Since the invention of the camera, artwork all around has been manipulated with a simple change of angle, arrangement of sets or even the dimness of a light. This has become a new language where individuals can interpret images in their own ways.

These are murals of women around cities painted by unknown artists. These artists are trying to send a big message regarding the naturalism of a woman’s appearance. These aren’t just any basic features on a person’s body, hair is a very big and important character trait any person has. It makes them who they are. Hair in many cultures is seen as valuable. It makes a person who they are. The artists who painted these murals purposely did it on that wall because it had a very important natural element, which was the tree. A tree is seen as natural, pure and earthly. Hair is a sort of language itself, there are different types. What the tree was expressing was the curly hair community. That community itself has even more of a variety.

When Berger said that the faces of paintings become messages, he meant that a face could transmit so much feeling and make you think what is happening in the painting. These memes convey their message with the characters in the painting having a conversation, this conversation is based on the faces and the actions that the characters are doing. Usually these conversations are about things of the daily life as studies, love, drama; generally represented in a sarcastic way. Some of them even expose some of the reality of that time.

When I think of memes, I see them as a new way of information that delivers the message in a hilarious form. Some memes are merely funny and that’s it, but many memes contain references which you would have to know to understand the meme this encourages you to investigate the history behind it (this is more likely to happen with history memes though).

I remember that about three years ago in Facebook, there was a spanish musical video created by Christian Flores about the one of the most important paintings in art history: “Las Meninas” made by the Spanish painter Diego Velasquez. With bad orthography, making zoom and the movement in the mouth of the characters in the video the little Margarita keeps asking to Velasquez (who appears in the painting) if she is cute, while Velasquez is telling the tragic and short life of Margarita in a sarcastic way. This is the clear example of how things like videos or memes altering the real meaning of a painting with sounds and dialogues, could be not only funny but informative. I actually still remember the lyrics of the song and probably if I hadn’t seen this video I wouldn’t know anything about “Las Meninas”. Here’s the video, but is in spanish and with bad orthography, so probably many of you won’t understand, sorry ): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Il6p2-40-F0

These are some examples of how classical paintings could be turn into memes nowadays

The meme Disaster Girl has two primary elements, an innocent girl in the foreground and a burning building in the background. But what makes this meme special is the way the girl is looking at the camera. It is as if she set the fire and is proud of it. This meme has been used in a lot of contexts but one of my favorite is the jealous girlfriend. “My boyfriend used to talk a lot with a girl, now he does not talk anymore.” Depending on what the text is the meaning of the meme can change drastically.

Obtained from https://fox6now.com/2020/06/15/videos-of-president-trump-walking-on-ramp-lifting-glass-with-two-hands-put-him-on-the-defensive/

When this image first emerged, it was accompanied with worry for the President’s health. His struggle to bring a glass of water up to his mouth with only one hand was a general concern for a person who is supposed to be the leader of a nation.

At his rally in Tusla, he spoke for ten minutes about his exhaustion from saluting each graduate at West Point that day. He tried to spin his two-handed sip as a byproduct of spending all day honoring American troops.

This is an example of a single image being used to represent to ideas: That of a frail man and that of a respectable one. I’m sure that each message is very effective in reaching the audience it was meant to. I sincerely doubt these messages were successful in convincing the opposing audience.

In the first image, we see Russian brand Hi-Fi Audio’s advertisement by copying Dali’s Madonna of Port Lligat. Salvador Dali created Madonna of Port Lligat in 1949. The painting depicts an image of Mary holding baby Jesus in her lap. Each seemingly random element in the painting has a purpose and however vague it is meant to communicate something to the viewer. For example, the Child is holding a globe in one hand and a cross in the other, and both Mary and the Child are joined in what seems like a mirror-like reflection, symbolizing the reach of spirituality.
But someone who didn’t know about this painting can’t get any of these meanings from the Hi-Fi Audio’s version. In the image, there is a woman holding a headphone between her hands, surrounded by big speakers. The surrealism factors in the advertisement and hole in the torso of the woman grab people’s attention easily. So, even though the meaning changed a lot this is a very interesting advertisement and, this can make people look for the inspiration of painting and learn much more about painting. That’s why I think this advertisement benefits the art as much as it harms the meaning of the painting.

Blog post #3

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The first episode “The way of seeing” by John Berger states the effecting of mechanical reproduction and the idea of the reproduction of art on the painting. In addition to the invention of the camera changed the perception of the world. It changes what we see and how we can see it. He mentioned to most famous paintings that recreated by using mechanical and technological tools. Berger also mentioned the fact that painting can be easily manipulated by editing with music rhythm and the meaning of an image can be changed according to the current situation.    

In 1930, “American gothic” was painted by Grant Wood. Grant Wood painted a simple portrait of a farmer and his sister stopped in front of an American farmhouse. In the first look, you believe that American gothic is realistic painting. He showed through his painting how was the American family and framers look like and the farmhouse in behind showed the American architecture. You can see how the faces of the brother and sister. Based on the first episode “ the way of seeing” by John Berger states that painting can be manipulated, in the second and third photos the American family during the COVID-19 pandemic. They manipulate the American gothic and edited the portrait of the Lysol, face masks, and social distance to describe our situation and how we face pandemic and also use comics. They stand 6 feet and both wear a face mask so they don’t inadvertently spread the coronavirus.      

The image that connects with a message is Mary looking at baby Jesus when he is born. It fits with Idea with Berger in Ways of seeing because he talks about how the way painting and art can be still and quiet. the message of Mary seeing baby jesus is hope because we see Mary face looking down at baby jesus showing that she cares about him and shows that their is a king .