Self Reflective Art and Text

There's something about simplifying the elements involved in a work that makes the artist be very intentional in the message he or she wants to send.  To extend our thinking about art and text, we look at another Shepard Fairey work that is quite successful in its ability to convey a message through text.  Compared to his "Andre the Giant has a Posse" sticker campaign, the Obama "Hope" poster sends a message through the use of simple text and a very simple color scheme.  

I think this poster allows for great opportunity to discuss issues of appropriation and propoganda.  I think there is great opportunity for critical thinking about sending messages through artwork and realizing that they are recieving messages all the time in the media.  

So, here's how it works:

1.  Take a picture using your device

2.   Using Pixlr Express (I love it because it's free :)) import the image and crop and edit the picture appropriately to achieve a simple color scheme with a simple one word text to convey some meaning about you.  I was holding my daughter in this picture and the way I feel when I look at the picture is that I was thinking about how much I love her and how good it feels to hold her close.  So, I chose the word "Love."

Here's an additional poster I made using an image of only me:

**I think that it is very important especially when using such simple elements, to include artist's statements with works and that would be an important last step to the project.  

I think an interesting spin on the project would be to juxtapose two differing messages using the same original image.  The only thing that would change would be the word and some of the visual elements including the color scheme.