Adele Pierce
OUIL 501 Context of Practice
Study Task 2
Critical Analysis of an illustration as a triangulated discussion of texts.
Study Task 2
Critical Analysis of an illustration as a triangulated discussion of texts.
Chosen Illustration : Mr Bingo’s ‘Iron Lady.’
Chosen texts : An incomplete manifesto for growth - Bruce Mau.
First things first 1964 - Ken Garland.
First things first, 2000 - Lasn et al.
I have chosen Mr. Bingo’s illustration because
after reading the texts I feel that the purpose of why he makes his work can be
questioned from positive and negative angles. I will start by looking at Bruce
Mau’s incomplete manifesto for growth and separating which quotes Bingo obides
by as an illustrator developing his own personal practice, and which he rebels
against. I will then look at both First things first texts against quotes by
Bingo about his work and round off the purpose of being an illustrator; whether
we make work to sell, conforming to consumerism or work to make a difference
and change society.
“Process is more important than outcome. When the outcome drives the process we will only ever go to where we’ve already been” Number 3 in the manifesto for growth. Bingo speaks openly about his process being one based largely on reference material, a lengthy process of gathering sources from the internet to draw from and pull together to create ‘silly’ pieces. In this sense his process is hugely important but at the same time it never changes, he follows the same structure.
“Process is more important than outcome. When the outcome drives the process we will only ever go to where we’ve already been” Number 3 in the manifesto for growth. Bingo speaks openly about his process being one based largely on reference material, a lengthy process of gathering sources from the internet to draw from and pull together to create ‘silly’ pieces. In this sense his process is hugely important but at the same time it never changes, he follows the same structure.
“Everyone is a leader. Growth happens. Whenever it does, allow it to emerge.”
We definitely get a sense of leadership from this piece but it’s mocking
leadership. Mocking women leaders in society to being sexual objects. Margaret
Thatcher stripped bare and looking pleased about it. She still wears her badge,
‘Iron Lady’ like her signature persona still exists despite being completely
undignified. Outside of this image I feel from looking at interviews of Mr
Bingo and hearing him speaking first hand that he definitely has a sense of
leadership within his practice. He is a businessman, he knows what work he
wants to take on and which work he does not want to get involved with. He
manipulates his briefs into work that he wants to create. I feel this myself
sometimes if I have a brief I don’t particularly enjoy I will try turn it on
it’s head.
Number 14 “Don’t be cool.” I think Bingo
definitely mocks being cool through his work and the social subcultures.
Most importantly, “Laugh.” This manifesto
reflects Bingo perfectly; he creates work to make people laugh, to mock serious
situations and create the shock value. In speaking he is also humorous and
light-hearted and has a great attitude.
He is surrounded by laughter which seems to drive his work.
All of these manifesto support the purpose of Bingo’s work and how he develops his practice.
Equally, there are contrasting manifesto’s when viewing Bingo’s work. For example, “Go deep. The deeper you go the more likely you will discover something of value.” Bingo’s work is far from deep and conceptual, it is light-hearted fun and playful. We don’t get a sense that he has a real passion about something political. I feel that Bingo has taken his process to a level of perfection when it comes to executing his line work; some are full lines and others simple dots suggesting a curve or dent in the skin. This contrasts to Manifesto 6 ‘Capture accidents.’ We don’t get to see the messy process of accidents being made into something successful or a wide experimentation of media. He simply uses reference, draws it out in the same pen, scans and colours it digitally. There is routine to his work.
Bingo also relies heavily on social media to advertise his work. In an interview with Adobe on Youtube he speaks about using their software quite basically and then networking with the public via Tumblr. He speaks about his creative process when first receiving a brief. He initially brainstorms ideas, works out how he can turn this into work and then draws from reference by using his friends or images from the internet. This seems to go against Mau’s 24th Manifesto of ‘relying on software.’ Bingo quotes, “For the past 11 years I’ve been working 95% as a commercial illustrator.” Notice how he brands himself commercial, every outcome of his work is to sell or support a product or magazine article. His work seems of no real value or passion invested into a subject he cares about.
