The Influence of Constructivism

Determining the Influences of Soviet Propaganda on contemporaneous Advertising and Promotion The pattern of this study is to life at the representation of political ideology on Soviet visiting cards and the federal agencys in which this style continues to influence straight offs advertising and common culture. Though on that point argon many forms of propaganda the forms of propaganda I intend to discuss in this essay be visual. The areas I luff to bring forward my understanding of are the representation of political ideologies on todays contemporary popular culture.I intend to check over the approximation that the Constructivists created the aim for modern consumerism and methods of advertising. I will investigate semiotics and Marxism in background with my study. In todays society of consumerist culture I call in the topic of propaganda is interesting as I feel propaganda goes hand in hand with advertising. In todays society we are relentlessly saturated with loade d words and get a lines, for this reason I wanted to investigate the origins of consumerism and todays advertising.The purpose of Soviet propaganda was to create a youthful type of world Lenin wanted to remodel the world under socialistic Realism and visual propaganda played an important part in this. employ propaganda to influence slews thoughts and actions by making them act on feelings rather than rational thought. I am going to investigate the idea that soviet Marxist ideology continues to influence To illustrate my idea I am going to discuss the semiotics of a Soviet throwaway designed by Alexander Rodchenko for Gosizdat (fig. ) in 1924 the identity card is a classifiable example of the stark, distinct and timeless design of the era. The throwaway features Lilia brick, a conjecture of Vladimir Mayakovsky and later Alexander Rodchenko. The poster was designed as mass stretch out agitprop intended to spread the ideals of Socialist Realism with its vision of a widespre ad literate society. The simplified bold graphic is typical of the overwork produced during the Constructivist causa the lack of decoration or of representational depiction of objects ties in with the driving forces aims to keep the production purely informative and functional. Art that fails to conk part of life will be catalogued in the m drug abuseum of archaeological antiquities (Rodchenko The poster features a fair sex, Lilia Brick, wearing a kerchief clothes of the proletarian workers. This design and its pass on was calculated so that the proletarian of Russia would relate and engage with the message the image conveys. The woman is shouting Books inside a trapezoid shape, as to the highest degree of the population were illiterate it was necessary for the image to be understood visually. Pictures so could be more potent than writing because they impose meaning at one stroke but semiotic communication could extend beyond both the verbal and the visual (Visual Culture, R ichard Howels, 2003, page 100) Personally, I presuppose this is a timeless image but I dont think it is real understandable without the text edition. It is an example of the constructivists novel experiments with jux work stoppageosition and photography. Contemporary posters and graphics are testament to the strength of design this age produced.To further illustrate my idea I am going to discuss the semiotics of three advertising images and compare them with the Gosizdat (fig. 1) 1924 Lilia Brick poster from the Soviet era, which they are derivative of. The images I will discuss come from a broad spectrum in popular culture. I will look at an image from a political incline, a mobile phone advert and a popular indie band. In order to sell and appeal, it is my opinion that these products and ideologies bewilder borrowed the connotations of strength and directness that these Soviet posters command.A humorous take on poster from the Barak Obama campaign featuring a dog in the pla ce of Lilia Brick became a hit on the Internet. This suggests the poster has widespread appeal on masse. The poster was not associate with the campaign. An example of the Gosizdat posters influential use in advertising can be viewed in a Greek advert for Vodaphone mobiles (fig. 2), here the semiotics are not entirely saying the corresponding thing as in the poster designed for Gosizdat (fig. ), in this version it is depoliticised. The poster itself comes with an extra subtext submit thanks to its history the viewer can take meaning from this as healthy as the intended message to advertise Vodaphone. The art of the past no longer exists as it once did. Its authority is lost. In its place there is a row of images. What matters now is who uses that language for what purpose. (Berger, 1972, p. 33) The anonymous woman in the poster is supposed to be shouting some sort of tender or Vodaphone the anonymous woman in the poster is in dark and white creating an interesting juxtaposit ion against