This week the second set of poster designs for M.A.D. Design and Music-a-nator (seen below) will be introduced tomorrow around campus. I would like to explain the reasoning behind the candidness of the poster I call “Three Pairs,” which features a woman breastfeeding five calves. Thomas Theodor Heine illustrated the image, probably for inclusion in the German magazine Simplicissimus, which he illustrated for frequently.
I began the poster by selecting an image that was out of the ordinary. This titillating image was more than compensation for the extra time needed to think of suitable dialogue to match the other poster, “Sandals In Winter.” Initially the text was “I post anywhere at anytime” to “I embrace the strange” to what it is now. The pin through the card was also originally supposed to be attached to a sweater that a busty woman (with three breasts) is wearing. All of those ideas were transformed for lack of connection to the other poster and of time or effort to complete each stitching of the sweater. I hope that this poster might be considered indecent to some people. What is art without opposition and how may I continue to be inspired to design without inspirational projects like “Three Pairs” that pushes the envelope of public sensitivity to what should and should not be acceptable. “Ideally” for me there should be less controversy over advertisements of explicit nature, allowing for artistic disquisition of the Freedom of Press to its fullest extent. However, it is an entirely separate issue to compare that to the more conservative feelings of the general public. I was relieved to see less stringent public view on nudity on TV and on the streets of Europe. Perhaps “Three Pairs” would be more accepted in Dublin, Ireland than in Appleton, Wisconsin and that I should take more consideration of the average American’s sensitivity to public forms of art that are more frank. But, that would take away from the thrill of being controversial and, sadly, from my interest in graphic design.
IHRTLUHC
Ian Wallace
1 comment:
Too bad you missed the 1980s when many artists worked hard to shock so often that Jane's Addiction, the band, wrote the song "Nothing's Shocking". Does that line ring true in the 21st century?
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