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look at this here collage i made
Jinnigan
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link to big
Basically all I am looking for is your reaction to it. what do you think of when you look at it, what impressions do you get from it, etc.
It's meant to fit on one 8.5x11 sheet of paper.
a bit more detail about the assignment: (I'd appreciate if you read this after replying)
Basically all I am looking for is your reaction to it. what do you think of when you look at it, what impressions do you get from it, etc.
It's meant to fit on one 8.5x11 sheet of paper.
a bit more detail about the assignment: (I'd appreciate if you read this after replying)
This particular image is only the "Who am I?" side. The other side is in progress.Assignment:
Your first journal assignment of the term asked the question “Who am I?†This week’s assignment is asking you the same question but in a different format.
Your assignment is to create an “identity collage.†The collage will have two sides. On one side you will address the question: “Who am I?†On the other side you will address the statement: “This is how others perceive me.†This is a collage—you can be as creative as you want: images, photos, words, colors, decorations. On one side of the collage you are representing yourself and on the other side of the collage you are projecting how you see others as perceiving you, be it positive impressions or negative stereotypes.
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The cable from the headphones doesn't flow accurately?
Perhaps.
What?
Overplayed banksy images, communist stars.
I really see no personality.
Also, why is there a chinese flag there?
He's obviously a commie.
is it generic because it's, eh, nothing interesting, or generic because i used a banksy image?
Most of the images in here are generic. Even the text brush that you've used. There's just no original ideas put forth here. The whole thing screams bland and ambiguous.
That's a pretty difficult problem to get around.
Do you have any advice in regards to that, or is that just a natural problem with "self-identity" art?
edit: how well-known is Langston Hughes' "Theme for English B," anyways?
It should be well known - if you took a junior level...hell, sophomore level english class in high school it should have come up.
Anyway _ i thought it was nice, but nothing in particular stood out immediately. I also don't get enough of the references to know where you are going with it.
Meh, kind of over done
Sheri Baldwin Photography | Facebook | Twitter | Etsy Shop | BUY ME STUFF (updated for 2014!)
Is it a problem that I use a popular work of a person whose artwork has strongly influenced me?
I mean, the whole thing is pretty abstract and Grifter's note that on a whole it's pretty generic is very valid, sure.
But, you know, it's a collage, not a "how underground and hip to the scene are you?" contest.
the main theme to the song, "Wu-Tang Clan Ain't Nuthin' ta Fuck With."
Grifter is pro at answering my questions!
Well your self identity is completely unknown to us (unless someone here knows you on a personal level). I don't know what you're about. I don't know what you like.
I don't have a problem with "self-identity art", but I have a problem with people using generic imagery to convey to me who they are.
You like music? Well, thats dandy, so does everyone else. You aren't telling me anything about yourself. A Banksy image of a guy holding flowers, what is that supposed to mean in context with your piece? You're militant about peace? I'm positive you could have come up with better imagery.
Fair enough. That being said, what do you get out of the image currently, as it is? Just so I have a better idea of what works or isn't working.
x You like China
x You listen to music a lot
x You like Casper and Hobbes
x You do graffiti art
x You like gray-toned designs.
I know shit about poetry so that one is lost to me, the sheet music is lost to me. I think the biggest thing that I can't place is the guy with flowers. No idea why that is defining for who you are.
*edit: same for the bird and the map in the background, it looks like the contours of North America and Greenland. Why is that there?
EDIT: Which I-Ching symbol is that?
(I just keep asking questions)
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Mind you these are the things I associate with the images from the culture I live in, and the associations I have (over time) come to make with these images.
It's not a map of anything, just an accident of abstract brushes.
The flag is an interesting point, because I'd wanted to express some idea of my struggle with Chinese/American identities, as an ethnically Chinese, but essentially American citizen. But I can't even begin to think of a good way to express that, especially in a non-cliche manner. It's not really meant to represent Communism, but that's just the way it goes. Not much I can do about that.
The message is confused because there's no intended message, it's just an amalgation of stuff I love.
But, much thanks for the feedback.
