Context of Practice 1 - Lecture 2 - A 20,000 year non-linear history of the image

• There is a belief that visual communication started in the Lascaux caves (France). There are drawings on the cave walls which show signs of them attempting to communicate with their Gods/Spirits. Some of the drawings are merely markings, although one philosopher has suggested they represent hallucination dots.

• 21st Century, Twombly - there are markings on giant paintings (similar to the ones in the Lascaux caves). 

• 'Magicians of the Earth' is an exhibition which attempts to make links between ancient and modern art. It accuses the West of cultural appropriation. 

• Mona Lisa by Leonardo de Vinci - reproduced onto material objects - available to the masses - not just one gallery which therefore has restricted viewing. Marcel Duchamp reproduced Mona Lisa but with a beard and moustache - he named it L.H.O.O.Q.  In 2013 Banksy portrayed Mona Lisa as an Islamic extremist ( Mona Lisa Mujahideen), through graffiti street art which is available for all. 

• Following the revolution, Russia was the cultural leader of the world. But when Stalin got into power, he banned progressive art work, claiming it was not understandable for the common man - instead art became simple like 'Roses for Stalin' (1994- Vladimirski). The USA saw this as suppressing people and so therefore they encouraged abstract artists like Jackson Pollock.

• Shephard Fairey, in 2008, created a famous Obama poster supporting his campaign. But in 2011 he manipulated his own work to show America/Obama negatively. It became a symbol of faceless anarchy - an iconic image of solidarity in protest.

• Pictures have the ability to change history - the photos of the Atomic Bomb aftermath made America pull out of the Vietnam War.