Making Meaning Terms

representation

facts; showing things as thy are in nature

abstraction

essential and evocative

symbolism

icon, index substitutes for the idea; written or spoken language

simplification

turns representational images into abstract and symbolic ones

icon

looks like that it represents

index

indicates what it signifies

Picasso’s Bulls

throughout 11 iterations, they resemble simplification with each version

Apple Mouse

this evolution can be seen through simplication and abstraction

Trees

there are various symbols for them that also share the same meaning

Ellsworth Kelly

his abstract paintings simplify forms and colors via abstraction

Chuck Close

uses photo realism for his paintings and demonstrating hyper realistic representational art

Gerhard Richter

produces abstract as well as photorealistic paintings

Jan Tschichold

German type designer who published The New Typography in 1927, introducing sans-serif based on Bauhaus principles

Herbert Bayer

Bauhaus designer who advocated for sans-serif typefaces as the embodiment of racial equality

Paul Renner

designer of Futura

Nike

this brand’s slogan as set in Futura and was adopted by sports stores and college athletics departments

Guerrilla Girls

used Futura to create disruptive headlines that expose gender and ethnic bias and corruption in art, film, politics, and pop culture

Barbara Kruger

her work questions the relationship of consumption and identity by using Futura

Supreme

borrows Kruger’s subversive design using Futura Bold Oblique staged on a red background; drafted on her reputation for consumer critique and skepticism of societal structures

Shepard Fairey

Started the Obey Giant campaign; also created the Hope poster

Albrect Durer

launched the first copyright infringement case

Marcantonio Raimondi

Italian engraver who copied Durer’s woodcuts

William Hogarth

protested in response to seeing reproductions of A Harlot’s Progress (1732)

Fair Use

Laws that allow for the use of copyright protected material for “…the purpose of criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship or research without prior permission from or financial payment from the copyright holder.”

Transformative Use

If you change the original image until it becomes something else, it is transformed and not subject to copyright

Public Domain/Creative Commons

creative works free from copyright; allowed to copy, modify, or build upon without permission from original holder

Plagiarism

“wrongful appropriation” and “stealing and publication” of another author’s language

Parody

work created to imitate, make fun of, or comment on an original work by satiric and ironic means

Pastiche

work of visual art, literature, theatre, or music that imitates style/character of other artists; celebrates and not mocks

Stranger Things

Example of Pastiche; pays homage to Stephen King and Alien (1979)

Paula Scher and Herbert Matter

Example of a Parody; Swatch ad gives credit to Matter

Wacky Packs

Series of humorous trading cards and stickers featuring parodies of North American consumer products

Akira Kurosawa and Star Wars

George Lukas’s Darth Vader was modeled after Samurai uniforms and characters from Kurosawa’s Film The Hidden Fortress (1958); example of pastiche

Jelly Bags

Knockoff of Hermes Kelly Bag; example of parody

The Wild One and East Bay Rats

The East Bay Rats features a jacket similar to The Wild one, director is a fan of the film; example of pastiche

Jan van Eyck

mirrored reflections; speculated that it may have compared to a television image

Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres

used camera lucida for his portraits; his drawings argued to be the best and a testament to his skill, not the tool

Thomas Wedgewood

attempted to make the first photograph and failed; captures small objects on paper but images faded when exposed to sunlight

Louis Daguerre

created a chemical process that makes photographic images permanent; iodized silver plates exposed and developed using mercury vapor

Julia Margaret Cameron

Relied on a single light source and long exposures to create her portraits

Edgar Degas

uses Disderi’s photo to paint portrait of Princess Pauline de Metternich; records blur of the camera

Edward Steichen

Flat Iron Building of 1904 mimics Whistler’s atmosphere or the color of Japanese woodblock prints

Thomas Hicks

created portrait of Lincoln by using photogenic techniques to composite his face with body of Calhoun

Hippolyte Bayard

Thought his process was invented before Daguerre but was never credited; made death portrait as protest

Alexander Gardner

moved a corpse of a Civil War soldier to photograph him in a visually compelling location

Robert Capa

staged photo during the Spanish Civil war

Robert Doisneau

was sued for his photo “The Kiss”; later revealed the couple were actors and shot in three locations before getting the candid moment