to be indestructible and has a slight luminous glow to it because it contains radioactive elements. Stratton is thought to be a genius until both management and the trade union realise the consequence of his invention – once consumers have purchased enough cloth, they may never need another suit again. Demand will drop and put the textile industry out of business!

The film ends with Stratton running for his life from both workers and managers trying to end the invention before it is made available.

The joy of not being sold anything.

Here is a couple of pieces I found over time at banksy.co.uk painted on to blank billboards.

I think these pieces are asking questions about how we are constantly told how to live and sold products that we probably don't need because our existing stuff hasn't broken or stopped working it is now just out of fashion. This in its self is hipocritical because these boards have now just become adverts for banksy which are posted on his website and youtube. Which kind of leads me round in circles. But these pieces do bring to attention the fact we are constantly bombarded with advertisment so much so, we almost don't notice that we are taking it in untill see a blank billboard.

Banksy.co.uk

Unmask Corruption

A selection of the world’s most compelling graphic novelists and comic artists have collaborated with Ctrl.Alt.Shift, to create a limited edition comic book Ctrl.Alt.Shift Unmasks Corruption which features original work from leading comic artists, satirists and creative figures from around the world including USA, South Africa, India, Sweden, Serbia and the UK. Ctrl.Alt.Shift Unmasks Corruption will engage and challenge the issues of social injustice in a bid to politicise a new generation of activists through the medium of popular comic culture. Artists involved include Dave McKean, Peter Kuper, Lee O'Connor, Pat Mills, V V Brown, Dan Goldman, Aleksandar Zograf, Bryan Talbot, Asia Alfasi, Dylan Horrocksand Marcus Bleasdale.

The Ctrl.Alt.Shift Unmasks Corruption Comic Book is now available to buy here

Are we ffff*cked?

To begin, its worth mentioning that I frequent the very websites I am complaining about, I have served as a blog editor, but I still believe in the romance of personal discovery. I like finding things for myself, sifting through used books, discovering music, trolling antique shops. I love the idea of vernacular, naiveté, and context – I love knowing there are people and crafts and reasons and wonderful mistakes behind the art we’ve the pleasure to experience.

read the rest of this article by Mario Hugo here.

This is a still from Eduardo Paolizzi's animated film 'History of Nothing'. Regarded as a precursor to pop art he collected 'pop' imagery and rearranged them into collages. Tate curator Stuart Comer comments on the work; 


"uncanny urban imagery populated by hybrid forms merging human and machine, which heralds the emergence of the mid-twentieth century consumer landscape."


Bibliography


Tate Modern: Tate www.tate.org.uk/modern/explore/room.do?show=1333&code=06&tourid=undefined&action=1 (accessed 20.11.09)

Design Anarchy

I found this interesting book on Adbusters website:

Equal parts memoir, manifesto, scrapbook and revolutionary design manual, Design Anarchy is an urgent call for artists, designers, architects and communicators to re-engage with the world.

Kick It Over Manifesto

Flickr: K-guy http://www.flickr.com/photos/30337581@N06/3029594374/ (accessed 24.11.09)

The Complex Of All These

This is a painting by Gee Vaucher in 1980, which was produced for a record sleeve for the Crass single Bloody Revolutions.
The painting parodies a famous picture of the Sex Pistols with the heads replaced by those of The Queen, The Pope The Statue of Liberty and Margaret Thatcher. The piece is entitled "Who do they think they are fooling? -You?"
According to Mark Vallen of www.art-for-a-change.com, Vauchers painting is telling us that if the Sex Pistols were a rock'n'roll swindle then the icons depicted, represent the ultimate ruling class con job.
The artwork was produced for the anarcho-punk band Crass who promoted anarchy through their music and lifestyle. Vaucher worked closely with Crass and according to the website www.butchershookgallery.com she used her artwork to promote her own anarcho-pacifist, feminist views.
My feeling is that, as stated by the Butchers Hook Gallery, Vauchers work is very clever and well thought out, therefore could be construed not only as Vallen states, that the figureheads represent the ultimate swindle but also that it could equally portray the Sex Pistols as the ultimate capitalists.

Bibliography
Vallen M. www.art-for-a-change.com (accessed 22.11.09)
www.butchershookgallery.com (accessed 22.11.09)

"In America's commercial culture ads are often entertainment (as on the Super Bowl).
Likewise, as with this cartoon, what started out as entertainment could become an ad. (A variation of this cartoon appeared in Schoolcraft College's math publication THE RIGHT ANGLE) What would happen in our culture were advertising and entertainment to become undifferentiated? Have we nearly reached that point?"