the bright colour scheme. The image of the woman seems slightly more cut-out and pasted in than the other example images. I feel this could be derivative of the Constructivists experimentation with photomontage. It is in a reek ironic that these posters are now being used to promote capitalism given that the political ideology at the time was to do with Communism.A controversy made by art critic Andrew Graham-Dixon backs this up he says in BBC4 programme The Art of Russia Smashing the Mould this was totally new to use words like this and that is one of the paradoxes that Rodchenko and Mayakovsky give to the West the visual language of Capitalismbecause they are inventing advertising (M2 PRESSWIRE-10 November 2009-BBC The Art Of Russia on BBC Four(C) 1994-2009 M2 COMMUNICATIONS RDATE09112009) The befriend example of the influence of the poster for Gosizdat (fig. ) is in the album ar 2rk for Franz Ferdinands 2005 album You Could Have It So Much Better (fig. 3). The se miotics suggests the same as with the last two remakes. The band reworked two other Constructivist posters for two more of their singles artwork This Fire 2004 (fig 4) is derivative of the El Lissitzky poster Beat the Whites with the flushed Wedge 1919 and Take Me Out 2004 (fig. 5) is a rework of Aleksandr Rodchenkos One-Sixth Part the World Poster 1923 (fig 6).The illustrator and graphic power Shepard Fairey who created the affiliated Obama campaign posters deliberately took inspiration from Soviet posters when creating the Obama Hope (fig. 7) poster. The work of Neville Brody further backs up the ideology behind the movement and that todays designers draw more inspiration from Constructivism. Bold design and typography clear are time enduring. The semiotics of these images have connotations of empowerment. What matters is that design is a way of reflecting social undercurrents. The Futurists supported Mussolini, whereas Rodchenko was a socialist revolutionary. I draw a sense of dynamism and optimism with no intention of a political connotation. If you look at some of Rodchenkos paintings, youll see he anticipated abstraction expressionism by a good 50 or 60 years. Its so abstract, its completely apolitical. Rodchenko was more about humanism and humanitarianism than communism. - Neville Brody.Another direct example of a Soviet posters influence on new-fangled popular culture is the occurrence of Red Wedge in the 80s, this collective of musicians wanted to inspire young people to connect with the government of the Labour government and inspire them to take charge of their political opinions. A lithographic poster inspired the name for this movement Beat the Whites with the Red Wedge 1919 (fig. 8) a poster designed by Constructivist artist El Lissitzky. The Red Wedge logo was also inspired by the poster and designed by graphic designer Neville Brody.In the 1980s there was a revival of politically fuelled art, Neville Brody reworked the typography of th e Soviet era in popular magazine The Face (fig. 9). Jenny Holziers Protect Me from What I Want, 1998 (fig. 10) is move out a political message in a very simplified way just as the Constructivists did. Holzer writes messages which are not in her voice but in styles that mimic the anonymous voices of authority government, nurture and advertising (Toby Clark, Art and Propaganda, 1997, page 155) The film created in the time of Soviet Russia was also influential.It has had an affect on the film production and movie redaction of today. The film Battleship Potemkin, a silent film directed in 1925 by Eisenstein is one of the first examples of evocative film editing and of propaganda in film, it served as a warning against rebellion toward the government, such was the influence of this film, people at the time of its release who viewed it believed these were real events. The films this influence is apparent in are The Untouchables and Brazil.In my opinion the imaginativeness of the Soviet era is incredibly iconic and it is not surprising that it has been borrowed time and time again. It seems evident from the examples in the text that everything from companies and politicians and popular culture will continue to borrow some of the imagery and iconography that the Constructivists strived to create, it is interesting that the artistic movements at the time of the Soviet era are not known as well as some. I have come to the conclusion that Soviet idealism has influenced much of todays culture though the message is obviously not the same.I think the much of the advertising inspired by The Constructivists is clever as it can tap into what makes an image iconic. Companies that use the Russia propaganda style of imagery are looking to give their product cult status and iconography. With reworking of the Soviet and Constructivist style the designers are espousal some of that power. In a world where we are saturate by advertisements the ones inspired by Constructivism are mo st successful in my opinion.