RR #13 Wysocki

Summary

            With “The Sticky Embrace of Beauty” Anne Wysocki dissects the use of visual imagery used in advertising. Questions about the mind, about what the mind responds to are raised often. The eye of the beholder is questioned. How important is this beholder, exactly? Wysocki discusses the way beauty can be collaborated with. She details the social forces that mold what society deems pleasing, visually beautiful.

Pre-Reading

           

            I’ve just found an ad for Puma Sneakers. It shows a man and a woman from the waist down. They’re both wearing Puma shoes. It’s implied that the woman is performing oral sex. The message being “Wear Puma. Get Girls.” Something along those lines. I’ll try to upload the ad in a separate post.

Synthesis

            I find this article similar to the McCloud’s comic strip. Both pieces use visual imagery as a canvas for larger themes like perception, effective advertisement, sexuality. McCloud was much more creative in his approach, but they’re cut from the same cloth. That the image is nothing but an image. It is a representation. That’s all art, really.

Questions for Discussion and Journaling

2) I wasn’t particularly interested in Wysocki’s visual style. The bolding of text, the arrows, the crossing out words–I’m indifferent towards it. My experience isn’t enhanced. I’m disengaged really. By material and by aesthetic. I see what Wysocki is doing, and it plays into her overall statement. It didn’t affect me personally, however.

3) The Peek advertisement is smart. It’s obviously jarring–you involuntarily pay attention to it. I’d be interested in Peek. I guess I am interested Peek. Sex sells, and this ad does nothing to contradict that statement.

Applying and Exploring Ideas

2) I think beauty will remain forever undefined. It is partly in the eye of the beholder, yes. But there is also inherent beauty. There is universal beauty, undisputed beauty–images, ideas, happenings that can only be revered, loved, cherished and nothing less. Beauty can be sculpted. It can be persuaded. I’m not really trying to sound wise or poetic; beauty is just very hard to articulate.

MM

            I didn’t find Wysocki’s article that innovative. Sure, there were alterations to the text that were designed to appeal to the eye. It wasn’t that engaging. This is merely my opinion. But with visual art, I do agree with the quote. Design must be appealing, but it must also make sense. If it aims to make nonsense, that intention should be clear, either through absurdity, or contrasting images that suggest, heavily, that this is not supposed to be simple. This can be achieved with a precise color palette, the employment of horizontal or vertical lines, a strategic placement of shapes. There are many possibilities.

Personal Opinion

            I respect anything that attempts something new. Innovation is great. The article wasn’t spectacular though. It was lengthy, tired and unabsorbing. That’s just me. Photography is a very interesting subject. Advertisement is as well. I don’t know. I’m not really sure why I wasn’t at least interested while reading. Maybe I’m just tired. Maybe I’ve read this article before somewhere else. That is starting to seem more likely.