Doeffinger M The lite stuff:www.thelightstuffcartoons.com(accessed 19.11.09)

I agree with this, as our commercial culture grows so do the boundaries, things are starting to merge into one another and all with one purpose, to get us to consume more and want more to consume. Using entertainment to do this is the natural next step as we have now learnt to turn off our senses to a dull advert. Now adverts give platforms to new bands, artists and celebrities wanting to climb back on the popularity ladder.

http://www.noirnouar.com/index.html

Have a look at this site this artist uses a tongue in cheek, fifties style American advertising style to highlight American consumerism, especially that of food wastage and over eating

Corporate Fascist

"Design is both a political and cultural force for change, although most designers choose not to think about the power it has."

Jonathan Barnbrook

Rosama Mc Laden (2003)

Combining two of the scariest people in the media of the time - Ronald McDonald and Osama Bin Laden. Both are the opposite of what they pretend to be.

Corporate Fascist (2001)

Here with the addition of the barcode, Bush is ironically seen as a Hitler for the modern age, dogmatially following the corporate agenda to the detriment of many human beings.

Both images are by Graphic Designer and Typographer, Jonathan Barnbrook.

This is challenging to our ideologies, although slightly outdated now, the imagery is still fresh in our minds, and with the humour used, it makes it fun, even though there is a serious message displayed. Are we comfortable with these people making such a impact in our lives? Was Bush really seen as a modern day Hitler during his regime? It is showing us one set of ideologies mixed in with other well known cultural ideologies, and in doing so, perhaps it makes you question western corporations and governments.

Fiell, C, Fiell P. Contemapary Graphic Design, Germany; Taschen

Barnbrook Design, London, www.barnbrook.net 18/11/09

Thought this illustration relates really well with our subject have no idea who the illustrator is though sorry, not much use am I !

obvious but perhaps slightly tacky/relevant.,,:P

Lily Allen- The Fear.

I want to be rich and I want lots of money

I don’t care about clever I don’t care about funny

I want loads of clothes and i want f*ck loads of diamonds

I heard people die while they are trying to find them

And i’ll take my clothes off and it will be shameless

Cuz everyone knows that’s how you get famous

I’ll look at the sun and I’ll look in the mirror

I’m on the right track yeah I’m on to a winner

Chorus

I don’t know what’s right and what’s real anymore

I don’t know how I’m meant to feel anymore?

When do you think it will all become clear?

‘Cuz I’m being taken over by The Fear

Life’s about film stars and less about mothers -

It’s all about fast cars concussing each other

But it doesn’t matter cause I’m packing plastic and that’s what makes my life so fucking fantastic

And I am a weapon of massive consumption

And its not my fault it’s how I’m programmed to function

I’ll look at the sun and I’ll look in the mirror

I’m on the right track yeah we're on to a winner

chorus

[Bridge]Forget about guns and forget ammunition

Cause I’m killing them all on my own little mission

Now I’m not a saint but I’m not a sinnerNow everything's cool as long as I’m gettin thinner

http://www.lyricsreg.com/lyrics/lily+allen/THE+FEAR/

MANIFESTO: Dogs

Demetrious Psillos

MANIFESTO: Santas Elves

Lego men

5 Rules of LegoClub...you do do not talk about lego club

1. To make and enjoy Lego Woman

2. Abilitly to chose and have more possiblites of a carrer path

3. Need more joints i.e knees and elbows

4. More power and control over life. Weponise against being abused by kids and household pets

5. More individual thought over decisoins about own architecture

MANIFESTO: Barbie

• Pink is the default colour throughout with tax concessions for pink products
• Unlimited pink credit cards available for all women, paid for by dutiful hard working partners.
• Open access to 24hr beauty salons and pampering for pets.
• Foundation set up to help those less fortunate to conform to the accepted beauty mould.
• All cars must be cabriolets.

MANIFESTO: Snowmen

Raymond Briggs

MANIFESTO: Crash Test Dummies

Chad Macail

http://www.chadmccail.co.uk/

and carbon weevils (that is us)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nALyKU_N5x0

Story of Stuff

storyofstuff.com

Fight Club trailer

clip from here

FIRST THINGS FIRST Lectures series 09/10

Read 'First Things First' here, on Ken Garland's site

Read the updated 'First Things First' here

I've kept the content from last year's blog - i you're interested please see below:

I wish I was a Punkrocker - song lyrics

This song came into my head randomly and I realised she is witing about the issues we have been hearing about, I've highlighted the parts I thought are relevant..

