Iran Cruz - Social Issue

A social issue that I chose was "gangs", my project will be wood burned.  I'm doing this drawing on a plaque, it has half of a police car with an officer next to it, and half of a low rider with a "hommie" next to it.  It has a quote at the bottom so people will make the right decision.  I want people to make good decisions and become good citizens.

I dont think I'm going to add paint to it. but I'm doing shading with the woodburning pen.  Iran cruz

Social Issues Sketch

The social issue I selected was gay rights, and I chose to make it look similar to old Victorian siloheuttes. My idea for the social issues project was inspired by the work of Kara Walker and her use of siloheuttes/different time periods. I plan to do cut paper for this project and make the hearts red, while everything else is black and white.

Soo it wont let me rotate the picture; its supposed to be a world and a peace sign. the painting is going to be six canvases all together, and organized like a stair case that i drew above. when you are standing at each of the X's you will be able to see three of the canvases that will make one picture, and the other three will make the other picture. I am not sure how i could make the peace sign really cool, and my message is obviously going to be "world peace". any ideas?

My idea for the social issues theme is to show the impact war has on society, especially the families that lose their loved ones to war. So I was going to do an image like this, where the soldier is actually holding a journal that has a photo of a fellow soldier who was lost, it's too small to see in my picture though. Then, the whole picture would be in a newspaper, so the idea is from the perspective of someone back home seeing this who has lost someone in the war. Overall it would be against the violence and loss that warfare brings.

Animal Rights/ Social Issues

Sometimes less is more, as the cliche goes.  There really isn't a lot to look at here, but they communicate in a very powerful way.  The following images address the issue of animal rights, specifically how animals are often used to test the safety of potential products.  Do a little research, for example, next time BEFORE you buy that fancy perfume or cologne read the label, does it specifcally state that no animals were used or harmed in the manufacture of that particular product?  Many artists work to alert us of an issue or to spur us on to action.

What social issue do you care strongly about?  How can you make the audience aware of that issue?  What sort of action do you want people to take?  I'm looking forward to your selections.  D. Exner

http://osocio.org/message/animal_testing_victime_torture_mort/

Onstuimig

The best of non-profit advertising and marketing for social causes

Animal testing: Victime, Torture, Mort

Posted by Marc | 28-02-2009 22:22 | Category: Animal rights


Three ads from the German animal rights organisation NOAH.
Victime, Torture, Mort.
Make a donation against animal testing.
Great artwork which reminds me to one of my first posts in 2006. Same cause, same artwork for Proefdiervrij.
Related NOAH campaign posts:
- No aquarium is big enough
- No respect




Advertiser:
NOAH
Agency:
Jung von Matt/Elbe, Hamburg, Germany
Additional credits:
Executive Creative: Wolf Heumann, Dirk Haeusermann
Creative Director: Christian Fritsche, Peter Kirchhoff
Art Director: Kay Potthoff
Copywriter: Frank Seiler
Photographer: Ulrich Hoppe
Account Executive: Guido Kirschner, Katrin Stoecklmayer
Source:
I Believe in Advertising

Building a House Out of Rubbish--- Social Issues

 

Sometimes we have to DREAM & THINK BIG!

The following post talks about just that, dreaming and thinking big!  Architects are artists who design and build on a large scale, but most ordinary people can't afford the services of an architect, nor do they need a home that is the size of a palace.

People around the world need and deserve affordable housing.  This could offer one viable solution.  If nothing else it may prompt others to design and build housing everyone can not only afford, but live in comfortably with pride.  Take a look... it may give you some ideas.

Construction Begins on the UK's First Building Made Completely Out of Waste

by Morgana Matus, 10/05/12

Read more: Construction Begins on the UK's First Building Made Completely Out of Waste | Inhabitat - Sustainable Design Innovation, Eco Architecture, Green Building The University of Brighton just began construction on the UK’s first building made completely of waste. Designed by local architect Duncan Baker-Brown, the structure will be composed of excess building materials from city construction sites and other area industries. The design team plans on setting up a a production line near the Grand Parade site so that craftsmen, students, and local residents can become involved in the building process.

The UK’s first building made of waste is named after “The House That Kevin Built“, which was Europe first prefab home to be composed entirely of waste and organic materials. The walls will be fashioned from ply cassettes holding discarded timber products, which can be upgraded over time to accommodate future building technologies. In addition, the House will feature solar panels on the roof, whole-house ventilation, and a heat recovery system. The University hopes that the house will serve as a prototype and testing facility for green techniques and technologies over its lifetime.
Construction on the building will begin this November with a completion date of May, 2013.
BBM Sustainable Design/+ University of Brighton
Via The Guardian

Read more: Construction Begins on the UK's First Building Made Completely Out of Waste | Inhabitat - Sustainable Design Innovation, Eco Architecture, Green Building

http://inhabitat.com/construction-begins-on-the-uks-first-building-made-completely-out-of-waste/

