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Stories Behind Artwork

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Original Hoax Design for a Fake Sedative

The purpose of Tradizone is to promote “female behavioral health.” This is a tongue-in-cheek satire on gender roles within society, as if we could just take a supplement to put women in the “correct” position.

Within each dissolvable caplet is 120mg of isoflavone, 2400mg of valerian root extract, as well as lavender and chamomile extracts. These are rather large quantities of each compound, and that purpose is to be hyperbolic. There are also typical ingredients seen in effervescent caplets for chemical realism. Effervescent caplets are dissolvable and thus are not only more potent but can also be discreetly mixed into drinks. Isoflavone is the estrogen compound found within soy, and valerian is a flower containing a natural sedative. The purpose of the supplement is to increase femininity (through basic consumption of estrogen) and to sedate the user (through valerian). This is to, according to the label, “promote natural feminine energy.” The nefarious purpose of this hoax is to spread misinformation that women should naturally be submissive to men, and that there is an easy way for men to “put women in their place.”

My targeted demographic for use is women, but I imagine if this supplement were to truly exist, it would be advertised to men for use on their female partners and children. The women willing to buy this supplement are probably quite vulnerable if they believe they are lacking in feminine qualities and plagued by “masculine” thoughts of independence and aspiration beyond being a submissive homemaker. Women should embrace their independent thought and aspirations and achieve whatever they autonomously want to. Men who are willing to buy this to use on their female partners and children probably hunger for power and dominance over whatever or whoever they can, even if it is those closest to them. If we must take a supplement to achieve certain behavior, even if it is advertised as natural, are there truly natural behavioral differences in men and women when it comes to free will and independent thought?

To achieve the look of truthfulness, I employed a design that mimics a real supplement, so that it looks real at first glance. The design was largely based off the bottle for TopCare lactase enzyme pills, which has a rather generic yet pharmaceutical-looking label. The Tradizone label is the same size as a Melatonin supplement bottle I also owned. I had to reference chemical engineering resources to create an accurate ingredient list for an effervescent caplet, as well as other scientific resources to figure out the dose of isoflavone and valerian root extract. Chemically speaking, this supplement should be able to be manufactured and consumed. [I am not a scientist I have no actual idea]

When placed next to other medications and supplements, the Tradizone label fits rather well, design-wise. This graphic design artifact is meant to blend into the medicine cabinet, yet able to easily be read and understood. It does not try to hide itself. Much like beliefs on the proper behaviors of men and women, it is based on years of innovation. So obvious, yet so hidden.

This post is based off a project from Fall of 2022 when completing my bachelor's in art history for a class in graphic design history. We were to create and execute a hoax design.

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An Exploration Into My American Christian Ignorance

EVERY CULTURE THAT created Christian artwork did so in a familiar phenotype. For example, Chinese Christian art depicts Jesus as Chinese.

Jesus Calming the Storm by Lu Hongnian c.20th century

Now, I think many Americans would look at that painting and initially find it wrong in a way. Jesus was definitely not Chinese! (I can hear them thinking it now)

But Jesus probably doesn’t look like how you think he looks, either.

Keep reading

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The Lictors Bring to Brutus the Bodies of His Sons by Jacques-Louis David (c.1789)

I’m going to be honest: I do not like David. He is a brilliant painter, don’t get me wrong, but he’s a horrible human being.

Early works such as Brutus were painted at a time where rebellion was brewing in France. The breaking point was about to be reached due to the overwhelming, suffocating forces of the first and second estates (clergy and nobility), leaving the other 98% of the population to essentially starve. David’s works during this time depict scenes of honor, scorn, and a call to action (at least for the men). Brutus specifically was painted in 1789, the same year as the Tennis Court Oath, which kicked off the French Revolution.

These early paintings are quite beautiful, but through a modern lens they seem a bit skewed. For example, David’s depiction of women at this time were always very emotional and dynamically posed in curves, contrasting the men who often hold stoic, angular poses. Women are weak, men have to be strong, men can never show weakness, that sort of dynamic. For the period, however, these paintings quite contrasted the rococo paintings of the time, which overwhelmingly focused on all of life’s pleasures. These were for the nobility, of course. Life seemed lavish according to these artists. David, on the other hand, exposes life’s losses, trials and tribulations. They almost served as a wake-up call to the public. Preserving one’s honor by sticking it to the man, which seems to be the entirety of written history.

