THursday Idea blog // NEW DIRECTION BUILDING ON THE OLD

After considering the direction the project was moving i have decided to use the image of the super hero reporter but to drop the focus on the individual figure. Through several conversations and a lot of writing I have decided that the reporter figure is more interesting when compared/contrasted against a complimentary cultural counterpoint. Taking that dynamic in mind and considering what it is that makes the work of artists like Lynne Cohen and Alex Soth so interesting to me, I have decided to create a series of diptychs that share common elements but act as cultural counterpoints. I mention Soth and Cohen as their series take images that might be similar in form and content but are different enough that the viewer is asked to tease out the relationship between the images and to find the overarching threads that bind them together. Taking again from the original project idea I will expand upon the idea of cultural worship, of modern saints. I believe that based some simple observation one could state that in our American Media Culture the celebrity has taken the place of traditional figure of worship. Also from that view I have felt that these relationships have a great element of the surreal and absurd. I have long had an interest in Rene Magritte and have responded to his stylistic elements and presentation on many occasions. I think that in this case the common blue sky that visually joins the figures in his paintings might be a useful unifying visual element and signifier relating to the absurd relationship between the public and the common media tropes. I feel like I might be able to bridge this further into other common media related relationships but not necessarily one that shares a unified theme of media depiction. Perhaps one link between my figures is their economic relationships, the overarching question being, "what are they selling?"

Some of the pairings i have written up are as follows

drug dealer // pharmacist

televangelist // politician

sports player // ?

day laborer // millionaire