Norman Rockwell

Even you young kids these days should be familiar with Norman Rockwell.... He made famous paintings like this:

And This:

And this:

But a lot of people don't know that Rockwell actually made some really interesting political artwork in his life also. Besides the really wholesome, patriotic artwork, he made this:

(Southern Justice: Murder in Mississippi)

This illustration shows the scene of a true story of a murder that happened in Mississippi. (Which is why its titled "Murder in Mississippi") Rockwell worked throughout the biggest civil rights movement in U.S. history, and although he sided with desegregating the country, he still had bosses that were extremely racist and wouldn't let him show African-Americans in his artwork. It wasn't until after he got famous enough to call his own shots that he was able to make work that he really cared about. This is one of my favorite paintings of his because of the tension he is able to build. What are some techniques he uses to emphasize the tension in the illustration?

Diego Rivera

Aside from being the husband of Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera was also one of the most influential and important Mexican Muralists in history.

In the 1920's, Mexico started a mural movement. They offered jobs for artists to paint murals of national, social, and political scenes around the country. Rivera was one of the most well-known and respected muralists of the time.

One of the main purposes of these murals was to give the common Mexican people (who didn't have the ability to read or write) a sense of history and knowledge about their roots. Many of his murals depict famous scenes in Mexico's history. What are some famous scenes in history that you would choose to show??

-Bustamante

Kehinde Wiley

Kehinde Wiley is a contemporary artist working out of New York City. He is a traditional figurative-realist painter that uses average New Yorkers as his models.

(Kehinde Wiley)

Wiley is heavily influenced by art history, modeling his figures and poses from historical paintings. What Wiley does though, is substitute the historical figures with African-American men. 

(Napoleon leading the army over the alps)

This is Wiley's way to shift a balance of power in the direction of people who are typically outcasts and ignored by society. Wiley understands that most young, black, men that are shown in pop-culture are only shown in stereotypical roles and uses his paintings to elevate them by showing them in place of kings and other leaders. Let me know what you guys think of his work and if you think his art actually does what he wants it to!

-Bustamante

Raquel Paiewonsky--- Soical Issues

Simbiosis para salvarnos (Symbiosis for survival)

Raquel Paiewonsky

Symbiosis for survival by Misha Lyuve

topics: dominican republic, Martin Creed, Raquel Paiewonsky, santo domingo, Simbiosis para salvarnos

Jan 27, 2011

Raquel Paiewonsky is a contemporary artist that currently resides in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Her work has traveled across the globe. It expolores human body, urban life, social constructs and social issues. The photographs featured in this article are from the project Simbiosis para salvarnos (Symbiosis for survival) that has been shown in Santo Domingo, Miami, Lima, Buenos Aires, and is heading to Mexico soon.

There is a type of artwork that when you see it for the first time, it makes such an impression on you that you need to pause – that was my experience of Symbiosis para survir, the project that came out of the Raquel’s concern for the environment and tells a story of integration with nature as a strategy for growth and expansion of our lives and our planet. Children with their heads under the roots of the plants are the seeds needed to fulfill the mission to heal the Earth.

http://lyuve.com/blog/art/symbiosis-for-survival/

Although Raquel Paiewonsky is using photography as her chosen medium in this instance, you could easily communicate the same subject matter with other media, either two dimensionally or three dimensionally.

I have no problem with you appropriating (borrowing, modifying and making one's own) images from any source, as long as you make significant changes and contributions to the images.  So, you could support your artistic vision with photographs and text from any source, but create your artwork in such a way that it stands on its own artistic merit.  Exercise creativity in support of your idea/theme.  D. Exner

Artists for Social Issues

Kathe Kollwitz

I have always admired the work of German artist Kathe Kollwitz for it's raw, emotional quality.  Her work consistently dealt with social issues like war and poverty, telling the stories of those who could not or would not speak for them selves.  This image titled Poverty, from 1893-94, is a perfect example of that.  I see this as a strong embodiment of the theme of Social Issues because in it she attempts to shed light on, tell the story of and draw our attention to a real life struggle.

This second piece by Kollwitz is called The Survivors, 1923.  Survivors of what, you might ask? The date on this is significant because it is a clue.  WWI has just ended, therefore, these grieving parents, injured men, widowed woman, and orphaned children are the unsung "survivors" and victims of what, at the time, was the greatest conflict the world had ever seen.  Again, Kollwitz is telling the stories that might not be told.