Okay, so this is just a 'thing I like poster'? So it really can just be summed up by "you like...(list)"? In that case, it seems like instead of focusing on what we get out of the image (because it seems like just something for fun since it has no meaning), you could work on presenting what you like in a more interesting, aesthetically pleasing way?
facebook.com/LauraCatherwoodArt
Also, I really dislike the "Hello, my name is... <headphones>" tag. That's pretty much telling me that all you are is some guy that really likes his music - and that's all there is to you.
You also mentioned that the Chinese flag is supposed to symbolize your struggle with your ethnic Chinese identity and you being an American citizen, but it doesn't hint at anything like that at all. It's just a Chinese flag - and I personally interpreted like Forbe did that you have communist ideals, or that you were Chinese. I guess my point is - to someone that doesn't know you, this means nothing because I have no knowledge of your personality so my mind could fill in the huge gaps the collage leaves.
Zhongren ma?
EDIT:
Why do I always get these wierd top of pages?
Your'e chinese? You picked a chinese flag to show that. Its a loaded image (its got a whole shitload of baggage attached to it, like communism). Then you say "there isnt much I can do about that"
Then pick something else. All of your chinese heritige is summed up in a flag? Comon. Thats just fucking lazy. Symbols of china right off the top of my head: chinese lettering, chinese art, chinese dragons, those funky paper laterns, chinese buildings/temples, those flower things you see in chinese art (lotus? iunno), etc etc. I'm sure if you sat down for 5 minuets, you could come up with a hundred better things to use then a stupid flag.
All your images are like that. Music? record player and headphones. Grafiti? Spraycan. See what I'm getting at? Its all so straightforward that it has no subtlety or interest value at all.
cheers.
I'm sorry to be necro-posting, but this is just fucking offensive. Here, let me change it up for you:
That's not really how images work. People aren't stupid because they read them a different way. That's like you writing "UNICORNS" on your image and screaming at people for not understanding why they don't read it as "shoe". Don't get upset with other people because they read your highly ambiguous images wrong.
You know what's more representative of China than a flag? Its shape.
That's the start of brainstorming more precise imagery.
I mean, clearly, these two images provoke the same emotional impact:
I guess part of it is simply that I'm going to be around to answer questions, and I do want to provoke discussion.
At first my eyes are drawn to the right hand side, I find it hard to navigate the image, it has a lot of things going on in it so I don't really know what is the main focus...
Hello my name is... "music"? The theme seem to be music and youth culture.
The flag indicates that it has to do with music and youth culture in China (at first I thought I was looking at the old Soviet flag for some reason).
The fact it's Communist China, indicates some will to "break free" and express yourself thru art, or something like that. Too bad the art itself is pretty bland.
The character in the upper left corner seem to have no connection to the rest of the image.
To some people the flag of the USA can represent such things as "patriotism" or "home sweet home". To some it may represent "the enemy" or even "terrorists". It all depends on the individual. The map of USA does not represent the same feelings as the flag. To me any image of a map immediately takes me back to geography class. God I hated geography.
The flag of China represent different things to different people. To most people in the west it is likely to represent communism (now that Soviet doesn't exist anymore, more so than before). That said, however, I can see that China is moving closer towards the west, and the projected image will probably change in the future.
aha... I figured it was something like that.
In that case - you like music, grafitti and comics. That is all I can read from the collage.
Well, I don't know, you're the one that used a ridiculous analogy.
I mean, I'm not challenging the criticism that my image isn't very specific or meaningful or unique at all, but the notion that I shouldn't use the flag of the nation that I come from to represent the nation I come from is kind of silly, especially when the basis of the argument is "WELL IT CAN ALSO MEAN COMMUNISM." Finally, the only original point I was trying to make was that telling someone to stop using the flag of China and instead use "dragons or funky paper lanterns or some shit" is directly equivalent to me saying, "Stop using the flag of the USA and use McDonald's or Red+White+Blue Fireworks or some shit."
Thanks! Your condescending attitude and elite airs have brought so much to this thread! I should take lessons from you. What's your going rate?
Right. It's a ridiculous analogy because a whole bunch of people read your image a completely different way than you intended. It's ridiciulous because it fits perfectly?
Look, if you're going to use an image you have to be prepared to accept what people come to the table with. You can't make people see what you want them to see if you're not willing to understand your audience. You seem so angry that people are taking your thing wrong that it has to be a problem with the viewers, and not your art.
