Thursday, September 8, 2011

Meaning 1: Representation, Abstraction, and Symbol

Representation:

This photo does a very good job of putting you in the location, and because of that I think its an amazing representation. The framing of the photo helps include the explosion of colors from the sunset and the environment, without losing the ambient light which makes the scenery so beautiful. Although there is limited visibility laterally, the photo captures everything from the path under the bridge to the clouds in the sky above. You can also see the city settled into the hills off to the right, adding a sense of depth. The slight lens flare also realistically conveys the brightness of a sunset.


Abstraction:


This piece of art by Tiago Hoisel seems to be the perfect abstraction of the ignorant tourist. It seems to be both a symbolic abstraction and a stereotypical visual abstraction. We see the clueless tourist so eager to capture himself in his destination that he is completely ignorant to the tidal wave, erupting volcano, and molten rock crashing right next to him. His cross-eyed face with its dumb grin, his belly, and socks with sandals are all abstractions of the stereotypical tourist. The other aspects, like the disasters he is ignorant to, are a symbolic abstraction of the ignorance ascribed to tourists.

Symbol:

This punk rock logo is so appropriate you may even be able to guess the name of the band from it. Bad Religion, anyone? As with most logos, its genius lies in its simplicity. It's two main elements, the cross, which is associated worldwide with Christianity (or to a Christian culture, simply religion), and the red circle with a diagonal line through it which is nearly as universally recognized as "No", or "Do Not". This symbol tells us a lot about the message, values, and ideology of Bad Religion and the punk rock movement: We do not want your religion.

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