As for myself I had a Visual Culture exam at school, so I’ve been away studying like a musty, antisocial, underground creature. Now life couldn’t get any better! Let’s hope I didn’t fail epically as I sometimes do. (I surprise myself in undesirable ways)

Neon lights, pounding bass, remixed nintendo tunes and candy coloured teenagers dancing like robotic figures from a 1980′s disco flicks is the new COOL. Is it no wonder that our trends don’t run in linear patterns but rather in a full circle? Haven’t we done the 80′s fashion enough?

NO WE HAVE NOT! Some may exclaim, or as I like to say everything is new again! We’re attached to our ipods by the hip. Cellphones, laptops, blackberry, sidekicks, Zunepods, ICQ, bittorrent… we cannot stress this enough.

I noticed our jeans getting tighter, our pant waistlines…just a bit higher. All of a sudden space shoes are now acceptable. So is sleeping all day and dancing all night to fast tempo music. It’s like a Kylie Minogue video… WE’RE GOING BACK TO THE FUTURE!

Kanye West vs. Takeshi Murikami: Mother F***’n PEACE…

Takeshi Murakami vs. Jackson Pollock: Acid Induced Fantasy…

From seeing the first image I instantly thought of the next, from there I thought of other images that seem to mimic it. Funnily enough it went from acid cuteness to kinda trippy to where the hell did we go wrong?

It is entirely possible that Takeshi Muaikami was influenced by Jackson Pollock. It is also possible that Kanye West is indeed influenced by Japanese Culture. How do we know?

That fact that Takeshi Murakami‘s album art is “representing” Kanye West’s music could be a clue.
There is also a bigger clue here!:

As for Murakami’s Jackson Pollock Eat your Heart Out. I find that the two are similar because they’re both run along the same framework of chaotic imagery. Murakami graduated from a Fine Arts academy so he should have a very clear understanding of Art History. So what that means to me is: Murakami could of created this painting with Pollock’s style in mind. Why it resonates could’ve been done on purpose. That gives me the impression Murakami is imitating Pollock. (Not stealing or direct copying)

Kanye West for example could’ve had another artist represent his album.
Really! There was so much choice! Hundreds of worthy artists out there.
Why Murakami?
Murakami is becoming quite popular in the west now, it just seems to get better and better for him eh?
Kanye West and the Teriyaki Boys collaboration was one of my favorites too. 30 Years ago Japan and America had a partial understanding of each other (not politicians… I mean everyday people). Now we are looking to them for ideas and they look to us for ideas! We have become globally aware and open enough to get excited about music and design and even fashion that comes out of Japan. Likewise with the Western culture. Kanye has opened himself a lot by appearing in that music video, jumping around with some Asian rappers (Nigo and Verbal for starters…) in a karaoke-like manner!
Maybe the way the Japanese can express themselves carefree is a possible influence. Not just in personality but in graphic arts and merchandising as well. (case in point “Bape”: It’s like men’s Hello Kitty :3)

Look at the Graduation album art again. The Kanye Bear character is bursting into the air! Dancing cheerleaders, an animated monument that appears to be BEAMING with Happiness for no reason at all it seems. As I recall the tracks on the album do seem to resonate the same kind of whole hearted cheerfulness just as the album art has shown it. This is how….

LYRICS PLEAAAASE!: Kanye West feat. T-Pain – Good Life

Now I, I go for mine, I got to shine
Now throw your hands up in the sky
Now I, I go for mine, I got to shine
Now throw your hands up in the sky

I’ma get on this TV mama, I’ma
I’ma put shit down
Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey
Hey, I’m good~

If you ever heard this song you’d get what I mean. Enough of my babbling, I’m sure you get the point by now! I hope you’re all a smart bunch.

Anyway, feel free to extend your point of view or ask more questions. (Believe it or not there are more to be asked!) Analyzing visual culture is like surfing the web. You do it already in your spare time. If you can look at something and react to it, you are engaging with culture. You’ve already done your part of the job. HA HA HA BRILLIANT!

ALL crediting for image stealing are listed in my “trackbacks” list! I’m far too lazy….

Why Visual culture? Why, out of all the atrocities in the world –did you make a blog regarding an un-graspable, steadfast boring topic?

Is it because I’m evil? Yes. Yes it is…

A wholesome educational answer may suggest that Culture is an intellectual and spiritual venture. Artists, designers, curators, some French guy named Francis educate themselves to deepen their understanding of visual culture through studying arts, music, literature and *gasp* science.

You know most of us aren’t that boring (I pray to Buddha that you are). You don’t necessarily have to graduate from a major institution to be a part of culture. There are major distinctions between high and low culture (which I’ll get into later) but — mainly the reason why Visual Culture is worth thinking about is because it’s everywhere, in everything. You can’t RUN, you can’t escape, it will find you!

GOLDEN RULES:

You might look at an image. Before you can even identify what it is –you’ve already gathered a shotgun reaction to it. So many things are happening in your mind it’s insane…well actually it’s through subconscious thinking but for today I will call the subconscious “insane” thinking. woha~

VISUAL
as in seeing; as in a physical, virtual or material thing that you can look at
Being Visual is all about perception.

QUESTION UNO!

Do you see this?

This is a test to prove that you are indeed NOT blind.

If you are not struggling at all answering this question, I believe we have reached a common understanding.

CULTURE
shared values, beliefs of a group of people; an interaction between product and viewer; it changes with time
Culture is where you came from, who you are and where you’ve been. Depending on how you grew up, it’ll influence the way YOU personally see and interact with the world.

REPRESENTATION
we see things; we give things a meaning; we express meaning
Funny thing about representation is that it can never be a right or wrong answer. The answers are within people! We intended things to carry a message and we also give meanings to images.

QUESTION DUEX!!

What does this sign mean?

If a Canadian person visits Japan without knowing the language– this sign might be a mystery to them.

If a Japanese person visits Canada (parts of Quebec for example) without knowing the language– this bilingual sign might not be fully understood.

But! If you decoded the deliberate meaning from these signs anyway, you were able to make further connections fairly easily!

Thank goodness for those things. Thinking comes in handy, especially for impaired street survival!
The fact that most signs all over the world look similar to the ones we use in Canada means that a STOP sign looks like a Stop sign in almost any language. Except for Japan. It makes us sad.
Red catches our attention. For those who grew up in Western Culture, Red traffic lights mean STOP. I suppose colouring all the signs the same way will carry its meaning!

I think that summarizes what Visual Culture is basically about. The rest of the information I’d like to share is far too redundant. We’ll pick it up any new terms on the way! I’ll post lots of interesting photos on contemporary pop culture, just so we can have some interesting conversations here!

Feel free to comment or *gasp* disagree with the stuff I post. I’m not an expert opinion but it feels nice pretending to be one…