Fashion and Consumer Culture - Essay Example

? In the Modern sense of the word, art is anything which shows the essence of life, which may be absurd or beautiful. Art is basically the creative output of a person, which may involve various forms like music, literature, dance or a painting. The expression and application of that expression is what that makes an artist unique as every singly human being is unique in his own way, hence art of each artist is unique in its own way. Throughout history, art has played an important role in preserving the history of that time. And it is art through which archeologists calculate the age of a certain ‘lost’ civilization. It has been established so far that paintings are the most ancient and noble form of expression. Though art is unique to each artist but each of them fall in a certain epoch where certain trends were famous. It is important to note that these trends are largely influenced by the socio-cultural, economical and political situation of that particular place. Consider the movement of Renaissance, which took birth in Italy and later spread to the whole Europe and Britain as well. The political turmoil had given birth to a want of perfection, towards change and most importantly to a more meaningful approach of life. Towards the 16th century, the hold of the Church had also grown weak and so people started to interpret the holy book through their own intelligence. This attitude is redundant in the works of Michelangelo. Hence, art and especially fine arts gives a glimpse into the society as a whole and also represents the fashion of that age too. For it is impossible to ignore such impacts in the lives of human beings and since artists are sensitive beings, they are prone to changes even by the slightest notion. It may differ that whether the fine artist approves of the fashion and consumer culture or disregards it in his paintings or a sculpture, which thoroughly depends on the nature of that artist but these influences, will find their places in the nooks and crevices of the work of art. Being an artist means that they live a life of their own pattern and standard. It is universally accepted that the artists’ especially fine artists do not have a limit and that artists consider art as their religion. For this very reason, artists from various sects in the society are scorned for their waywardness which for the artist is the way of life. This being established, it can be said that most artists live a life of their own choice and that a 9-5 job cannot bound them. There are various universities in the US where 24 hour studio is available for their fine arts students. However this does not mean that the fine artist can just excel in painting and drawing but there are fields like digital and graphic painting and also art marketing where the fine art students do get white collar jobs. Hence, a clear resolution for their profession cannot be drawn with a mathematical formula. In this paper, Max Ernst’s work in regard to fashion and consumer culture shall be discussed. “Max Ernst was a German-born Surrealist who helped shape the emergence of Abstract Expressionism in America post-World War II. Armed with an academic understanding of Freud, Ernst often turned to his work-whether sculpture, painting, or collage-as a means of processing his experience in World War I and unpacking his feelings of dispossession in its wake.” (Fiedorek) He is best known for promoting collage and it is noted that before him no other fine artist had esteemed the position of a collage as a form of art. According to him, “Collage is the noble conquest of the irrational, the coupling of two realities, irreconcilable in appearance, upon a plane which apparently does not suit them.” (Rogers) It is said that a childhood trauma made him see that this world is full of different realities existing at the same time. The trauma was of losing a beloved pet and interestingly his baby sister was born that very night. This left a deep mark on him which is obvious in his works of art as well. As is mentioned before that he was a Surrealistic painter so the concept of collage becomes clear too. Because that too shows two different diffusing concepts; where life completes a circle when Dionysus, merriment, meets Hades, who is a Greek god full of misery. Ernest is also credible for completing a surrealistic novel by the name of Une Semaine De Bonte. He also fought in the World War 1 from Germany and that made him realize that life cannot be defined through a mathematical formula and that gave him the sense of experimenting in his paintings. This is the chief reason of his being a Surrealistic painter. His techniques are explained below: “As a painter, Ernst invented the surrealist technique of frottage – making rubbings of textured surfaces and working with the forms that emerged. He developed upon this by inventing grattage – scraping paint off of a canvas with a textured surface underneath. He also developed upon the concept of