After Maximilien Robespierre took power and begun the Reign of Terror, in which any and all nobility and their supporters were hunted down and executed one by one, Robespierre and his friends really enjoyed playing God. Overall, 17,000 people were officially executed during the Reign of Terror, with thousands left to rot in prisons. Who oversaw this you may ask? Well, much to everyone’s surprise, it’s Jacques-Louis David! David was in charge of propaganda and all matters art-related. His depiction in Death of Marat (1793) of Marat himself was quite melancholy, beautiful yet depressing.

Death of Marat by Jacques-Louis David (1794)

The painting is made in a fashion that clearly wants the viewer to be sympathetic to the murder of this man. Unfortunately, this man was also responsible for signing death warrants in the Reign of Terror. He had a very McCarthian-style of gathering evidence to prove guilt. He was the editor-in-chief for L’Ami du Peuple, a popular newspaper at the time.

Any who, as we are meant to feel bad for the man who enjoyed playing with death in the first place, David changes schemes after the fall of Robespierre in the Thermidorian Reaction of 1794 to work for a new up-and-coming leader, Napoleon Bonaparte. When Napoleon declares himself emperor in 1804, Jacques-Louis David is appointed “First Painter of the Emperor.”

David proceeded to paint brilliant scenes of Napoleon, showing off his power, courage, and military-prowess. The most famous of these is most likely Napoleon Crossing the Alps (1801-5).

Napoleon Crossing the Alps by Jacques-Louis David (1801-5)

It was not until 1815 where David came to his senses a bit, though his actions are predictable given the past several decades. With the Bourbon Revolution reinstating the monarchy, those like David who participated in the execution of King Louis XVI and his family were exiled from the country. The new King Louis XVIII pardoned David, however, inviting him instead to become a court painter. A man of his views, David refused and self-exiled to Brussels. Eventually he got hit by a carriage and died in 1825.

While I appreciate David’s sticking to his values, he is still a horrible human being. It gives me almost a sense of unease to look at his works. My professor considers him to be a proto-modernist painter.

This is pretty much an unedited rant based on my most recent visual theory lecture.

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Ophelia by Sir John Everett Millais (c. 1851-2)

“Could beauty, my lord, have better commerce than with honesty?” (3.1)

“I would give you come violets, but they withered all when my father died.” (4.5)

Ophelia spent her time in Hamlet being controlled by men, putting trust in them, only to be betrayed. She is truly a pitiful character.

I do like the contrast between violets in Shakespeare’s Hamlet and E.M. Forster’s A Room With a View, where Lucy and George first kiss in a field of violets. While violets symbolize their love’s beginning, their use in Shakespeare symbolizes the end.

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The Souls of Paolo and Francesca (detail) by Gustave Dore (c.1863)

CONDEMNED TO THE second circle of Hell, Francesca da Rimini can spend eternity with her lover, Paolo Malatesta.

For ten years Francesca da Rimini carried on an affair with her husband’s brother, Paolo, until they were found one day by her husband and killed on the spot.

Francesca is probably my favorite Italian historical figure in The Inferno, as I find her damnation to be somewhat romantic. Though she is damned to Hell, she gets to spend eternity with the man she loves. Dante was kind enough to allow the couple to stay together in death as they were forbidden from being together in life.

The second circle of Hell is reserved for the lustful, where they are swept in an eternal whirlwind. Compared to the other circles of Hell, the lustful have it easy. I think this is perhaps because Dante himself may have been guilty of this sin, as many people are, and so felt almost empathetic to those whose lives become swept up with sexual desires.

The Death of Francesca da Rimini and Paolo Malatesta by Alexandre Cabanel (c.1870)

In other (unrelated) news, I just switched my college major from Accounting to Art History and I am so unbelievably happy :)

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Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire (detail) by Joshua Reynolds (c. 1775-6)

MADE FAMOUS BY the novel of the same title and the accompanying film The Duchess (2008), Georgiana’s story has captivated me above many others, though I do not believe her story is entirely unique to women of her era.

Unlike her parents, who married in love, Georgiana was placed in an arranged marriage at 17 with William Cavendish, the 5th Duke of Devonshire. 

William was rather inattentive and emotionally distant from his wife, choosing to play cards most nights. He even tasked Georgiana to take care of his illegitimate daughter, Charlotte, after her birth mother passed. 

