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Ashley

Consumption: How it Relates to Art.


This world lives on consuming. Everyone is a consumer of one thing or another. The Art 21 documentary from PBS gives a more inclusive look on how people look at the world; what they are consuming and what brings stereotypes in today’s society by giving you a “behind the scenes” look at four artists of the twenty-first century; Michael Ray Charles, Matthew Barney, Andrea Zittel, and Mel Chin.

Michael Ray Charles is a prime example for the consumption topic because all of his artwork described his feelings toward the stereotypes of black people. He has been trying to erase the names given to the black face through advertisements and racial differences from the past and even present. Matthew Barney is also a great example because he has been one who has always looked at the products around him and looked at the way the violence and sex has contorted the way people see things in life. He works on films that represent all kinds of consumption. To a different extreme, Andrea Zittel lives and breathes her artwork. She sees the world as being wasteful in a way. She likes to practice more economical ways of living. One of her projects was the season outfit in which she made an outfit to wear every day of that time period. Last but not least, Mel Chin liked to restore old buildings, not restore in the sense that we know as a person but restore the life that they had. He made video games that also brought a lot of patterns and visual elements to the design.

One of the most interesting artist’s, in my opinion, was Michael Ray Charles, as I pointed out previously, his artwork dealt with the stereotyping of the blackface and how people around the world view it. He gave an example in the documentary of the Tarzan toy figurine that was made to look handsome, heroic, and strong. The toy was marketed in a box and packaged together with the, what was supposed to be, anti-Tarzan. It was a toy that was a black man that had very large-and harsh looking arms, with animal and beast-like features. He said that this depiction of the black figure made him inspired to change it. Michael Ray Charles’ art pieces have expressed his feelings that the black face was and is beautiful. A famous piece of his is the Elvis pose but his face is black. My interpretation of that was that we are all the same, no matter what your color.





Word Word



The two words I chose were "Egg Legs". I was trying to think of something that would rhyme but really not have anything to do with one another. To me, these words together create a very funny image in your head. I either picture a person walking around with really wide legs, or I picture an egg having legs and trying to walk around.


Image Image


The two images I picked to compare to each other was a picture of our President, George Bush, and then I chose a picture of a donkey making a very funny tilt of his head. I compared these pictures together because not only is it humorous but it also would easily entertain a person. Another concept of this comparison is that the donkey and the president come from two different political parties. So they contrast very well with each other.

Image Word


The picture in the background is of a married couple, indicated by the ring on the woman's hand. The couple are not wearing a shirt so her very pregnant belly is really noticeable. I thought this was a beautiful picture and when I had to choose a word to put with it, I first chose "delivery" but then I realized that it was too straight forward. After deliberating I decided to go with "deliverance". It expressed the rescuing of their life's together, also the grand announcement of expecting a child.




In conclusion:

Combining words with pictures that are almost completely different makes you try to bend you mind and it brings the focus of the viewer to a different thought if it is done well.

Ashley Hoban

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