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Ah, the 1980s, the Golden Age of TV, pre-internet, VHS, the Sony Walkman, mixtapes, GOOD MUSIC... I could go on. In our last lecture of the year with Nick, we were taken back to the 1980s where we explored the influence of politics on Britain's culture and how the events of the 1980s have shaped the economy, society, and culture ever since. Throughout the lecture it was made clear that there was a clash between official and unofficial culture, official being commercially conscious and unofficial being inspired by rebellion- especially against the Thatcherite zeitgeist. Increase of rebellion seemed to be mainly in the North, whilst other areas remained mainstream and was subject to American cultural imperialism. Below are mood-boards I made, the first being an example of OFFICIAL culture and the second being an example of UNOFFICIAL culture:  
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Today's lecture was interesting, we looked at Post-War America, how it was portrayed as this ideal almost perfect land. America profited greatly from the war seeing a boom in the economy and a rise of consumerism. It was also a time where Atomic power was viewed as the future- films, comics and more art work produced in this era reflected upon this, as it often depicted nuclear weapons and use of them. We also looked briefly at how different Britain was during this era- you had America with it's booming economy and on the other hand you had Britain, looking grim, and struggling with its massive debt to America- which was only fully repaid in 2006! America was free of any debt and also free of any damage to its infrastructure or society. There were also $26 billion worth of factories that had been built during the war and in as if things couldn't get any better for them, there was $140 billion in savings and war bonds to be spent. Post War America also saw the beginnings of youth culture starting to form. Illustration often reflected upon this with depictions of Utopian imagery. During this era, I was shocked to see that illustrators were paid a fortune for single or double page spreads in magazines, now in today's day and age that's not the case!!  The artist that stood out the most for me in today's lecture was Norman Rockwell. His work is beautifully detailed and can convey a whole story just from the work itself due to the careful detailing in his paintings. The works that made Rockwell famous depicted all sorts of Americans going about their lives. He showed them experiencing both daily travails and simple pleasures. His works were reproduced on magazine covers in the 1930s, ’40s, and ’50s—and their appeal was immense. By the 1940s, Time magazine had already christened Rockwell as “probably the best-loved U.S. artist alive,” while the New York Times had affectionately compared his paintings to Mark Twain’s novels.  'Just what is it that makes today's homes so different, so appealing?', 1956, Richard Hamilton  Above is my version of Hamilton's work. I suppose you could say it highlights the issues within today's society- in a very badly edited way! Politics dominate today's society, with Brexit being a constant topic of discussion, the country is divided, people are becoming more and more money driven...we're all just a massive indecisive wreck, with crooked politicians who lie to us.
 Victor Moscoso is one cool dude...Victor Moscoso (born 1936 in Oleiros, Galicia, Spain) is an American artist best known for producing Psychedelic posters, advertisements, and 'Underground Comix'- for titles such as Yellow Dog, Jiz Comics, Snatch Comics, El Perfecto Comics, and Zap Comix- his psychedelic style made him a noticeable artist internationally. Moscoso studied art at Cooper Union in New York City and at Yale University before moving to San Francisco in 1959. After making the move, he went to the San Francisco Art Institute where he eventually became an 'instructor'. Moscoso's use of vibrating colors was influenced by the painter Josef Albers, who happened to be one of his teachers at Yale. Below are some examples of Albers' work, you can see how his use of colour combination has inspired Moscoso's own work:   You can see that Moscoso uses optical effects and color combinations that give the illusion that the design is vibrating off the page. His unique style produces an almost mind-bending sensation of loss of equilibrium, similar to a drugged state (not that I know what this is like of course!!). His poster work is exceptionally individualistic and easily identifiable- as my old college tutor used to say, "It's some hippy-dippy shit." |
AuthorFfion/ 21/ Welsh/ University of Cumbria. Archives
December 2019
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