Banksy
Ken Tin-Kin Hung
The Yes Men
If there is one thing I have learned from digital media, I have learned that no one artist can change the world, but every artist can contribute to it. Margot Lovejoy in her text Digital Currents says, “There are real risks in using technology for making art…(but), with increasing access to the Internet, artists are able to create “homepages”…opening higher levels of communication and perception in the arts (Lovejoy, 282).” I decided to look at three artists, all of which share a similar transmission medium, the internet, to share a message. But, each artist has chosen their own original medium to share a very similar political message. I choose to look at The Yes Men, Banksy, and Kenneth Tin-Kin Hung. All of these artists have a incredibly viral and unique approach to spreading their social/political message. The Yes Men who infiltrate corporations and use their own presentations to mock the current corporate climate, Banksy who uses gorilla graffiti tactics to portrait his view on society, and Ken Tin-Kin who uses viral media and POP art with his computer skills to create political animations and artwork animating his political views of protest. They contribute to the counter culture in their own form of retaliation against the conformity of man to politics and society in the 21st century. Their medium may be different, but all of these artists depend upon one critical source, the Internet, to get their message, their views, and their art out on the public stage. All of these men are not out to make a profit or sell their work. They are self-motivated and unique artists, ready to speak out, expose, and protest the downfalls of the society we live in and take for granted.
The Yes Men are a group of individuals who expose the corporate world by setting up fake websites for large corporate giants, and use their contacts to infiltrate corporations. The Yes Men say in their identity correction piece, “when trying to understand how a machine works, it helps to expose its guts.” Their work is a multi-level performance piece. A combination of website development, blog posts, corporate and media presentations all of which conclude in a series of full length videos exposing the true identities of corporate America, an showing as they call it an “Identity Correction”. How corporations should act to be more ethically responsible for their mistakes and skeletons. I choose to look at their Acceptable Risk™ Launch, April 28 piece seen below. This piece was presented on April 28th, 2005 at the International Payments 2005 conference in London, while acting as Dow’s VP for Acceptable Risk. They were invited to this conference in response to their fake Dow website www.dowethics.com.
Acceptable Risk Presentation:
Link to the Yes Men's Project: To view the Acceptable Risk full blog and presentation summary.
When looking at this specific presentation and blog piece you notice the unique perspective taken by these men. This piece is a giant performance satire used to mimic the ill-informed masses of corporate America. While watching this clip you notice a very formal and well spoken and presented piece, explaining how corporations can change the perceptions of society to see risk as acceptable according to their “Acceptable Risk Calculator”. However, when we take a step deeper to look at the actual piece we notice it is plagued with ironic icons, such as cartoon comics as PowerPoint slides and a funny gilded human size skeleton. Icons depicting how corporations hide of cover their skeletons with gold. A counter-culture presentation piece used to infiltrate the society we live in and by to show the dirty and emotionless nature of business, yet in a very funny and humorous manner. From the Power-Point images, to the hidden loaded words in the presentation, to the golden skeleton, this piece encompasses so many minute details, which at the time may not seem relevant, but afterwards in collaboration prove such a big counter-social point. Personally, I find this piece a fantastic satire of the system. It not only has a very prudent message against corporate ethics and ideals, but gives us, the public audience, access to the reality of the system, and their message about corporate America and how, “profit is the reason we (corporations) do everything that we do.” The Yes Men in their Acceptable Risk™ Launch are creative, dedicated, and effective in conveying their message and ideals.
The artist known as Banksy is one of the most well-known, yet hidden, graffiti artists of the 21st century. His politically motivate satirical stenciled graffiti work is viral in nature. His work exposes, in public setting, what everyone thinks and no one says about the world. His work is presented in both outside and inside graffiti works poking fun at the cops, at British Legislators, tourists, and many more.
Here is an example of his outside work:
He shows us the true faces of society, how corrupt, how blind and how naïve we are as a society to our own actions and lifestyles. I choose to look at Banksy’s piece Monkey Parliament created in 2009, one of his inside creations. Banksy keeps his identity a secret in his attempt to stay unrecognized and a man of the public. Not a famous artist and because his outside line of work is not exactly legal.
Link to Bankys Site: To view his home page and links to his artwork.
Monkey Parliament: Click here to view a larger Monkey Parliament image
His piece Monkey Business, a canvas/poster paint piece, comes off first as a simple satire of the government. This piece is pointing a finger at British politics in an artistic slander of Parliament. The humor of the piece makes the audience laugh and find humor in the art. Banksy, by creating a surreal environment plays with the audience’s perception in a very realistic environment and realistic art. After looking at the piece and its realism you begin to visualize that apes really could be sitting in Parliament, arguing about political nothingness. The realism of the art helps the political message to jump through humor of the piece and make the audience really think. Not only is this image full of arguing ape, but who really are our world leaders? What kind of men and women really run the governments and societies we live in? It is not just the nature of piece, but the realism, the attention to detail, and the style that make this artwork different and fantastic.
