Artist Research
Saul Bass
Anatomy of a Murder is renowned for its use of some hitherto taboo words and its adoption of outré subjects such as rape and the insanity defense. Anatomy of a Murder feels neither forced nor dated in its use of provocative subject matter. I like the way Saul Bass has used the outline of a dead body as if it was a crime scene with the title of the movie in the body.
Anatomy of a Murder is renowned for its use of some hitherto taboo words and its adoption of outré subjects such as rape and the insanity defense. Anatomy of a Murder feels neither forced nor dated in its use of provocative subject matter. Psycho was the third and final collaboration between Saul Bass and Alfred Hitchcock. The horizontal and vertical lines that appear are driven across the screen in a stabbing motion, foreshadowing the action to come. Occasionally, a name that appears on screen (e.g. Alfred Hitchcock) becomes scrambled, perhaps suggesting the degree to which identities will be jumbled throughout the course of the film. As in the intro to North by Northwest, the lines that crisscross the screen in Psycho seamlessly fade into a shot of tall buildings, setting up the segue into the illicit meeting between Marion and her lover at a hotel.
Barbara Kruger
The influence of feminism is prevalent whereby highlighting and challenging patriarchal norms, power relationships and subverting the female form by using an agitprop style. Pictures of the continuing commodification of women’s sexuality and accepted gender roles. A montage of photographic images with stark, bold lettering to emphasise her caustic observations. I think the use of words in this piece of art work is very clever because the words 'Your gaze hits the side of my face' are placed on the side of the page next to an image which is showing one side of a womans face. The words used in this image explains this piece of art work very well.
Kruger's work addresses the cultural representations of power, identity and sexuality, and challenges the spectacles of stereotypes and cliches. Since 1980, her work with pictures and words has developed into a highly recognizable, consistent visual language. In this picture I like the way Kruger has used the phrase "Not Ugly Enough' in the centre of the image and then has used the same phrase as the border for her picture but has replaced the word 'ugly' with other words which people use to determin whether a peson is beautiful or not such as 'sexy'.
Jasper Johns
Jasper Johns is well known for his abstract work and pop art. This 'zero through 9' painting is very absract. The idea of this painting is to use the number sequence as the basis which dictates the structure of the painting. In this painting he has experimented with the clolours and thickness which is whay makes this painting very abstract. I like the way Johns has used the numbers as his basis for the painting and the various bright colours he has used to add to the abstract look.