haroutmj

[haroutmj]

Time for another analysis, but what are we going to discuss today? Let’s talk more about Vladimir Kush’s fantastic art pieces that I found while browsing the net, specifically one of his newest ones called: “New African Mask”. Released on May 6th of last year, as people refer to him as the creator of “Metaphorical Realism”, Kush wanted to show off his thoughts on our current society we live in by making this amazing fine art which depicts an elephant wearing a gas mask in a savanna background. Let’s take a deeper dive into this, shall we?  

As I already spoiled the answer for this question, is the meaning of this painting metaphorical, analogical, or literal? If we take another closer look at this painting with the release date, the answer clearly shows. If we look at our current situation, we’re living in a global pandemic filled with people wearing masks to protect themselves from death, people staying inside their homes because they’re too scared to go outside, people wasting money on essential products to prepare themselves for another huge wave. Heck, by the time I'm writing this, we’re currently in wave three right now. In this picture, we can see how disappointed this spirit animal is to this society, by forcing itself to breathe under a mask, not being able to smell or live peacefully in its territory. This metaphorical art shows its message with the power of Kush’s vision of mythology and traditions.   

There are three main signs that I would love to point out. The first one is the elephant in the picture. This majestic creature holds many symbols, including strength from the mind and body, and power. It also symbolizes wisdom and loyalty, they’re considered to be gentle and peaceful giants. In this picture, we don’t see nor feel these symbols at all. On the contrary, this elephant looks very miserable being too restricted, when it’s supposed to be free in the tropical forest, just like our current lives. The mask, which is the second sign, symbolizes that clearly. We were very happy dealing with our normal lives, doing our usual tasks, but now we’re forced to wear masks to protect ourselves, we’re trapped in this world filled with extra rules, it just doesn’t feel the same anymore. The third sign, which if you look closely behind the elephant, it’s a tiny little red bird just sitting there. Why is there a red bird behind it though? Since they’re spiritually known to spread news, I’m assuming it represents social media and news articles that give us the latest updates. A more specific representation I can give is Twitter since the logo is a bird tweeting.   

Overall, the message behind this metaphorical art piece, with the power of the elephant and the mask, although the bird was maybe a bonus meaning since it was too small to notice, Kush did a very successful job of emphasizing our present-day lives by choosing the right animal, the right location being in a more peaceful area, and of course, let’s not forget about the mask, being the biggest key to this message.   

“Vladimir Kush Presents His New Original Painting ‘New African Mask’.” Newswire, 6 May 2020, https://www.newswire.com/news/vladimir-kush-presents-his-new-original-painting-new-african-mask-21139828  

“The Meaning Of Different Elephant Symbols.” One Tribe Apparel, 03 Dec. 2018, https://www.onetribeapparel.com/blogs/pai/elephant-symbols-meaning 

[haroutmj]

Hi there, It's been a little while, but I'm here today to talk about this advertisement I found that caught my attention, called "Doors". It's an ad made by DraftFCB from Germany which pictures two doors and a title in the middle that reads "WeightWatchers", a company that focuses mainly on programs about weight loss, fitness, and diet. These two doors have a different name and look, one that says "entrance" with a broader look to it, and the other that says "exit" with a tighter look. Let's take a deep dive with the analysis, shall we? To start things off, with the vertical and horizontal lines that form the shape of two doors, we can see the name of the company, creating an off-center effect in between them, also creating space. This pastel green color simulates this decompressing feeling, mainly associating with health and nature. For this case, health is the more soothing subject, since the company is based around that topic. The emphasis of this asymmetrical image is the title, since it's the only horizontal rectangle, and it has different colors. The only movement I see is the door from the left slightly open, I will get to that later on. Other than that, those two doors also create this feeling of unity, since they do have a size difference, I will also get to that shortly. With all the details mentioned, we can now talk about the meaning behind this advertisement.

What is the message behind this image in particular? What are they trying to objectify? Well, if you've heard ever about WeightWatchers, their mission is to spread the word to millions of people to join their program for weight loss, they're trying to show us how powerful this program can be and how it can motivate you to start losing weight and being healthy. If we use a small portion of our brains, the large door on the left that says "entrance" probably means how you started before the impact of the program. The thin door on the right that says "exit", on the other hand, possibly means the aftermath, how perfectly healthier you'll look in the end after you leave that door. What do people think about this picture though, is the message dominant or negotiable? I have a feeling this is pointing on the negotiable side. Although the service can provide a healthier life, obesity is a big issue, especially in the United States. People can be emotional with these types of subjects, and seeing an image like this can trigger major controversy since fat-shaming is also a pretty harmful act.