"I Wish I Was A Punk Rocker (With Flowers In My Hair)" by Sandi Thom

[Chorus]
Oh I wish I was a punk rocker with flowers in my hair
In 77 and 69 revolution was in the air
I was born too late into a world that doesn't care
Oh I wish I was a punk rocker with flowers in my hair

When the head of state didn't play guitar,
Not everybody drove a car,
When music really mattered and when radio was king,
When accountants didn't have control
And the media couldn't buy your soul
And computers were still scary and we didn’t know everything

[Chorus]

When pop-stars still remained a myth
And ignorance could still be bliss
And when God Saved the Queen she turned a whiter shade of pale
When my mom and dad were in their teens
And anarchy was still a dream
And the only way to stay in touch was a letter in the mail

[Chorus]

When record shops were still on top
And vinyl was all that they stocked
And the super info highway was still drifting out in space
Kids were wearing hand me downs,
And playing games meant kick around
And footballers still had long hair and dirt across their face

[Chorus]

I was born too late to a world that doesn't care
Oh I wish I was a punk rocker with flowers in my hair

Someone's opinion of the song meaning from http://andrewsteele.co.uk/reviews/iwishiwasapunkrocker/:

It’s a song about how everything these days is about fitting in and being part of the crowd - heads of state appealing to the masses by being cool and playing guitars, music not mattering anymore because everyone cares more about what they’re seen to be listening to than wether or not they actually like it…

Thom hasn’t considered the clash between Hippie culture and 1980s anarchism because it isn’t relevant to what she’s singing about: the point of the song isn’t actually wanting to be a punk rocker, it’s about wanting something to rebel against, rather than the bland repetitiveness of the same Starbucks & Waterstones & Macdonalds on every bloody highstreet in the world.

spoof nike ad

TV editing

An interesting look at Reality TV editing. Particularly like the bit on big brother

Globalization

This is a paragraph from the book 'Massive Change and the Institute without Boundaries' by Bruce Mau, it is from an interview with Hazel Henderson on global markets.

What are the positive potentials of globalization?

I think we can globalize human rights; we can globalize more transparent and democratic societies. We can globalize the equality of women and environmental protection. We can reorganize all of the new forces - this is a transition going on now, as we've noticed, with NGOs, the United Nations and many of its humanitarian and development agencies, and ILO (International Labor Organization) and the WHO (World Health Organization). Together these make up a new global force in the world. Without question, the new world superpower is world public opinion. When that's linked to mass media, I think we can end run a lot of these old structures and transition more effectively.

Hazel Henderson is an evolutionary economist based in Florida.

No Logo - Brands, Globalization and Resistance

No Logo
Brands, Globalization & Resistance

In the age of the brand, logos are everywhere. But why do some of the world's best-known brands find themselves on the wrong end of the spray paint can -- the targets of anti-corporate campaigns by activists and protesters? 

No Logo, based on the best-selling book by Canadian journalist and activist Naomi Klein, reveals the reasons behind the backlash against the increasing economic and cultural reach of multinational companies. Analyzing how brands like Nike, The Gap, and Tommy Hilfiger became revered symbols worldwide, Klein argues that globalization is a process whereby corporations discovered that profits lay not in making products (outsourced to low-wage workers in developing countries), but in creating branded identities people adopt in their lifestyles. 

Using hundreds of media examples, No Logo shows how the commercial takeover of public space, destruction of consumer choice, and replacement of real jobs with temporary work - the dynamics of corporate globalization - impact everyone, everywhere. It also draws attention to the democratic resistance arising globally to challenge the hegemony of brands. 

Consumer Kids-The Commercialization of Childhood

Consumer Kids-The Commercialization of Childhood

www.mediaed.org

media education foundation

Watch the VIDEO above...

The site also has other resources about media.

Consuming Kids
The Commercialization of Childhood

Consuming Kids throws desperately needed light on the practices of a relentless multi-billion dollar marketing machine that now sells kids and their parents everything from junk food and violent video games to bogus educational products and the family car. Drawing on the insights of health care professionals, children's advocates, and industry insiders, the film focuses on the explosive growth of child marketing in the wake of deregulation, showing how youth marketers have used the latest advances in psychology, anthropology, and neuroscience to transform American children into one of the most powerful and profitable consumer demographics in the world. Consuming Kids pushes back against the wholesale commercialization of childhood, raising urgent questions about the ethics of children's marketing and its impact on the health and well-being of kids. 

