Semiotics

Semiotics is the study of signs, or of the production of meanings from sign systems. It is messages from objects such as sounds and shapes of what we see and hear, which consequently influence the way we feel.

We all, over the years, have develop different thought processes; these thought process are influenced by the community and society we live in. It is thought our interpretation of sign that we determine our views on things.

Let's take for example this painting, a stark naked woman gently resting her arms on the top of a coca cola bottle, it is without a doubt that is very sexual and luring and provocative. The messages being conveyed here, from her body posture is, from my point of view, you can have me, but from her facial expression it comes across as if she saying be gentle. Again from what semiotics has thought red has always been know as the color of passion and love. It is known that when a woman wears red to an occasion she is somewhat indication that she is feeling sexual.

Unlike a beer ad the messages are the complete opposite you will find them to be more masculine depicting images focused more on men. We use sign to express ourselves in order for people to understand us. From the clothing of our choice to the very color all our choice making are based upon semiotic and what ever sign we give to people that is the message they will read

http://trendland.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/ramos-coca_cola.jpg

Modernism/Postmodernism

Modernism in short relate to the event of present times, a thought, character and practice. Modernism is also a form of deliberate departure from tradition, the use of ideas, innovative forms of expression, that distinguish many styles in the arts and literature of the 20th century.

People such as T.S. Eliot, James Joyce, Gertrude Stein, and Virginia Woolf just to name a few, were initiator of concept which transformed the way things where been done in their fields, they sought new solutions within new forms and used as-yet-untried approaches to tonality.

The history and root of modernism can be traced back to artist such as Édouard Manet and Pablo Picasso, who in the 1860s began to broke away from inherited notions of perspective, modelling, and subject matter and introduce new thought process and changed the perspective view in art.

Steve Sasson, an engineer at Eastman Kodak invented the first digital camera in 1973, the camera weighed 8 pounds, recorded black and white images to a cassette tape, it had a resolution of 0.01 megapixel (10,000 pixels), and it took 23 seconds to capture its first image in December 1975. Seven Sason invention challenged the form on which images where been capture, his invention revolusionies the world of photgrpahy and birth a new erra.

Unlike Postmodernism, which is a term that applied to a wide-ranging set of developments, it generally characterized as either emerging from, in reaction to, or superseding, modernism.

More often, though, it is applied to a cultural condition prevailing in the advanced capitalist societies since the 1960s, characterized by a superabundance of disconnected images and styles—most noticeably in television, advertising, commercial design, and pop video.

http://www.myclassiclyrics.com/artist_biographies/Pablo_Picasso_Biography_2.jpg

More often, though, it is applied to a cultural condition prevailing in the advanced capitalist societies since the 1960s, characterized by a superabundance of disconnected images and styles—most noticeably in television, advertising, commercial design, and pop video.

http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f358/seanstarrunner/PabloPicasso.jpg

August Sander Biography

Forester's Child, Westerwald (1931)

Photographer:August Sander

August Sander was born in Herdorf Germany 17 November 1876. In 1901 he was employed by the Photographic Studio Graf in Linz, Austria. He and a partner bought this concern the following year and renamed it Studio Sander and Stuckenberg. Two years later he bought out his partner and started the August Sander Studio for Pictorial Arts of Photography and Painting. From 1918, he travelled through the Westerwald countryside, taking portraits of the different 'types', tradespeople, classes and individuals he came across.

He began a series of Rhineland landscapes and nature studies in 1935 on which he worked for the rest of his life. After looking at Sander photographs I must say his portrait image are more striking to me than his landscapes needless to say I do like one perticular landscape shot: The Rhine Valley and the Nonnenwerth Island, 1930.

It's important to note that August Sander has been able to capture strong images at a time when photography was not so popular, his work has enable use to understand and see the way people live and look in his time. He has brought the past into the present.

The above photograph is titled Forester's Child, Westerwald (1931)
http://images.artnet.com/artwork_images_117084_454340_august-sander.jpg

This is a very impressive photograph, the first thing that caught my attention was the expression on the child face and positioning of his body. the facial expression compliment the body posture because it indicate a sense of possession and pride over the bike. This image indicates to me that August Sander has a sense of humour because after studying this photo for a while I thought it was rather funny.