The image "Commercial War" by Chinese artist WANG Qingsong focuses on the power of ads and the misconceptions that ads can create. He presents this fight for advertising as a war between enemies, a struggle over financial power and business gain.
There´s a big struggle between companies to position their ad in the most optimal placement in public places. All kinds of slogans and images bombard us every day. The agencies with more power and influence usually get the best spaces, and spend huge ammounts of money "renting" the best places. In fact, sometimes they spend more money in the "space" than on the actual billboard advertisements. Nowadays, everything is advertised. If a product is not, then it seems it doesn´t exist.
In his photo, old ads come down as new ones occupy their lost space on the huge wall. It´s definitely an interesting photo, which makes me think about the the power ads have over our daily life. We don´t really notice anymore, but we see an amazing ammount of different ads every single day, on TV, a bus-stop, magazines, internet. These words and images exert so much power on our mind and eye...
Which ones do we remember at the end of the day? Which are the best ones? I would say, the ones that catch my eye are usually the ones with a simple and original message and a clean and simple design. I love ads which make me smile when looking at them, and think "I wish I had designed that!"
SIMPLICITY: 1. The property, condition, or quality of being simple or uncombined. 2. Absence of luxury or showiness; plainness. 3. Absence of affectation or pretense. 4. Lack of sophistication or subtlety; naiveté. Lack of good sense or intelligence; foolishness. 5. Clarity of expression. Austerity in embellishment.
(Dictionary Thesaurus)
Just wondering about simplicity... ...what an extraordinary word...
I found a very interesting photographer, Alexey Titarenko... these shots of crowds are the most intriguing photographs I´ve seen recently.
This unremarkable technique – the long exposure – has the effect of transforming these crowds into amorphous, black masses moving through the city. The repetition of all these people, and what looks like a creature made of hundreds of bodies, is definitely unnerving. It´s like the residue of everyone who's ever passed through that spot the photographer chose...
I find fascinating these haunting images of his native city, St. Petersburg, part of his photo series "City of Shadows" (1992-1994). The artist wanted to capture the mass anxiety at a time when people wandered around the city looking for food and goods.
They clearly remind of the vision Dostoyevski had of St. Petersburg, as a dirty, dark place that swallowed its inhabitants.
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