Hope, Change, and Modern Graphic Design

The aesthetic history of the Obama "Hope" Poster definitely has roots in Japanese print style. Perhaps also a sort of comic book aesthetic. I think that our perception of epic characters has shifted in modern times to the more flat shaded, heavy outlines look. This sort of vector art seems more timeless than the swooping line sand details of yesteryear. My favorite example of this is the timelessness of the ABC logo. A very simple circle with a future styled san serif font. The same elements can be seen the the curves and colors of the Obama poster. Especially the font choice for hope. There sort of elements that heavily use negative space help create a sort of epic feel, often times an underground feel of a figure to rally behind.

The copyright implications vary a bit here. The situation definitely shows that Shepard Fairey's moves were of questionable morality. However I believe part of the burden of copyright and creative commons lies with the photographer. The internet will always be free game unless specified otherwise. There does need to be a certain degree of alteration or presentation (in the case of Andy Warhol or Marcel Duchamp) for it to be considered an independent art piece. While that is largely subjective and left to interpretation, I think there is a reasonable point between complete nonsense and artistic initiative.

The Message is Hope. As well as many other things…He is the new american flag (kind of like the hip logo he has of the O with the stripes going into it.) These elements are incorporated into his actually being, the implication that he literally defined by this message. There is much to be said that he represents the new school, with a heavy theme of change. His concept of changes, I think, is to make a mature government that can make fair compromise. The poster definitely reflects the candidate Obama, however the president is a different deal. In my opinion, I still see that his ideals are there but his desire for bipartisanship and progress at the same time has forced him to compromise time and time again. He seems to think that if we reached out enough across the aisle he could find middle ground, but often this has lead to deals that are horridly detrimental, often passing bills that are much more damaging than they are progressive. I think he has a little too much faith in the government's ability to compromise, and is terrible at striking fair deals with the other side. The government will always be split between these parties and ideals, and it will always be a massive battle to get things passed, and There will ALWAYS be people (And corporations) who are dissatisfied and will resist new legislation. You can't always make the other side happy, in the words of Bill Maher "Obama should take a note from Bush, sometimes you got to have cojones and make things happen" Ultimately Obama has made a lot of change happen, but for every shard of hope through new legislation (Healthcare, DADT, etc.) there is plenty of bad change to stomp on it (Bailouts, Corporate Personhood, and Corporate welfare via Subsidizing)

I just hope that as campaign season rolls around, Obama can use what he has learned about realistic governing and mix in a new wave of progressivism that is desperately needed in a time when the Distribution of Wealth in the US is comparable to 3rd world countries.

Can Civilization and Nature Coexist?

"Civilization isolates all of us, ideologically and physically, from the source of all life - nature"

The DJ Spooky article certainly drifts a good bit, as I said like free form jazz. It seems to be the guy's mindset. His emphasis on the importance of nature and being in tune with that music does make sense to a certain degree. He suggests we should use our technology to help us "reconnect" with nature, his example being the WTC sound project and his work converting the sound of nature into sampling. In a way we do constantly 'sample' from nature all the time, we've looked to it for inspiration in art all the time. He seems to insinuate that the internet is like the massive archive we can 'sample' for human creations and ideas. Once again this is a smart metaphor, nature and the internet have this in common (even though nature is archived only by it's process of natural selection.)


If his goal was to raise awareness of the importance of our connection to nature, (which is indeed critical as many massive environmental issues from oil to bees is intimately tied to our survival as a race) then yes his suggestions are relevant. However, he seems to just be proposing that we do what we have always done. Draw inspiration from nature! Honestly a big part of art is to shake us out of the disillusioning isolation that is everyday modern life, and art is an opportunity to remind of our natural roots. However architecture, city planning, and environmental progressives also play an important role. This quote demonizes civilization, when civilization is one of humanity's greatest accomplishments. Sure, it has lead to pollution, isolation, and a myriad of other issues. Humanity is about building and progressing, it is in our own nature! The world we have created isn't simply built on convenience and comfort(although some skeptics would argue to the contrary), we are creators. While artist are well known (from music to painting) to be the key creative creators to help preserve natural roots, that role is also the job of our planners, architects, and many other creative types. They also should work to help blend human society back with nature without compromising human needs. A fantastic example of this can be found in Corbusier's city planning or Frank Lloyd Wright's architectural genius. DJ Spooky is basically emphasizing a theme to remind us of nature, but to really bring it into daily life you have to physically change the landscape. We are a smart and ambitious civilization, and we can find a way to make this work if we can just break the somewhat distinctly American culture of inflexibility and NIMBY-ism (Not In My BackYard, usually found in Nuclear Power debates but that's a different issue.)


I think that civilization and nature aren't polar opposites as presented in the quote, if anything that is an example of the speaker's own human centric thinking. Our civilization is built with the tools and supplies we find in nature, so it is still in essence a part of it. It's really just important to insure we still see nature everyday as a reminder of where we are from, and learn to design and build around that fact