To wrap things up, I'd say this ad does bring the message perfectly well, I wouldn't say it's a hard picture to read, nor an illusion, it's a pretty simple code to decipher. In my opinion, I don't think kids, teenagers or young adults would give much attention to this at all, it's rather the adults by the age of around 30 or 40 years old. As you get much older, you would want to stay in perfect shape, hence why they would most likely get interested in this. I must say though, I like the color choice, the green did make me feel more safe and cozy, and the idea of the two doors, I find it really clever and quite readable. Seeing the doors being too large or too thin, it was kind of odd seeing it at first glance. Anyways, I'm going to stop here, for now, see you in my analysis blog.

[haroutmj]

Hi, it’s me again, I want to show you this beautiful image that I found online by an amazing street photographer by the name of Fernando Coelho. With patience and determination, he says that with the power of light, shadows, composition, and subjects, he can create a photo that can represent a “Zen” moment. While searching through his pictures, I found one that made me do an in-depth analysis, he simply called it “V”. In this photo, we see two important subjects, we have this structure that looks very similar to the letter from the title and a man walking casually in his direction in between the letter. What makes this picture astonishing is the fact that he didn’t ask anybody to stand in between the letter, he just waited and waited until someone showed up. With the use of elements of art and the principles of design, I will explain what makes this picture amazing.  

Firstly, when it comes to lines, I realized three things, there are horizontal lines inside the letter, 2 diagonal lines that form the letter mentioned in the title, and another line that I will mention once more later on, that is the one that’s separating the pillar behind the man into 2 shades of color. The letter is also 3 dimensional which can be a good example of a form. With all this information combined, with the help of the line that I mentioned with the separation, we can see that the person is completely in between them in the middle. With the picture being what I'm assuming asymmetrical but tried to be symmetrical because of the curved line on the bottom, the main emphasis is of course the man in the middle. The way the letter is formed, it almost resembles an arrow pointing down, the lines on top forming rectangles that are repeatedly getting tighter and tighter the more we look down, decreasing their size, the picture is basically trying to tell us to look down by following those lines, pretty mesmerizing if you ask me. Making those lines a good example of a pattern, there are also tiny squares outside of the letter, not that important, but it’s a good mini detail to point out nonetheless.  

Before I end my analysis, I want to mention one more thing about this picture. The first time I saw it, I immediately fell in love with it, although the photo doesn’t have much meaning really, it did catch my eye. The way the lines connect perfectly, it just makes you want to look down to the main subject. Kind of like a feeling of hypnosis, at least for me. It’s a beautiful art piece that I will definitely remember and cherish till the end of my time.

[haroutmj]

Hey there, this is my first ever post here that doesn’t revolve around memes or other stuff that I don’t want to mention. Yes, my profile picture does look weird and no, I don’t want to talk about it. Let’s move on to the main subject. Why did I choose this image? What are my first thoughts  about it ? Why is it here in my profile?  What’s with the excessive amount of questions? Well, to answer them, let’s talk about history!  Salvador Dali, a Spanish painter/sculptor/photographer who people know as the master of Surrealism, also  known for making paintings like The Great Masturbator, Crepuscular Old Man and The Persistence of Memory, made in 1931. Why did I pick this instead of any other famous images out there?  Could it be the colors perhaps, the story behind it, the form of the clocks slowly melting, the dreamlike location it takes place ? All of those specific details that I mentioned shows why it deserves to be in my list of best paintings. The clocks melting with the weird dreamy atmosphere around them, describes how fast dreams last. You sleep at 12am after a nice warm shower, you start to dream about all the good memories you had in the past as a kid, suddenly you wake up and it's already 11am. This reminds of time in real life, how quick life passes by. This is why you should always laugh, smile, enjoy the little things in life, be grateful of you are as a person, cause time is short and very precious. I'm going to stop here for now before I go insane. Thank you for reading.