These contrasting points about Bingo support all texts about the purpose of creating work as an illustrator. Perhaps we are selling out? When Bingo spoke at a presentation in our University and equally stated on his website he claims he ‘does not work for free.’ He is a businessman constantly thinking about his income and is careful about the kind of jobs that he takes on. Despite being a huge fan of his work after reading the manifesto’s I am slowly realizing that Bingo is more of a businessman than an illustrator. Stylistically and aesthetically his work is rather bland to me now and has no real depth or concept. Bingo picks and choses his briefs based on work that he will enjoy doing, that he thinks will sell and persuades his clients into thinking the same. The First things First original Manifesto in 1964 claimed “We have reached a saturation point at which the high pitched scream of consumer selling is no more than sheer noise.” Bingo was also brought into a culture whereby he is surrounded by the notion of selling, making work to earn a living. “We think there are other things more worth using our skill and experience on.” This completely contrasts to the purpose of Bingo’s work. Mr.Bingo’s work is humorous, has shock value, is playful and often mocking society. He created hate mail for strangers he had never met before. Both Manifesto’s stress the importance of using our skills to better use. We are, as Michael Bierut claims, the ‘Designer puppet masters’ that can influence the world into making a change, not mocking strangers telling them they have ‘fat legs.’
To conclude, I chose this image by Bingo because I think he balances out what it means to be an illustrator in society today; taking an important political subject and turning it on it’s head. I think what is commendable about him is he thinks outside of the box, he is not afraid to take risks with his work, and it is relatable to the public. He doesn’t take himself too seriously either which is important when being an illustrator. It can be argued that he is not using his talent to a more substancial use for society and politics and raising awareness of serious subjects; he is infact doing the opposite and maybe creating a sense of escapism from this (as seen on the image of the Iron Lady). We are asked to laugh at such serious matters. Do illustrators always have to create work that has relevance within society or can we sometimes just make work because it makes us laugh and feel something? Is that not equally as relevant?
“Designers then apply their skill and imagination to sell dog biscuits, designer coffee, diamonds...” – (First things First 2000). These are a list of products that are actually creating problems within society and so as designers we are adding to that problem. Contrasting to the 1964 Manifesto claiming designers “Flogged their skill and imagination to sell such things as cat food, stomach powders, detergent.” Things that at the time were a necessity, basic things. Bingo is selling his work to items that are disposable – beer cans, postcards, adding to a throwaway culture. The work Bingo is creating could thus be viewed as unethical if they are designed for ‘inessential’ objects.
The image of the Iron Lady can be viewed as the 2000 manifesto states ‘a harmful use of public discourse’ in the way that we portray a message. This is how we communicate within society today and some people could view this as offensive.
“We have been raised in a world in which the techniques and apparatus of advertising have persistently been presented to us as the most lucrative, effective and desirable use of our talents.” As designers in this day and age, it is all we know, we are surrounded by consumerism and selling our work to the masses. We were brought into a world of showcasing our talent through advertisement and selling. I feel that people are too hung up on trying to make work that has the shock value and being ‘cool’ and being relatable in order to sell more rather than using that shock value to actually make a difference. We cannot blame Bingo for being the businessman that he is; after all he does need to ‘pay the bills’ but I think more consideration into using his skills to better matters in the world could be taken especially as his work is so recognizable now. He has a great social link networking with the public on Tumblr and views of his website where he could be using this to a better advantage; delivering messages urging them to make a change as the Manifesto’s did.
A final message from Mr. Bingo when asked by an interviewer what his book would be called if he were to publish one; he said, "Fucking about for a living" is that Ethical?
References
Texts:
Beirut, 2007.
Garland,1964. First Things First Manifesto
Lasn et al, 2000. First Things First Manifesto
Mau, 1998. Manifesto For Growth
Poyner, 1999. First Things First Revisited
Websites:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUceSMM5G1c
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5jh51N_2Vo
All of these manifesto support the purpose of Bingo’s work and how he develops his practice.
Equally, there are contrasting manifesto’s when viewing Bingo’s work. For example, “Go deep. The deeper you go the more likely you will discover something of value.” Bingo’s work is far from deep and conceptual, it is light-hearted fun and playful. We don’t get a sense that he has a real passion about something political. I feel that Bingo has taken his process to a level of perfection when it comes to executing his line work; some are full lines and others simple dots suggesting a curve or dent in the skin. This contrasts to Manifesto 6 ‘Capture accidents.’ We don’t get to see the messy process of accidents being made into something successful or a wide experimentation of media. He simply uses reference, draws it out in the same pen, scans and colours it digitally. There is routine to his work.
