Part 3 was definitely a challenge for me as I struggled to understand the subject. Visual communications aren’t necessarily hard to come to terms with because its literally communicating visually. Its when I start to break down an image and look into the deeper meanings, that’s when I found it difficult. I really enjoyed doing the knitting patterns exercise as my nan loves to knit so I got her involved in it with me. She told me everything she knows because I believe she has done it for many years now.
Semiotics was quite difficult for me at first because I couldn’t understand the sign = signifier + signified. I think that because I struggled with this exercise, it put me behind on the other work. It took me a while to figure out but once I got there, it was alright but I just hope I understood it correctly. I also really enjoyed doing the film posters as I am familiar with analysing the details. For GCSE Media, one of our projects was all about analysing film posters and then designing our own poster. I chose to analyse my favourite film ‘Snatch’ because I’ve seen that film more times than I can remember so it was fun to dig deeper.
When I finally got to the assignment, I knew that I wouldn’t be able to complete it in such short time as I was already behind so I got an extension but I think it actually helped more because I completed it better than the others. That’s my opinion anyway. Again, I struggled at first but I came to terms with it pretty quickly. I chose to focus on the Mona Lisa painting and the re-appropriated version of her in Andy Warhol’s piece ‘Thirty Are Better Than One’. Mona Lisa was another piece of art that was first introduced to me in school in GCSE and A-level Art so it was exciting to discuss it again.
Overall, this Part of my course was challenging but I have definitely learnt from it and I will probably consider it more in the future.
In this assignment, I was instructed to identify an example of re-appropriation within visual communications. It could be illustrators or designers drawing from wider visual culture or advertisers using ideas from films. I will look at the original image and complete a semiotic analysis with its contents and possible meanings. The two pieces of work that I will be analyzing are the ‘Mona Lisa’ by Leonardo Da Vinci and ‘Thirty Are Better Than One’ by Andy Warhol.
Firstly, I started with researching re-appropriation. I found a definition that suits it perfectly.
Appropriation in art and art history refers to the practice of artists using pre-existing objects or images in their art with little transformation of the original
As explained in the Tate Modern website Art Terms.
There is a fine line between appropriating and copying, if you copy someone’s work you should give credits where and when it is due to respect the artist. Otherwise, it is classed as plagiarism. Further down on the Tate Art Terms, it mentions a few artists such as Marcel Duchamp with his urinal artwork. He re-appropriated Leonardo Da Vinci’s ‘Mona Lisa’ by drawing a moustache and a goatee on a postcard version of the painting. Jasper Johns (born May 15, 1930) is also mentioned, I further researched him and he has re-appropriated ‘Mona Lisa’ as well. However, his piece ‘The Seasons (Summer)’ features ‘Mona Lisa’ in a different way, she is seen slightly towards the back of his piece. These images have inspired me to use ‘Mona Lisa’ because she is very famous and many artists have re-appropriated Da Vinci’s painting. The painting has been mass reproduced on items such as coffee mugs, postcards, t-shirts and so on. Does this then effect the meaning of the painting? I believe it makes mundane due to easy access, it takes the fun out of not knowing.
I will begin with a semiotic analysis for the original painting. For instance, Da Vinci used oil paint on a wood panel, he used a technique called Sfumato a revolutionary new technique of his time which consists of blending of light and shade. It is a portrait painting of Mona Lisa seated in a chair, her body angled slightly to the left but face and chest turned towards the viewer. Her facial expression is a half-hearted smile and her eyes directly gazing at the audience. As an observer, you might first notice that she has no eyebrows, however, I am unaware if that was intentional or just due to the age of the painting. Her left arm is placed resting on the arm of the chair, her right arm is resting on top of her left arm and she is wearing a dark-coloured dress. She is positioned against a scenic background, the bottom half that is in line with her chest and shoulders is very mountainous scenery with a wooden bridge to one side. Further up, in line with her head and eyes is what seems to be a lake with smoky blue colours.
There are a few possible meanings that this painting has. Firstly, her crossed arms could be suggesting the side of her wanting to protect herself. When people sit or stand with their arms folded, it suggests they are protecting themselves or feel insecure. The next important thing to discuss would be her smile. It is a half-smile with the corners of her mouth raised. A smile is a visual representation of happiness so this could imply that she is content with being painted. Her gaze, on the other hand, is quite mysterious and her eyes follow you wherever you walk which suggests she is watching down on her viewer. The Mona Lisa painting was originally commissioned for Francesco del Giocondo, however, the client never received it as Da Vinci kept it for himself. She was painted in Florence, Italy in the 16th century between 1503 and 1506 and considered the greatest treasure of renaissance art by most people.
Mona Lisa is currently permanently located at the Louvre Museum in France. I accessed the image online at mymodernmet.com, this website had an extremely clear photo of the painting and looking closely it is possible to see the age-related cracks in the wood. Having never seen the original in person due to living in the UK and the artwork is in France, I would like to visit her at some point when I travel through France to Spain. “So it’s finally possible to ask yourself critically: is she worth it?” (Johns, J. 2005) Most people believe it’s not worth traveling to see her unless you’re a big Da Vinci fan or happen to be in Paris.
There are a variety of examples of re-appropriation with Mona Lisa such as Marcel Duchamp’s ‘L.H.O.O.Q’ or Jasper Johns’ ‘The Seasons (Summer)’ but I have chosen to focus on Andy Warhol’s ‘Thirty Are Better Than One’. The title itself ridicules a consumer society that loves quantity over quality. In 1963, whilst successfully touring the United States, the Mona Lisa caught Warhol’s eye and that he was inspired as much by the ubiquitous nature of the image as its historical importance. Warhol was obsessed with the celebrity cult so of course, he had to re-appropriate Mona Lisa. “He proposed that fame was a commodity, and that the endless replication of a celebrity’s face made it so.” (Keats, J. 2013). He produced a series of works in various sizes and colours, all relating to the original painting. The final piece was published on the occasion of the 1997 exhibition “Andy Warhol: Thirty Are Better Than One” at the Tony Shafrazi Gallery, NY.
Figure 1. Leonardo da Vinci (c.1503-06) Mona Lisa
Figure 2. Warhol, A. (1963) Thirty Are Better Than One
I have placed the two next to each other to compare the similarities, differences and discuss how the new references the old. The first comparison to make is obvious, the original has been used but the difference is there is 29 more in Warhol’s version. He referenced the original but just repeated multiple times and made smaller like a grid. Another difference is the colour and medium used; Da Vinci’s is in colour oil paint and Warhol’s is black and white silkscreen. The line, form, and value are all similar as he has taken those elements from the original, however, shape and space have changed because he has repeated the image so shape and space would be larger. The texture of each image is different from one another because of the medium used. All these elements have been used to create meaning, the title is “Thirty Are Better Than One” so that explains the use of repetition.
Andy Warhol embraces mass consumerism and reproduction within his piece, he says ‘More is better’. He challenges the idea of valuing only the original piece. Da Vinci has challenged his viewers with trying to understand the mood behind her smile. Andy Warhol was inspired and followed in Duchamp’s footsteps after he drew the moustache and goatee on Mona.
A Journey Through a Creative Arts Degree 