Kenneth Tin-Kin Hung is a digital graphic artist who creates very controversial yet politically motivated pieces concentrated around current political actions. His art is another viral media form, to be freely distributed, as a form of political protest. His whole mentality is explained by “Create, Don’t Consume”. He calls all artists in to participate and be the artists, the culture, the change we want to see in America. His POP art is extremely bold and has a call to action not seen by most digital media artists. I choose to look into Kenneth Tin-Kin Hung’s compellation called Artivist Popaganda politically motivated graphic pieces he created through the years. These are open source graphics in which asks us to not only download, but also distribute in protest of the Iraq War and Bushanomics. These graphics also come in coordination with his arrest for civil disobedience while protesting the Iraq War in San Francisco.Artivist Popaganda: Click Here to view his full compilation
Click on the "No Bush" Image Below to see the animation loop
Link to Ken Tin-Kin Hung's Site: To view his home site.
His animation and digital POP compellation is a politically raging piece in direct protest of both the Bush presidency, but also the whole happening of the Iraq War. This compellation is violent in nature and uses chaos as a tool to convey its message and tone. A violent protest of the US regime is the first image used to gain the viewers attention. Once the eye gets use to the over bearing images, the viewer starts to notice the complexity and detailed used in these images and animations. The use of widely recognizable images captures the audience, bringing political actions into question. When you conceptualize the whole piece you realize the chaos, the bright red colors, and visually stimulating images draw the political tone wanted by Tin-Kin. He wants the viewer to realize this is a protest to chaos of the system and how unneeded it is. The creative and artistic nature of the collection clearly presents the tone of protest and shows the emotions felt by those who oppose the war and violence. The creative yet chaotic protest piece does a great job of creating the tone Tin-Kin wants us to experience, a wild, but extremely stimulating piece that pulls emotions of love and hate towards the Iraq War and the Bush administration.
Each of these artists has a unique approach to protest. Each artist is looking to catch the attention of the viewer and make him or her think and critically analyze their perception of the society they take for granted. People are naïve in nature and would rather live with blinders on than think. To understand each of these artists and their styles you must understand their medium, their message, and their style of presentation. The three artists and pieces use very different mediums to create their art. The Yes Men use falsified presentations and convey their message and experiences through video, Banksy uses an older gorilla graffiti tactics to spread his message, and Tin-Kin uses his Photoshop skills to portrait their own takes on the world. Of the three they are hard to compare on a base level. The Yes Men have great presentation skills and objectify corporations to harassment. Their use of props, internet sites, PowerPoint’s and movies are phenomenal challenges to the corporate world. Banksy with his hidden identity and use of both guerilla graffiti tactics and canvas works objectify society and the government to scrutiny. His piece uses such realism of images to play with the inner consciousness of what the viewer knows society and government to be. Tin-Kin, the only true digital media artist, uses his digital media skills to violently protest the Bush administration and the Iraq War, creating a chaos that enthralls the viewer to questions their own political stance, but despite contrasting styles we see a similarity and eventual similar digital media used to expose all of these different artists’ works.
These three artists have such contradicting styles. None of them play with the same media, yet the Internet brings all of the artists to the same spot. What is art if it is never experienced by anyone else? The medium for presentation is very important in the case of political or social activism. Artist want their art and their message delivered to the whole world, and what better way than the largest growing public open source ever experienced, the Internet. All of these artists have chosen the Internet as the most responsive way to share their message and artwork. They each have a political message, but use very different means to create an end result. Artists bring their own different media to life. Internet brings each piece to a new level of involvement and meaning. The Yes Men would be non-existent if they could not share their stories, their videos, or their pranks with the world. They would have no affect on corporate societies. Banksy is a great artists who creates very stimulating pieces like Monkey Parliament that question political standings, but, without the availability to post this work on the internet and allow other artists and the public to view his piece. Only a few thousand could or would ever see his talent. Tin-Kin’s work is so political and protests the political order of the U.S., but, without the internet he would probably never gain gallery space and his art and political activism would never be experienced. The open and free sources and availability of anyone to land upon their art, their views, and their messages portrait in each piece are what brings these three different artists together and allow them to spread their creativity and help us to question the society we have become so complacent in.
The art world is changing and no longer are gallery spaces the best medium to view art. Digital media has so many different areas be it gaming, animation, machinama, video, or photography, the art world is changing and all different styles of artist have found new light in the Internet. Each artist discussed in their own styles makes us question our sociopolitical viewpoints. Be it a mockery of politics like Banksy’s Monkey Parliament, or a questioning of corporate America by the Acceptable Risk presentation by the Yes Men, or the direct political protests through Tin-Kin’s Artivist Popaganda artists of different mediums are allowed to spread their messages on a even playing field of creativity. Digital Media is risky and difficult, but the availability of the Internet has allowed artists like these men to create a homepage and online identity, bigger than their old mediums. Art is changing and the art world is growing in new ways and these three pieces show great creativity, skill, and talent. It is not the pure essence or context of each piece in its original format, but the allowance of these mediums to be posted on a context as big as the internet that make each artist and each piece to really speak their intended creative message.
Work Cited:
Lovejoy, Margot, and Margot Lovejoy. Digital Currents: Art in the Electronic Age. New York: Routledge, 2004. Print.
All images are taken directly from website links directly above each image.
Drew
All images are taken directly from website links directly above each image.
Drew
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