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overview
Lesson 2 | Summary
Activity Pages
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lesson 2 | the face of fame
activity | repeating faces
From the tabloids to public advertising, from the nighttime news
to re-runs of sitcoms, citizens and television viewers are often
treated to the same stories and images successively. With the proliferation
of so many competing news sources and products, repetition gives
advertisers and media sources the ability to push an agenda and
gain the attention of an increasingly distracted audience.
In visual art, Andy Warhol was one of
the pioneers of using repetition as a visual device. Mimicking the
style of newspaper printing and tabloid imagery, Warhol's prints
and silkscreens depict celebrities such as Jackie Onassis and Marilyn
Monroe in succession, varying only the color and shading. These
prints have become iconic images that reflect both the influence
of mass media as well as a contemporary culture obsessed with fame.
Roni Horn also uses repetition in her
work. How does Warhol's use of repetition differ from Horn’s
use of repetition? Does this repetition of a single person make
him / her famous? View Horn’s images of “You
are the Weather” and “This
is Me, This is You” which both use repetition as a formal
device to record their subject. For the series “You are the
Weather,” Horn was living in Iceland and photographed the
same woman every morning as she finished her swimming routine. For
“This is Me This is You,” Horn documented her niece
Georgia over a period of 5 years, growing from a young girl to a
young woman.
Horn describes how the installation of her work, “You Are
the Weather,” is "a photographic surround, is definitely
connected or linked up with the architecture — more or less
synonymous with it — because it goes on all four walls. You
walk in and you’re surrounded by up to a hundred images...which
are one portrait of a person who is a multitude.” Have the
students consider the significance of repetition in this installation
and the importance of how an image is displayed. How does Horn's
installation of “You are the Weather” change how a viewer
reads the images, reads the portrait? Use Horn's two photographic
portrait series to discuss how repetition can be used to generate
a specific response by a viewer. Compare and contrast Warhol's use
of repetition with Horn's. What are specific examples of repetition
in advertising and mass media that are used to grab the public's
attention? |
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the next activity for this lesson
15 Minutes of Fame
Using Andy Warhol’s statement,
“the day will come when everyone will be famous for 15 minutes,”
students will contemplate how they would want to present themselves
to the public.
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