decalcomania (an early image transfer technique) by pressing wet painted surfaces together, creating strange forms that he would then develop upon. These three techniques are related to the surrealist practice of automatism (free improvisation without self-censorship). Basically, these techniques are the artistic equivalent of rorschach blot tests – a means to channel the subconscious and allow the artist to escape the tyranny of meaning.” (Rogers) Though he studied philosophy and psychology, but later paintings inspired him more and then World War 1 happened. These influences combined with his visits to the insane aroused him with a different passion which was later transferred to his work of art. Max Ernst is also one of the important artists who helped liberating the Impressionistic work and thence gave birth to a new movement: Post Impressionism. (Admin) Very few people fall in any literati movement but Ernest’s zest was such that he proved to be a pivot for two of the world’s most known artistic movements. It is important to note that ‘Isms” are created in a rebellion to anything, the two Isms that Ernst is responsible for creating were in reaction to the negativity of Dadaism and then to the strict adherence to Impressionism. Surrealism was in reaction to the former and Post Impressionism to Impressionism. Coming to the fashion side of art, “Three conceptual frameworks form the basis of this development: 1. The Generalized Concept of Fashion: Fashion may be defined as a broadly based behavioral phenomenon evidenced in a variety of material and non-material contexts. A generalized definition of fashion is constructed to reflect the generalized concept of fashion represented in a wider realm of non-material as well as consumer behavioral phenomena. 2. Fashion: An Object and a Process. "Fashion" may be conceptualized both as an object and as a behavioral process. The critical characteristics of a fashion, both as an object and a process, are defined. 3. The Mechanisms of the Fashion Process. The fashion process may be mechanistically characterized as a process of social influence and diffusion. The conceptual basis of the fashion process mechanism is developed based on perspectives from the classical and contemporary literature.” (Sproles) According to the three generalized concepts of fashion, we see that Ernest has applied them to his works. Firstly, the non-material abstract ideas that had no connection to each other but were artistically done in many of the paintings of him. For example, in one painting, half of the side is full of golden towers and nature in full bloom and then on the other side, as the green boughs meet cancerous growth of rotten vines meet, the other end is of a ruined place. Now there could be various interpretations of this painting but our concern is utilizing fashion now. Consider World War 1, where one nation thrived and the other was deprived and history has it that Germany was punished heavily after the War. Hence, the collaboration of a material and a non-material context is merged in this particular painting of Ernst. The first concept also talks about consumer behavior, it may be possible that the green boughs are sucking on to the vines and that is why the second half is being ruined and it could be the other way round too. Consumers want goods from the market and the market wants consumers so they can sell their goods. Now, the consumer behavior and that painting are parallel to each other and hence, Ernest’s this painting speaks volumes regarding fashion and consumer behavior. Secondly, the next concept speaks about fashion as an object and a process. Then again, the same painting which is described above fits into this concept too. On one hand, the painting can be considered as a whole which shows the two shades of reality, as a Surrealistic approach is deemed with it. The painting then serves to be an object, an object through which a message is being shown. On the other hand, this painting can be seen as a process, where it is unclear that whether the cancerous growth is eating upon the green boughs or the green boughs are sucking upon the dying vines. Lastly, fashion as a representative of the social and contemporary environment is mentioned in the third generalized concept of fashion. As discussed above, the background of Ernest is World War where he served in the army as well. Hence, the social, moral and political corruption is bound to show in, in his paintings. As the picture can be taken as a whole where one class/ nation is thriving and living luxurious lives, quite opposite is the condition of the lower classes/ subaltern nations, who are n the verge of death. Fashion is sometimes associated with very negative responses where prototypical aspects of both the genders are at display and most often, more emphasis is on following fashion rather than concentrating on the Self. As it says, “Whereas in the past, female fashion was criticized primarily in terms of its impractical and