Unit Seven Blog Post: Remix of Major Project

The Concept of Critical Commentary Through Parodies

            For this blog post, I’m going to talk about parodies, because it is the concept behind my Major Project. My major project is art that is inspired by 30 Rock, Parks and Recreation, and Murphy Brown. The characters from the television shows are placed in images that parody famous paintings, such as Emanuel Leutze’s Washington Crossing the Delaware, Eugène Delacroix’s Liberty Leading the People, and Rembrandt’s The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp. In this class, we have been communicating with each other through the blog posts, forum posts, and the peer reviews. Having been inspired by this communication with my classmates, I’m going to remix my Major Project in an interactive way. I want remix my Major Project in a new form by having my classmates alter the narratives of the images through humor. Here is my remix plan. I’m going to post the images of my Major Project below. I want you to post funny captions for the images in the comments section of this blog post. Later, I will update this blog post with your funny captions below the images. Got it? Here are the images:

"Rolling up to the party with your girl squad after giving each other make overs"

 "Next week on My Strange Addiction: "I'm addicted to eating televisions!"

"When you pop out of your strapless dress at the club while doing a waterfall shot but you have to act natural :/ "

I put the funny female characters in a stance that is suggestive of leadership and power. In art history, women are rarely portrayed in such a matter. Hannah Gadsby talked about the limited portrayals of women in art in Nanette. I wanted to create a project that imagines more feminist possibilities in art. I’m not alone in this belief that parodies can be an artform that can provoke critical commentary. Some of the most iconic and famous modern and contemporary artists are fascinated with parodies and it influences their artworks. I know what you are thinking, “wait, is this just a build up for another blog post that has a list on it?” Yes, we are going back to that rodeo again. So far, I haven’t heard anyone complain about them, so why not? Let’s carry on, shall we?

Banksy at Venice

            Banksy has done so many artworks that parody other subjects that I could have made an entire list just from his (or her?) career alone. For the sake of space, I’m going on Banksy’s most recent artwork. Recently, Banksy set up an art stall in the streets of Venice during the Venice Biennale, which is a world-famous art show. Banksy’s artwork is a parody of 18^th-century Venetian landscape paintings, such as the works of Canaletto. The twist of the parody is that it is poking fun and making some critical commentary at mammoth cruise ships. Here is a link about this:

https://mashable.com/video/banksy-crashes-venice-biennale-with-installation-that-criticizes-cruise-ship-problem/

Kehinde Wiley and the Old Masters

            In Wiley’s artworks, he parodies the lack of diversity in art history by placing African American models within the spaces of well-known historical portraits. Here’s a link to an article explaining how Wiley’s artworks are form of remixing: https://theartsandeducation.wordpress.com/2018/02/28/remixing-the-canon/

Andy Warhol and the Brillo Pad Boxes

            In the mid-1960s, Andy Warhol made plywood and silkscreen boxes that looked exactly like the grocery store boxes for Brillo pads. Could the Brillo boxes be considered a parody? Absolutely, I think they can be considered a parody because they are mimicking a familiar product. Do they have some critical commentary to it? Art critics have been debating this question for approximately five decades for far. Here is a link to an well written article about this: http://www2.oberlin.edu/amam/Warhol_BrilloBoxes.htm

                When Warhol was interviewed about them, he was…um…cryptic. Here is a link to an unintentionally funny interview from 1964: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n49ucyyTB34

O.K., to be fair, he did have a spokesperson explaining his work and Pop art (a Warhobassador?) In 1965, Warhol and the socialite/model/Warhol superstar Edie Sedgwick were guests on the Merv Griffin Show. Andy refuses to speak (on a talk show of all places), so Edie speaks for him. When Merv asks “why is that art?” Edie does a great job explaining it. Here is a clip of the interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8sptsjCk18

This class sure is flying by quickly! What do think about some of the stuff that is being discussed in this blog post? I’m looking forward to your funny captions.