Georgiana’s husband continued to have numerous affairs with other women, including Georgiana’s close friend, Lady Elizabeth Foster, whom Georgiana met at a party in Bath and invited to live with her and the Duke upon hearing about Elizabeth’s separation from her husband, John Thomas Foster. Lady Elizabeth would remain lovers with the Duke of Devonshire for 25 years, living with the couple at their estate. She would go on to bear the Duke two children.

Lady Elizabeth with Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire by Guérin (c. 1791)

However, many believe Lady Elizabeth’s affair with the Duke of Devonshire was part of a cover-up of a romantic relationship with the Duchess herself. Many “affectionate” letters were written between the two over the years, while likely, no solid evidence confirms this relationship.

Despite the Duke’s affairs, Georgiana would go on to bear children for him. A daughter, Georgiana Dorothy, and a son, William George. Once the heir, William George, was born, social rules allowed Georgiana to take on a lover of her own.

Georgiana became involved with Charles Grey, who would eventually become Prime Minister, after becoming heavily involved in political affairs, which was highly uncommon for women at the time. Her public campaigning would become the subject of satire by the public, so she would eventually retreat to simply working behind the scenes for her party, the Whigs. (In essence, 18th century liberals)

During her affair with Grey, Georgiana would become pregnant with his daughter; a highly-unacceptable circumstance for women. She would be sent to France to carry out the pregnancy, where Georgiana felt isolated and feared for her health in childbirth. After she was born, the daughter, Eliza, would be brought up by the Grey family. Georgiana would often visit her in secret. 

Throughout her life, Georgiana would develop a raging gambling addiction, as well as a love for partying. However, her gambling addiction could be more accurately described as an addiction to “losing at cards;” presumably a trait inherited from her mother, who had the same problem. Georgiana racked up debts that would amount to millions in today’s standards. 

At the young age of 48, Georgiana would die from an infected liver in 1806. Her widower would go on to marry Lady Elizabeth to the dismay of Georgiana’s children. 

Portrait of Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire (detail) by Thomas Gainsborough (c. 1785-7)

I find Georgiana’s story so interesting because she was such a powerful woman, as seen through her political activism, yet was still stuck in the societal standards of her time, which required women to be quiet and submissive. Georgiana’s likely affair with Lady Elizabeth is also quite interesting to me, as reports of homosexuality in history are often overlooked. 

Overall, Georgiana’s story is definitely a rollercoaster ride that was very interesting to research. However, I find the movie adaptation, The Duchess, to be partially unwatchable, as I am very sensitive to scenes depicting s*xual a*sault. The film also depicts Lady Elizabeth as a betrayer, rather than exploring the complex triangle between her, the Duchess, and the Duke.

[szazzle]

An Exploration Into My American Christian Ignorance

EVERY CULTURE THAT created Christian artwork did so in a familiar phenotype. For example, Chinese Christian art depicts Jesus as Chinese.

Jesus Calming the Storm by Lu Hongnian c.20th century

Now, I think many Americans would look at that painting and initially find it wrong in a way. Jesus was definitely not Chinese! (I can hear them thinking it now)

But Jesus probably doesn’t look like how you think he looks, either.

The Virgin Mary was a Jewish woman from Galilee in modern-day Northern Israel. To be frank, she was not white and neither was Jesus.

The glorification of the European Renaissance in (at least) American schooling has drilled into all our minds that Jesus, the Virgin Mary, and almost every Biblical figure (including God) were white. Not just Caucasian, but often skin akin to that of porcelain. It’s unsettling.

Madonna of the Book by Sandro Botticelli c.1640

The Creation of Adam by Michelangelo c.1512

In fact, I had no clue Jesus could be depicted in ways other than white until I saw a depiction of Chinese Jesus on my social media feed a few years ago. I went to Catholic school for nine years prior. You would think, given my extensive religious education, that we would have researched how other cultures viewed Christ. But alas, my education had been absolutely whitewashed.

I had known that Israel was in the Middle East, and that the Garden of Eden was thought to be in Iraq. I had known where Mt. Sinai was located, known where Egypt was. But the idea that these people were European was so absolutely drilled into my head that I had never thought it to be any different. Honestly, I am ashamed to have consistently thought this way. 

Even if Biblical figures were white, they would not have extremely light skin. Jesus was a carpenter. Moses roamed the desert for 40 years in search of Canaan. TL;DR, they would not be constantly clean with pure white skin even if they were born that way. The effects of hard labor, the sun, and the lack of sunscreen would cause their skin to naturally darken.