Bingo also relies heavily on social media to advertise his work. In an interview with Adobe on Youtube he speaks about using their software quite basically and then networking with the public via Tumblr. He speaks about his creative process when first receiving a brief. He initially brainstorms ideas, works out how he can turn this into work and then draws from reference by using his friends or images from the internet. This seems to go against Mau’s 24th Manifesto of ‘relying on software.’ Bingo quotes, “For the past 11 years I’ve been working 95% as a commercial illustrator.” Notice how he brands himself commercial, every outcome of his work is to sell or support a product or magazine article. His work seems of no real value or passion invested into a subject he cares about.
These contrasting points about Bingo support all texts about the purpose of creating work as an illustrator. Perhaps we are selling out? When Bingo spoke at a presentation in our University and equally stated on his website he claims he ‘does not work for free.’ He is a businessman constantly thinking about his income and is careful about the kind of jobs that he takes on. Despite being a huge fan of his work after reading the manifesto’s I am slowly realizing that Bingo is more of a businessman than an illustrator. Stylistically and aesthetically his work is rather bland to me now and has no real depth or concept. Bingo picks and choses his briefs based on work that he will enjoy doing, that he thinks will sell and persuades his clients into thinking the same. The First things First original Manifesto in 1964 claimed “We have reached a saturation point at which the high pitched scream of consumer selling is no more than sheer noise.” Bingo was also brought into a culture whereby he is surrounded by the notion of selling, making work to earn a living. “We think there are other things more worth using our skill and experience on.” This completely contrasts to the purpose of Bingo’s work. Mr.Bingo’s work is humorous, has shock value, is playful and often mocking society. He created hate mail for strangers he had never met before. Both Manifesto’s stress the importance of using our skills to better use. We are, as Michael Bierut claims, the ‘Designer puppet masters’ that can influence the world into making a change, not mocking strangers telling them they have ‘fat legs.’
To conclude, I chose this image by Bingo because I think he balances out what it means to be an illustrator in society today; taking an important political subject and turning it on it’s head. I think what is commendable about him is he thinks outside of the box, he is not afraid to take risks with his work, and it is relatable to the public. He doesn’t take himself too seriously either which is important when being an illustrator. It can be argued that he is not using his talent to a more substancial use for society and politics and raising awareness of serious subjects; he is infact doing the opposite and maybe creating a sense of escapism from this (as seen on the image of the Iron Lady). We are asked to laugh at such serious matters. Do illustrators always have to create work that has relevance within society or can we sometimes just make work because it makes us laugh and feel something? Is that not equally as relevant?
“Designers then apply their skill and imagination to sell dog biscuits, designer coffee, diamonds...” – (First things First 2000). These are a list of products that are actually creating problems within society and so as designers we are adding to that problem. Contrasting to the 1964 Manifesto claiming designers “Flogged their skill and imagination to sell such things as cat food, stomach powders, detergent.” Things that at the time were a necessity, basic things. Bingo is selling his work to items that are disposable – beer cans, postcards, adding to a throwaway culture. The work Bingo is creating could thus be viewed as unethical if they are designed for ‘inessential’ objects.
The image of the Iron Lady can be viewed as the 2000 manifesto states ‘a harmful use of public discourse’ in the way that we portray a message. This is how we communicate within society today and some people could view this as offensive.
“We have been raised in a world in which the techniques and apparatus of advertising have persistently been presented to us as the most lucrative, effective and desirable use of our talents.” As designers in this day and age, it is all we know, we are surrounded by consumerism and selling our work to the masses. We were brought into a world of showcasing our talent through advertisement and selling. I feel that people are too hung up on trying to make work that has the shock value and being ‘cool’ and being relatable in order to sell more rather than using that shock value to actually make a difference. We cannot blame Bingo for being the businessman that he is; after all he does need to ‘pay the bills’ but I think more consideration into using his skills to better matters in the world could be taken especially as his work is so recognizable now. He has a great social link networking with the public on Tumblr and views of his website where he could be using this to a better advantage; delivering messages urging them to make a change as the Manifesto’s did.
A final message from Mr. Bingo when asked by an interviewer what his book would be called if he were to publish one; he said, "Fucking about for a living" is that Ethical?
References
Texts:
Beirut, 2007.
Garland,1964. First Things First Manifesto
Lasn et al, 2000. First Things First Manifesto
Mau, 1998. Manifesto For Growth
Poyner, 1999. First Things First Revisited
Websites:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUceSMM5G1c
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5jh51N_2Vo
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