Greed

A couple of years ago, my boyfriend driving us back home through cornwall, I was thinking about this big new road they had started to build. I started wondering wether boosting the economy with tourism would eventually kill off the beauty that people use the big road to come and see? Anyway its the first time I really started thinking about things like development and consumerism seriously and came home and made this illustration, and then found a quote from Mahatma Ghandi that went perfectly with it...'Earth provides enough to satisfy everymans need, but not everyman's greed'

Popular culture exposing celebrity culture

I was listening the lyrics of Lily Allen's 'The Fear' and thought that it was a good example of popular culture (pop music) exposing the ideology of celebrity culture.

Lily Allen - The Fear Lyrics
I want to be rich and I want lots of moneyI don’t care about clever I don’t care about funnyI want loads of clothes and f***loads of diamondsI heard people die while they are trying to find them
I’ll take my clothes off and it will be shameless‘Cuz everyone knows that’s how you get famousI’ll look at the sun and I’ll look in the mirrorI’m on the right track yeah I’m on to a winner
ChorusI don’t know what’s right and what’s real anymoreI don’t know how I’m meant to feel anymoreWhen we think it will all become clear‘Cuz I’m being taken over by The Fear
Life’s about film stars and less about mothersIt’s all about fast cars and passing each otherBut it doesn’t matter cause I’m packing plasticand that’s what makes my life so f***ing fantastic
And I am a weapon of massive consumptionand its not my fault it’s how I’m program to functionI’ll look at the sun and I’ll look in the mirrorI’m on the right track yeah I’m on to a winner
ChorusI don’t know what’s right and what’s real anymoreI don’t know how I’m meant to feel anymoreWhen we think it will all become clear‘Cuz I’m being taken over by The Fear
BridgeForget about guns and forget ammunitionCause I’m killing them all on my own little missionNow I’m not a saint but I’m not a sinnerNow everything is cool as long as I’m getting thinner
ChorusI don’t know what’s right and what’s real anymoreI don’t know how I’m meant to feel anymoreWhen we think it will all become clear‘Cause I’m being taken over by fear
Song Information
Released January 26, 2009 in United KingdomGenre PopLength 3:45Label RegalWriter Lily AllenProducer Mark Ronson

Celebrity Culture / Big Brother / Poor TV

Talking about big brother and all that in the lecture today (monday) reminded me of this scene from the Extras christmas special a year ago. Aside from the really good acting, editing and story line, I think its a really good observation. To understand the full story line you probably have to have watched the series - essentially hes a failed actor, trying to milk everything out of the industry that he can out of despiration. But the general rant about big brother / the press is cool. wattchhh ittt

Rethink Mass Media - Rethink Capitalism

Noam Chomsky speaks...

Is Design the New Art?

I have just read the above named article from Elle Decoration, July 2008 (hopefully you can see copy in library, otherwise wait until I have worked out how to get a scanned copy onto this site). The article is about new wave so-called 'design art' which crosses design and art worlds through the promotion of art galleries.

I am not sure how relevant this is for any of you (not having met you yet) and dont know if any of you are aspiring designers or not. I hope that it might be useful.

How To Be A Graphic Designer Without Losing Your Soul

I have been reading a book called 'How to be a Graphic Designer without losing your soul' by Adrian Shaughnessy. I have found it really useful and interesting as it has chapters about how to find a job, being freelance, setting up a studio and self-promotion. I recommend it to anyone thinking of going into Graphic Design.

Peter Gabriel's Unsubstantiated Theory

This is a quote from an interview with Peter Gabriel from a rail magazine; 'I have an unsubstantiated theory that artists and creative people take train journeys because that's where they get their best ideas' 

Over consumerism - Illustrations by Chris Madden

Top Picture- The results of over consumption

Bottom Picture- Illustration: Over consumption of the world's resources by Chris Madden

www.chrismadden.co.uk

Consumerism statement

theartofzenliving.co.uk

The Story of Stuff

Annie Leonard's award winning 'The Story of Stuff'

change 4 life

Ken Garland

Ken Garland

Objects of Desire: The Fetishisation of the Commodity

MadTV video from youtube.