Just What is it?

This week we were shown a piece of artwork called 'Just What Is It That Makes Today's Homes So Different, So Appealing?', by a designer called Richard Hamilton. This piece is a collage that makes up an American home and uses some unusual visuals, such as no ceiling, just straight up to the moon and the naked woman who has got a lampshade on her head. We were shown potential influences that Richard Hamilton could of had in order to create that work, which mainly seemed to be just about what was happening in America at that time. Then we had to look at how people had used his work, by either directly using it and changing it slightly, or using it as inspiration to create something similar.

Just What Is It That Makes Today's Home So Different, So Appealing?, Richard Hamilton, 1956 [1]

Our task was to then find another piece of artwork and look at the potential influences that the artist may have had, then look at how it has been used to recreate it, directly or through influence. The piece which I have chosen to look at is called 'The Scream' by Edvard Munch. This is a very memorable piece which which has very textured lines and colours, but the main focus is on the alien type figure that is holding its face as if it is screaming.

The Scream, Edvard Munch, 1893 [2]

The first piece I believe could have influenced The Scream is a piece called Starry Night by Van Gogh. I think that this may have been an influence on The Scream as they use very similar brush strokes that are over exaggerated. The lines are thick and the colour is quite solid. Although they do not look the same, I believe that Edvard Munch will have been influenced just on the brush strokes and then went on with his own ideas.

Starry Night, Van Gogh, 1889 [3]

Another potential influence is a French artist called Paul Gauguin who Edvard Munch himself said he was inspired by. One piece I have found which I believe will have been one of the main influences of The Scream is called The 'Yellow Christ'. I believe he was inspired by the representation of the human form and the colours in this painting. Also the things in most detail are in the foreground of the image and the areas in the background are in much lesser detail. In The Yellow Christ the trees become much lighter and simple and in The Scream the 2 dark figures are merely just outlines in comparison to the alien like figure in the foreground.

The Yellow Christ, Paul Gauguin, 1889 [4]

Now I am moving onto artwork that may have been influenced by The Scream. I am going to look at a series of humorous remakes of The Scream from the likes of The Simpsons, Spongebob and Batman. You can see below how his artwork has been reproduced, using the exact same layout, direction of lines and colour.

The Simpsons Scream [5]

Spongebob Scream [6]

The Joker Scream [7]

Boubou Design Scream [8]

Nuclear Scream [9]

The Image by boubou design is the one which looks least like that of the original, but I must say that I do not really like it, there is something about the layout of the original and how it is produced that makes it special. Artists and designers could try to reproduce The Scream in their own way as many times as they wanted and it still would not be as effective as the original.

One other piece I am going to look at is an awareness campaign that uses part of The Scream in a very shocking and unusual way. This poster shows the back of a young child, to which the face within The Scream painting has been embedded onto the back of the child to look like scratches. This shows how the influence has been shown in a negative way, but for a positive purpose.

Child Health Scream, Child Healthcare Foundation, 2008 [10]

To conclude I have found that there is many different ways to be inspired or inspire others. I would like to do both in my career, I am being inspired everyday by work I find online, when I am out and about, when I go to galleries and when I have to look at work for University. Edvard Munch's The Scream is a great example of this, to which his work is still being remade to this present day as he continues to inspire, although he is no longer alive.

Image Reference:
[1]http://uk.phaidon.com/agenda/art/picture-galleries/2010/march/23/this-is-tomorrow-the-work-of-richard-hamilton/?idx=2&idx=2
[2]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f4/The_Scream.jpg
[3]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/ea/Van_Gogh_-_Starry_Night_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg/758px-Van_Gogh_-_Starry_Night_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg
[4]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/35/Gauguin_Il_Cristo_giallo.jpg
[5]http://unrealitymag.bcmediagroup.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/simpsons_art_1.jpg
[6]http://cdn.pophangover.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/The-Scream.jpg
[7]http://manvsart.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/The-Joker_Raul_Aguirre.jpg
[8]http://bouboudesign.deviantart.com/art/The-Scream-Remake-192415499
[9]http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-J4yChKCjpno/Upp_C5LppTI/AAAAAAAAABI/Fbgs5xyCQ08/s1600/3.jpg
[10]http://files1.coloribus.com/files/adsarchive/part_1340/13400205/file/child-health-foundation-the-scream-small-67556.jpg