Dorothea Lange

Dorothea Lange was an American photographer who in 1936 was traveling around California photographing migratory farm labor for what was then the Resettlement Administration.  This is a portrait of Florence Owens Thompson and her children, but it is officially known as The Migrant Mother.  At the time America was still in the midst of the Great Depression and The Dust Bowl, both of which greatly impacted peoples' ability to find work, and supply the basic necessities of life like food and shelter.  When Lange came upon Thompson and her family they were living in a small tent like structure in a field surviving off of vegetables and the wild animals that they could manage to catch.  Like Kollwitz's work, this photo tells the story of someone who could not speak for themselves and that we might not know without it.  The Migrant Mother became an icon of the people affected by these great hardships.

http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/list/128_migm.html and

http://www.press.uchicago.edu/Misc/Chicago/316062.html

Esther Hernandez

Keeping on the subject of Migrant Workers, this is Esther Hernandez's Sun Mad Raisins, 1981. A clever play upon the real Sun Maid logo, Hernandez has made some very key changes all in an effort to draw people's attention to the plight of migrant workers and the deadly toxins they were exposed to all in an effort to produce a "healthy" crop.  Notice the small print, "Unnaturally grown with Insecticides, Miticides, Herbicides, Fungicides."  Yum!

Kara Walker

An African-Artist of the 20th and 21st century, Kara Walker deals with many themes, but among them is one that fits very well into our theme of Social Issues, and that is Race.  Her work is usually set in the pre-Civil War South and consists of silhouettes of exaggerated, stereotypical white and black figures.  This is a fictionalized history where Walker uses past images to bring up issues that are still present today.  In talking about her work Kara Walker has had this to say, "I'm not really about blackness, per se, but about blackness and whiteness, and what they mean and how they interact with one another and what power is all about." ("Conversations with Contemporary Artists" New York: Museum of Modern Art 1999)

Picasso--- Social Issues

Guernica

Pablo Picasso

I chose Pablo Picasso's "Guernica" for my first artist working with social issues because he made a total commitment at a very difficult time in history.  His feelings about the war were so strong, that he felt compelled to communicate them through his painting for everyone to see. Nearly everyone who has seen the original, which measures almost 11.5 feet by 25.5 feet (monumental in size by most standards),  has been deeply moved by the images.

The following website has a famous quote from Picasso regarding the many dimensions of an artist regarding current events and social issues: http://www.oneonta.edu/faculty/farberas/arth/arth200/guernica.html. 

What do you think an artist is? An imbecile who has only eyes if he is a painter, or ears if he is a musician, or a lyre in every chamber of his heart if he is a poet, or even, if he is a boxer, just his muscles? Far, far from it: at the same time, he is also a political being, constantly aware of the heartbreaking, passionate, or delightful things that happen in the world, shaping himself completely in their image. How could it be possible to feel no interest in other people, and with a cool indifference to detach yourself from the very life which they bring to you so abundantly? No, painting is not done to decorate apartments. It is an instrument of war-- Pablo Picasso

"In 1937 Pablo Picasso painted Guernica, a mural that was the centerpiece for the Spanish Pavilion of the World's Fair in Paris. The official theme of the Paris Exposition was the celebration of modern technology. The Aeronautics Pavilion, featuring the latest advances in aircraft design and engineering, was a centerpiece of the exposition. It is a bitter irony that Guernica, the most lasting monument of the exposition, is the Twentieth century's most enduring symbol of the horrors of war and the inhumane use of technology. It is a portent for the terrors of the next decade. The painting is based on the events of April 27, 1937, when the German airforce, in support of the Fascist forces led by Generalissimo Francisco Franco, carried out a bombing raid on the Basque village of Guernica in northern Spain. At that time such a massive bombing campaign was unprecedented. The hamlet was pounded with high-explosive and incendiary bombs for over three hours. The non-combattant townspeople including women and children were indiscriminately cut-down as they fled their crumbling buildings. The town of Guernica burned for three days leaving sixteen hundred civilians killed or wounded in its smoldering remains. The Fascist planners of the bombing campaign knew that Guernica had no strategic value as a military target, but it was a cultural and religious center for Basque identity. The devastation was intended to terrorize the population and break the spirit of the Basque resistance. In effect it was intended to "shock and awe" the Basques into submission. The bombing of Guernica was a sensation in the world press. The Times of London called it the arch-symbol of Fascist barbarity.

Picasso's painting is without question the most important anti-war work of art produced in the Twentieth Century."

http://www.oneonta.edu/faculty/farberas/arth/arth200/guernica.html

Things are happening around us every day.  What catches your attention?  What do you feel strongly about?

Here is just a brief list of the countless issues we face:

Abortion

Abuse of any sort

Age Discrimination

Alcoholism

Bullying

Child Abuse

Child Labor

Civil Rights

Discrimination

Equal Rights

Freedom of Speech/Censorship

Gangs

Gay / Lesbian / Transgender Rights

Genocide/ Violence

Global Warming

Illicit Drugs

Illiteracy

Immigration Laws

Pollution/ Stewardship

Pornography

Racism

Right to Bear Arms/Gun Control

Universal Health Care

Various Charities

War/Peace

So, give it some thought.  Try a few rough sketches and see where they take you. This is an opportunity to really assert your artist's voice as well as utilizing your art akills.  We're looking forward to some powerful visual statements.  Mr. Exner