Main Project Proposal

“Political Satire" is a subject which has always had some fascinating elements leading to many forms of artistic production, whether it be painting, music, performance, films or comic strips in the newspaper. However, I have never pursued it as a subject despite my interest in the art itself and the way in which it can be shown.

What I particularly enjoy is art which subverts the authority of political leaders, public or private sector authorities (institution or figureheads), terrorist leaders or actions, acts of war, autocracy of all kinds, abuse of power, infringement of civil liberties/human rights. This derives perhaps from my strong believes in civil liberties, personal privacy and conservative government.

I have always worked with paint and the digital image (using photo image manipulation software) and endeavor to continue these practices because I believe they are strong at delivering a message to the spectator - The audience with works such as this is very often a whole populous because the widely encompassing subject matter includes people on a national and international level.

On a contextual level, there are frequent news stories of war, terror threats, political debate and incompetence etc regularly throughout the mainstream media and when parallels are drawn from other and alternative media outlets; with journalists often covering similar stories or the same stories from a different angle, there is greater cause for artwork which exposes all facets of the information, highlights cover-ups, raises important issues which one feels do not have enough mainstream media exposure (ie: 3rd world country problems), subverts the authority of the actions from world leaders which has summoned an obvious social consensus of opinion about that person (or authority) that their actions are wrong/idiotic/abusive of power.

I have studying the works of David Dees, an American illustrator who’s works features strong, edited imagery often with captions which create a heavily sarcastic tone. For Example, this image entitled “2011” is seeking to convey how drafting in and existence of the Federal Reserve Act of 1913, has now proved to be so detrimental to the country’s monetary system and demonstrated a sellout of power from the American Citizens to a privately owned System, that America itself could be considered to have died the moment it was passed. This idea has been presented as metaphor, very cleverly, there inducing the humorous function of the artwork. This sums up my perspective on the comical value of works such as this, because although the fact that it is funny is part of the artwork, it additionally serves an actual function: to purport the critical and sincere (political) message that is being conveyed.

2011 (2011)

Another Artist that interest me is John Keane. I greatly appreciate his more tradition painting techniques to get out his message. It is conveyed in a much more subtle and distorted way due the use of paint, image transfer and overall detail lacking aesthetic. As he was appointed an official war artist of the gulf war, most of his subjects begin there and are derived from such.

Following my original art proposal and short studio project which featured the distortion of faces and people using pixilation, I discovered that John Keane utilizes this technique in his own work, while also combining traditional painting practices, which I would like to apply myself.

For example, this piece entitled “Culture, Practice and Ethics” 2012, feature a suited figure sitting at a desk, who we would assume to be of political power or significance. This is based on how the figure is portrayed but also with the contextual knowledge of Keanes’s work and how he likes to subvert the aesthetic of the figure and it’s surroundings, therefore undermining his power and attempting to shame them. The addition of the pixels on the face supplement this endeavor, synonymizing him with a criminal displayed on a television screen.

Culture, Practice and Ethics (2012)

I would like to incorporate these ideas and themes of war, with particular attention to the figure and notions of iconic poses and symbols (guns in the air, flags etc). I would also like to use the themes mentioned in the fourth paragraph of this proposal. What is interesting is how anything that is currently in the news keeps this sort of works going, continuing it as perpetually contemporary practice - therefore hot topics currently would include, ISIS (which I have already dabbled in), Ebola, Pedophile Inquiries, Canadian Ottowa attacks (and frequent gun attacks in the Americas), International Airport Restrictions…. ETC.

#uca