July 2007 Archives
"To criticize the government is the highest act of patriotism. The role of the artist in times like ours is to help facilitate a skepticism, to transcend conventional wisdom . . . the word of the establishment . . . to go beyond and escape what is handed down by government and what is said in the media."*
—Howard Zinn in his book Artists in Times of War
Many generations have been fortunate in America not to have the scourge of war in our cities and towns, ravaging historical buildings, uprooting families and destroying the infrastructure of our communities. We watch war in the comfort of our living rooms on TV. War is destructive; the antithesis of artistic creativity. In 1937 France, Hitler selected a small hamlet in Spain for target practice; highly explosive, incendiary bombs were dropped for over three hours. The village burned for three days and 1600 people were victimized. Pablo Picasso was so horrified by the B&W photos he saw in French newspapers where he lived, he filled one wall of the pavillion at the World’s Fair in Paris with his anguish. It was a commission he had for some time without inspiration; and the subject matter was probably not what his sponsors expected. Guernica was the name of the village, and through his heart-rending canvas, you can experience his anguish long after the man himself has passed. THAT is the power of art, not the jibberish you see on TV.
Advocate For Yourself: That's Self PROMOTION
This is a group of Chindoya street performers in Okubo, Tokyo, promoting the opening of a new pachinko parlor. Pachinko is a popular arcade game in Japan and, if you know the rules, you can make big bucks by cashing in your little steel balls for the right premium. Promotions attract attention, even if it is just the chin and don sounds of a Chindoya band's instruments. Discerning between a marketing PROMOTION and designing promotional materials is frequently an issue for in-house corporate designers. “I am the marketing manager, therefore, I control everything about this product, especially the promotion, and that includes advertising design.” Whoa, Horsey. Management pays too much attention to marketing managers and too little attention to separating personal preferences from professional choices when formulating product parameters. You know that old Stan Freberg song, “Everybody wants to be an Art Director, everybody wants to call the shots.” Art Directors and Designers unite: only you’ve been adequately trained to make decisions concerning aesthetics, so don’t let your marketing manager get giddy with power when it comes to PROMOTION. You’re not doing him or your company any favor by rolling over and playing dumb while he calls the aesthetic shots. Promotion is NOT choosing typefaces, working up concepts, or designing ads. Promotion refers to the program used to stimulate demand for a product.
