"Twinkie Defense?"

On January 17, 2012 Steve Kelley posted a political cartoon in the New Orleans times, playfully expressing the problems we as Americans have with Health Reform in relation to the rise in obesity during the past decade. In the cartoon a family prepares for their day accomplishing daily rituals like reading the news paper and preparing lunch for their children. The newspaper in the cartoon reads "Hostess Bankrupt. May spell end of twinkies, Ding Dong, Ho Ho's." For many families, breakfast time is used to socialize and talk about current events. The mother rebuts with, "Discouraging economic news, but a step forward in health reform." In this statement the mother is saying it is sad to see this large company disappear, especially after so many years of business. However, we can't help but wonder whether, this bankruptcy would improve the current weight issue. Between this front page newspaper article and the conversation between adults, Kelley accomplishes this satirical attempt to promote the current problem with obesity in the united states.

The Head Ache

Top: Enrique Chagoya "The Head Ache: A print after George Cruikshank" (2010)

Bottom: George Cruikshank "The Head Ache" (1819)

I recently found (this) article in the New York Times about the Metropolitan Museum of Arts then new exhibition, “Infinite Jest: Satire from Leonardo to Levine.” Among the works on display, was the caricature created by Enrique Chagoya entitled, “The Head Ache: A print after George Cruikshank.” Created in 2010, Chagoya’s print reference’s that of George Cruikshank’s 18^th century print, replacing the characters head with President Obama’s. By employing satire into the piece, Chagoya exaggerates the recent healthcare headaches and trials that have beleaguered the President. Similar to Cruikshank’s approach, Chagoya keeps the socially critical image of grotesque demons attacking the authoritative figure.

“We have been taught by the artist to see him (the victim of the caricatures) anew, to see him as a ridiculous creature. This is at bottom the true and hidden aim behind the portrait caricaturist’s art... With a few strokes he may unmask the public hero, belittle his pretentions, and make a laughing stock of him. Against this spell even the mightiest is powerless.” - Caricature, E.H.Gombrich and E. Kris.

Here, the caricaturist is exemplified as having power. The power of laughter. It is with this power, that the artist is able to make a statement, in this case, about President Obamas recent healthcare reforms is “regarded by the dogmatic and loved by the public, it enjoyed a freedom denied to great art.” In this case however, it is almost as if the artistic freedom that Cruishank was denied, or oftentimes ridiculed for in the 18^th century, now has been embraced, or accepted as an art form. For Chagoya’s piece is appropriated in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Perhaps political pieces like the Pamphlet against Louis XIV by R. de Hooghe, are now embraced by the public and encouraged?

Napkin People - Jacqueline Jacob

As I searched for a caricature, I found a great deal of funny and clever drawings but none of them seemed to spark any real questions or thoughts that made them different from any of the others. I decided to go a different route and pick a drawing that captured my attention from when I was a little girl, my Grandpa's Napkin people. These drawings were always a high interest of mine, because I never really understood why he made them, or whom he was making them for. I guess what makes these drawings so unique, is the fact that he just makes up these characters out of nowhere. As I talked to him on the phone this afternoon he was so thrilled to hear that someone actually found what he did interesting. He later explained that it all depends on the type of napkin and what kind of pens he had lying around in his pockets. Which makes perfect sense, seeing that when an artist goes to make there work it all depends on materials. He explained that not each napkin is flat some have a texture or pattern throughout them creating different ways to manipulate the pen and the ink laid down upon it. In the drawing titled Wade you see this type of texture and how it plays along with the wonky lines throughout the characters hair and mustache. But in the bottom two images he uses just simple lines to create an image that the brain recognizes being a human-like form. Within these few drawings I begin to process a story of who they could possibly of been in a story plot. It brings me back to the essay we had to read, Hugh Blair Lecture XVI. As the article describes each type of man, the Boor, ironical, flatter, I began to connect these descriptions to the individual characters that he drew. They describe a spread of different personalities and when I look at the drawings I begin to see these types of figures form into these characters. The amount of personality put into each character allows the mind to travel and question what was about to happen or what had happened in the story your mind begins to create. As I look at the drawing of St. Patrick he looks like a character that would have a similar description to being the ironical. He is this little quirky figure that looks like he would be the type to “go up to his enemies and volunteers to chat with them instead of showing hatred.” These are just a few of the many hundreds of napkin drawings my Grandfather has created over the years. Each one is unique in its own way and allows the mind to explore through an every day item most take for granted, the napkin.

Synethesia

What I intended to achieve with my project was provoke or generate thought concerning the phenomenon of assigning humanistic characteristics to things such as graphics, text, shapes; things that may not necessarily seem to invoke such thoughts at first glance. The choice of format, an informational graphic, seemed like the logical way to represent information concerning such visually associated information. I also hoped to present a great deal of information in an accessible way, which is what informational graphics seem to be designed for. In relation to caricature I felt the most obvious and interesting association was the personification of numbers, letters, even general images in the context of things such as advertisement and entertainment. That relates to a less obvious and more focused association to caricature, that being the specific gender marketing of advertisement and media. The overall, but often obvious manner in which a product's packaging, design, textual graphics and context conform and attempt to appeal to the specific gender demographic.

Mural

To write a statement about this mural seems, kind repetitive. Also I think the mural was met to speak for itself. It started out as a misrepresentation of Luz and I and how we are different from the cultures that we look like. However by the end of the project it became more about how we personify ourselves, the grotesque and caricature. In the end I wish it was more about misrepresentation, because I do not like the idea of having how I see myself plastered about eight feet by about six feet up on a wall. Try as I might it did become personal and my understanding of the meaning of caricature makes a whole lot more sense. Especially since I know now that it does not need to be funny, but that a caricature can convey stronger meaning.

let them eat cake

This image was intended to speak about the gluttonous behavior of the upper class in America. There has been the issue of the trickle down system not working to help the lower classes. There are many people in the upper class that feel they deserve what they have as do the poor. The starving children in this picture are not just from Africa, but Romania, South America and the various countries afflicted by the Holocaust. There could have been more references in regards to this issue, but I didn't find it nessasary to beat a dead horse. I feel that this is very clear in it's meaning. I don't know exactly how others feel about it because my crit was not very constructive. At the risk of going off on a tangent, I don't think I will talk about the underlying history of this piece. It is obvious that it talks about gluttony and the dispersal of wealth. That is why there are many starving people and only one fat guy. There is no need to know where these children come from to know that this is real and that it is a monstrosity that this is allowed to happen. I guess to some people it may be old news that this happens, but I don't thin k many people understand the magnitude that this happens because not many look up pictures of starving people to realize just how bad it really is, and some just don't care. This is addressing the issue by using the grotesqueness of reality.

political mugs

My original intent of this project was to create a political cartoon. After many failed attempts at trying to create one, I decided to go forth with creating a mug for those who like to show off their political side. A mug is a personal drinking utensil that can be used to express a person's views. I intended that the political animal that had mounted the other to portray that animal's power over other. For example, the cup on the right portrays the republicans getting fucked over by the democrats. However, I have learned from the critique of others that one mug can be viewed to represent both political sides.. it all depends on how you read it. The mugs were a humorous and crude and even almost grotesque way to go about showing your political side.

This class has made me appreciate political cartoons and caricatures in a way that I never have before. This project has done that too. I never really understood until learning the history of caricatures that they really do have a large effect on society. I now look at a caricature much more conceptually and try to read it to it more, which is something i never used to do.