Thank God for The Prince of Egypt (1998). It actually depicts Moses and the Hebrews in a more realistic manner than any other depictions seen in American pop culture. It’s also just a good movie in general.

Compare The Prince of Egypt to this oil painting:

Moses with His Arms Supported by Aaron and Hur by Thomas Brigstocke c.1840-1860

This way of thought, that the holiest figures in the Bible were European with milk-white skin, has fueled the Western idea of White Supremacy for hundreds of years. It’s absolutely toxic and should be stopped. Religious teachers should show the diversity of Biblical depictions, not just the famous European ones. 

And if you were wondering, this is probably what Jesus actually would have looked like.

by Richard Neave

I am certainly no Saint, either. I do not hold a holier than thou perception on this topic. I have to consistently remind myself that those European paintings and sculptures I love so dearly are not realistic. I enjoy those works for their craftsmanship. However, I cannot place those European works above, say, Asian and African artwork. They are equally as beautiful, despite their lack of prevalence in American Christian culture.

This post specifically targets American Christians because I grew up in that culture (specifically Catholic). I’ve lived in America all my life, went to both Catholic and public school. My city does have diversity in terms of Christianity, with Catholics, Lutherans, Baptists, etc, all having a significant presence. 

I just think it’s important to remind fans of the Renaissance (like myself) and other Eurocentric art movements with a heavy emphasis on religion that these depictions should not ingrain what Jesus and other Biblical figures looked like in our heads.  

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Mme. Elisabeth et Marie Antoinette s’embrassant by Alexandre Moitte 

I find this particular painting of Marie Antoinette really interesting as she was subjected to constant gossip by the French tabloids. She was often depicted as a whore, offering her body to both men and women. Cartoons at the time would show men lifting her skirt or feeling her breasts.

Marie Antoinette kissing Duchesse de Polignac

This sexual obsession with Marie Antoinette would make even a painting of her hugging her sister-in-law spark controversy across the media.

While many other French nobles were subjected to tabloid liable, dating back to Louis XIV, Marie Antoinette’s case is some of the most ruthless and infamous known today.

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Election of the Hermit Pietro del Morrone to Pope Celestine V

by Cesare Nebbia (1536-1614)

Pietro del Morrone entered a Benedictine monastery at age 17. One of deep faith, he seemed perfectly fit to one day become Pope. There was one problem, however: Pietro was a hermit. Even the Benedictine Order, with their limited conversation, was not silent enough for him. He stowed away to Mt. Maiella with a few other monks in an attempt to be secluded and closer to God.

With the death of Pope Nicholas IV, the Papacy remained vacant for over two years due to the political polarization of the 12-Cardinals voting on a successor. Pietro del Morrone was eventually chosen to be Pope due to his lack of knowledge in politics. The then elderly man spent his days praying, fasting, and doing labor; not getting involved in politics. He chose the name Celestine and became Pope Celestine V on July 5, 1294.

But his lack of political knowledge mixed with his lack of social skills made him soft and easily manipulated. Because of this, he abdicated after spending 5 months in the position. This resignation would be aided by Cardinal Gaetani (later Pope Boniface VIII), who would become his successor, and who would eventually imprison and murder him. 

Pope Celestine V was a true holy man but was not fit for the political role of being Pope. He would be condemned by Dante in The Inferno, referring to him as the “man who made the great refusal,” and giving way to Boniface VIII’s manipulation.

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“Dost thou stand there already, Boniface?”

-Canto XIX (The Divine Comedy)

Nicholas III mistakes Dante for Pope Boniface VIII

Pope Boniface VIII’s papal rule would be described by Dante the Poet as a powertrain on a quest for personal and familial gain. Throughout his papal rule, Boniface waged a war against rival families in Italy, as well as using Church funds to expand his family’s estate. Boniface consistently bought his family, the Caetoni, land for over 20 years in order to increase their power and influence. This eventually led to accusations of simony, which Dante the Poet believed, voiced loudly especially by rival families throughout Italy and France. Boniface was a man whose obsession with pride led to the ruining of his reputation. Though intelligent, he overestimated himself and used his status to wage crusades on rival families. 

Though so obviously abusing his power, Boniface was never condemned for his crimes in an official way, leaving Dante the Poet with a feeling of injustice. In The Inferno, Boniface’s damnation is prophesied to be beside Nicholas III, an infamous pope known for his simony (XIX 52-57). These accusations encourage Dante the Poet’s hatred for Boniface and give him peace of mind that Boniface would one day be punished for his immorality.