COP LECTURE 3 - 20,000 Year Non-Linear History of Image

 20,000 Year Non-Linear History of Image

This lecture focused on an introduction to a range of visual communication from different cultures, contexts and epochs demonstrating how creative and tangential connections and continuities can be traced.

Starting with cave drawings which are the first ever drawings by mankind, the oldest one dating back to at least 35,000 years ago. They show humans trying to connect with the world and make sense of it by painting and capturing the things they have seen and experience in their day. Connections can also be found in Cy Twombly's work which links something over 35,000 years old to something created in the 20th century.

Many artists produce work that reflects their attempts at trying to connect with the world such as Mark Rothko who produces huge scale paintings that demand the viewer to look at them and be absorbed by them. Many of his paintings are displayed in popular art galleries all over the world and have even lead to people becoming so overwhelmed with emotion they have burst into tears whilst looking at them as they are feeling the loneliness and emptiness that Rothko did when he produced them. However this does lead to the question do people behave in a specific way in art galleries because they feel like they have to? They are big empowering buildings that hold a lot of authority as they are home to many famous artists works therefore it is possible people who visit them behave differently to how they would in an everyday situation either out of respect to other viewers in the gallery or the art work held there. Yet it is possible they are just doing what they think is expected of them. Similarly people act the same way in churches, they are quieter and more considerate of other which draws a connection from churches to galleries as they could both be seen as a place of worship and contemplation.

One of the most popular pieces of work held in a gallery is the Mona Lisa, which is seen as the most important thing in the Louvre and is protected behind a sheet of bullet proof glass. It is the most famous painting in the world yet no one knows why, does the popularity of it make it more desirable for people to go see it or are people really interested in the quality and style of the painting? There is also a question of whether the Louvre influence its popularity and power by doing things such as putting the bullet proof glass in front of it to exaggerate it's importance.

This is a similar situation with the work of Banksy who creates graffiti work in the streets which is an illegal act in the UK yet his work is desired greatly by art galleries all over the world and they are willing to pay extortionate amounts of money for a wall with his work on. There are many graffiti artists in the world yet art galleries have made him valuable by expressing such a great interest in him.

1913 saw the birth of the constructivist movement in Russia by Vladimir Tatlin which banned modern art as it was seen as a symptom of western society that creates pretentiousness amongst individuals as well as it creating a divide between people who think they are better than others because of the type of art that they appreciate. Therefore abstract artists such as Jackson Pollock were  detested by Vladimir Tatlin. Due to this the CIA funded artists like Pollock and used their abstract modernism to symbolise the freedom of America which was their cultural weapon as it represented a huge contrast to Russia's suppression.

Another use of art as a weapon can be seen through artists such as the Guerrilla Girls who are a feminists group that campaigned against the fact women artists don't get shown in galleries yet the majority of nude paintings in galleries are of the female form which questions whether women are only seen as objects. As their work wasn't been shown in galleries they decided to rent the billboards outside them so display their campaigns.

The 1960's brought about the birth of a counter culture, free love, new forms of music. An art school in Paris kicked out professors and made it into a faculty and made images of revolution nd political struggle.