restrictive nature and more `functional' and `natural' modes of dress were advocated, in recent times the legitimacy of the notion of `functional' or `natural' dress has been challenged. As theorists such as Wilson, Sawchuck and Hollander have pointed out, to assume that there is a `natural' mode of dress which reflects the body `as it really is' wrongly presupposes that the body pre-exists culture when in fact it is always inescapably encoded by cultural norms. However, as is argued in the article, while recent theorists have revealed the naivete of the functionalist paradigm upon which previous critiques of fashion have been premised, their alternative conception of liberatory dress as that which highlights the constructed nature of the body is equally as problematic insofar as it leaves unchallenged the reduction of self-identity to image which the advertising and fashion industries now endorse and promote.” (Negrin) Coming to Consumer Behavior, there are 5 approaches to CB, namely: • Economic Man • Psychodynamic • Behaviorist • Cognitive • Humanistic (Bray) Of these five, let us consider Psychodynamics and Humanistic only and let these theories apply on the painting of Ernest which has been in discussion above. The Psychodynamics state that, “This view posits that behavior is subject to biological influence through ‘instinctive forces’ or ‘drives’ which act outside of conscious thought.” (Arnold,Robertson et al. 1991) Images or scenes that one sees passing by are stored in the unconscious and according to Freud’s Iceberg theory, much of the Mind is composed of Unconscious. Hence, it can be said that Ernest drew paintings through instinct and imagination. Since, it is not possible that green boughs and rotting vines exist together, but it is in his unconscious that he sees it this way and hence, produces a beautiful yet a poignant Surrealistic painting. The Humanistic approach is explained as, “There is a pressing need in the field to balance the rational, cognitive side of marketing thought and practice with new ideas and research on the emotional facets of marketing behavior.” (Nataraajan AND Bagozzi 1999 p. 637) A need to think over our actions and our pattern of life is another message of that particular painting of Ernest. As Socrates said, “Know thyself”, this painting can carry this meaning as well. Modern Man needs to re-think his ways or one by one every race shall be extinguished in the thirst of manipulating powers. Lastly, Consumer Culture Theory will be contrasted with the painting of Max Ernest’s painting. This theory encourages investigation, of the contextual, symbolic and experiential aspects of consumption as they unfold across a consumption cycle that includes acquisition, consumption and possession, and disposition processes and analysis of these phenomena from macro, meso- and micro-theoretical perspectives. Keeping in mind all these conditions, the work of art which is in question in this paper coincides with them. This painting is experimental in nature, as is the style of Ernest in his Surrealistic and Post Impressionistic art. It holds symbolic value in various sense of the word; it can be interpreted as symbol of moral corruption of an individual or a society as whole. In terms of context too, since all the artistic movements are in rebellion to the previous tradition, the context changes somewhat, though not completely but it removes the defects or failures of the previous age and improvises it with something new and unique. The famous proverb that a single picture can speak more than a thousand words is hence justified through this one painting of Max Ernst where time and again, through the two theories the effectiveness of this painting has been discussed. Yet this painting has not lost its aesthetic beauty and the perfect strokes which make it picture perfect. Work Cited Admin. 2013. BBC History. Retrieved from: http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/artists/max-ernst ARNOLD, J., et al., 1991. Work Psychology: Understanding human behavior in the workplace. 2nd ed. ed. London: Pitman Bray Jeff. 2013. Consumer Behaviour Theory: Approaches and Models. Retrieved from: http://eprints.bournemouth.ac.uk/10107/1/Consumer_Behaviour_Theory_-_Approaches_%26_Models.pdf Fiedorek kara. 2013. The Artstory, Max Ernst. Retrieved from: http://www.theartstory.org/artist-ernst-max.htm Rogers Ian. May 2012. Grey Not Grey. Retrieved from: http://www.greynotgrey.com/blog/2012/05/11/max-ernst-europe-after-the-rain-ii/ NATARAAJAN, R., et al., 1999. The Year 2000: Looking Back. Psychology & Marketing, 16, (8) 631-642. Negrin Llewellyn. June 1999. Sage Journals, Theory, Culture & Society June 1999 vol. 16 no. 3 99-118. Retrieved from: http://tcs.sagepub.com/content/16/3/99.abstract Sproles B. George. (1974) ,"Fashion Theory: a Conceptual Framework", in NA - Advances in Consumer Research Volume 01, eds. Scott Ward and Peter Wright, Ann Abor, MI : Association for Consumer Research, Pages: 463-472. Read More