I never said you had to use a buck-toothed yellowface character to represent your asianness. I just suggested something not so intertwined with communism in people's minds (red flag). Flags mean a lot more than land-masses because they represent governments and agendas. The "basis of the argument" is not that "it can also mean communism". The "basis of the argument" is that "no one understands what you're trying to say". You can't wish away the cultural baggage by complaining to us on the internet about how it's not what you intended. Honestly, you don't get to say what you intended when you present a final piece of art to the rest of us. At that point, it is what it is, and we have as much power over what it means as viewers as you do as the person who made it. It's your job to manipulate us into believing what you want us to believe about yourself. If we wanted to sit through a lengthy Q&A about what the image, and by extension, you mean, you could save us the time and effort and just write some stupid "who I am" essay. What's the point of the visual piece if it's totally worthless at conveying any message?
I'd love to help you work through the visualization issues (and I'm sure the rest of the forum would, too, since that's what we're here for), but you're going to have to stop being so dismissive and reactionary.
And totally Post Script here, Gibs suggested "Chinese lettering", which sounds to me like language. How is language not a better representation of who you are as a Chinese-American than a flag? It's pretty much devoid of the Communism reference.
Also: Jinnigan, you said you were between two cultures, American and Chinese, that doesn't really show up in your collage. There ought to be a way to present who you are without resorting to horrible clichés.
This whole thing probably would be much less of an issue if it gave any indication as to why you think your relation to China is worth mentioning in relation to your identity.
I mean, you're from China, great. What about it? Is this a wholly tangental, random fact, a piece of trivia? If it is, why bother brining it up? And if it isn't, (and I am certain it is not) and you have something to say about being from China, and can show how that fact has shaped your identity, why aren't you showing that? That's the interesting part. All I am getting is a fact, without context. All I am getting is "I am from China", not, "I am from China, and therefore _______________________________." Where's the rest of the story?
No matter what kind of generic image you throw at me to portray that single fact, it's still going to be a dull, single fact. It feels like you're answering an essay topic with a Jeopardy answer.
I mean, if I were doing this assignment, what would I do? What are the relevant facts regarding myself here?
Fact 1)
I'm a white, 23 year old American male.
Is that interesting to you?
Of course not. It's a fucking boring, dry fact, and other than giving you a start on being able to point me out in a police lineup, it tells you nothing about me as a person.
Let's try something else.
Fact 2)
Growing up, I had two older siblings who were constantly at the forefront of their classes, gradewise- all A's, went to Ivy League schools. I, on the other hand, never manifested any such extreme adeptness for schoolwork, and, if I wanted to get the same sort of grades in order to please my parents, would have had to have worked twice as hard for them, and even if I did so would still appear to only be the 3rd best in a series. Therefore, in order to gain some measure of success in my life, I threw myself headlong into doing art, the one thing I knew that I could succeed at where they could not, because it was a kind of success not measured in grades and schoolwork. That sort of petty competetiveness is something that remains with me to this day, for better or worse.
That's a story. It's still facts, yes. But those facts tell you something fairly specific about me, as a person- who I am, not what I am. How I would portray that visually, I'm not sure. It would take a great deal of difficult thought, I am certain; but I have no doubt it could be done, and would end up being far more interesting than a big old slab of white, a "HAPPY 23rd BIRTHDAY!" balloon, an American flag and a wiener slapped next to each other.
Now, certainly, I read the assignment and yes, I realize a potion of it is portraying how you think you are seen by others, and it is easy to say, "I look Chinese, when people see me they think 'Chinese'", right? And, Chinese flag = Chinese. But, I have no idea in the piece how you feel about that reaction: is it a positive thing for you, or do you fear being stereotyped, or does it not matter to you at all? I have no idea here- I have no idea what the image of the Chinese flag means to you or says about you. If the flag served to tell the viewer something about you, I doubt anyone would have even mentioned it in the first place.
As it is, it's just a boring signifier of a boring fact, and not something that tells a deeper story, and that's where the complaints come in.
Ugh, I hate this fine arts shit. I'm going back to drawing stupid cartoons and robots and shit.
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