The Goal of The Artist

Full Installation

"The task of the artist is determined always by the status and process and agenda of the community that it already serves. If you’re an artist who identifies with, who springs from, who is serviced by or drafted by a bourgeois capitalist class then that’s the kind of writing you do. Then your job is to maintain status quo, to celebrate exploitation or to guise it in some lovely, romantic way. That’s your job…

As a cultural worker who belongs to an oppressed people my job is to make revolution irresistible. The goal of the artist is to make the revolution irresistible."

                                                 ~ Toni Cade Bambara interviewed by Kay Bonetti, 1982

Over the past few years, I picked up the habit of highlighting quotes and lines in books that move me or make me think deeply. It's a habit that's slowly shaped my general outlook towards my life and what I'd like to make of it. It's also fun to flip through old books and see the little things that were significant to me during a moment in time and ponder on whether or not they're still relevant to me now. The quote that I chose for my poster is one that left me a little breathless when I first stumbled upon it, because it came at a time where I couldn't make proper sense of what I wanted to do in life. I had an idea of it: I want to work in a creative capacity, and I want to use that work to create positive social change. It was hard to put that desire into a neat little description, so I'd mostly refrain from communicating it to other people.

"The goal of the artist is to make the revolution irresistible."

It felt like this quote finally gave the ideas and sentiments inside of me a name. Beautifully spoken by Toni Cade Bambara (a notable writer, filmmaker, and activist), the words refer to the practice of creating art that is in opposition to art forms that sell a hegemonic, capitalistic ideology. I interpret it as a call to action — to evoke powerful sentiments through visuals, design, language. To make the revolution seductive (I stole this word from Elisa!), captivating, and irresistible to the point where you can no longer turn away. My personal goal as an artist is to call communities to action, ask them see the world in a different way, and ignite the desire for change.

My aim was to translate those sentiments and desires into my posters as best as I could. As I mentioned in class, it's not often that I get to design and create for fun! I approached this assignment with a desire to translate these ideas as well as to showcase my own personal style, which isn't seen often due to the nature of my freelancing work.

(Print on glossy paper, 18" x 24")

This first poster, which is also the largest, is probably the most direct representation of my style and aesthetic. I adore warm pastels — my eye immediately gravitates to them. I also love creating an engaging palette by contrasting them with vibrant hues. The purpose behind the multi-colored drop shadow was to create that playful contrast. I decided to alternate between every color in my palette for the word 'irresistible' in order to emphasize its significance. I also used the warp tool and applied the 'Rise' effect to mimic the movements of a flag, an object that is present in many revolutionary movements. I adjusted the leading to 78pt to ensure there was just enough space to give each line its own mini-spotlight as well as to prevent the viewer from being immediately overwhelmed by the combination of text and color.

 
(Rough draft #1 and #2)

I wanted to showcase my process a bit as the design for these posters did take quite some time! Here are two first drafts that unfortunately didn't make the cut. I spent a lot of time playing around with the colors to see what would work best and create the most visual balance. While the final product isn't too far off from the two samples below, I think you can see how big of a difference the overall composition and mood are in comparison! 

This poster seemed to cause a bit of controversy in class, haha. I wanted to play around with contrast once again to create a poster that would be visually engaging in the sense that it would look different depending on where you're standing or viewing it from! It was largely inspired by Chitra's drawing last week, which had a 3D-esque vibe. I believe the neon, highlighter yellow really makes you to stop and try to decipher the text, which I hope makes the absorption of the quote and its meaning more meaningful (you worked hard for it! Kind of!). I also played around with space and alignment a bit in order to create some difference between the three posters and experiment with different text positions. I felt that this orientation mimicked a poetry book cover.  

(Print on glossy paper, 9" x 12")

(Print on matte paper, 5.5" x 8.5")

This poster was 100% just fun experimentation. I learned in class that the final product I was going for is known as a diptych! It was inspired by the typical two-panel gallery set-up. It was also inspired by one of my favorite type artists, Tessa Forrest, otherwise known as @subliming.jpg on Instagram. She's extremely well known for her bold, playful takes on type and how it can be used to translate motivational content. She's definitely a great resource for inspiration if anyone wants to pursue typography further! I used repetition by reflecting the original phrase and creating a sort of vase-like shape with the way it is set in the space. I created a custom path for the text to evoke the idea of waving through time. Ultimately, I wanted this poster to feel almost infinite, as the work of an artist is continuous!