POCKO!

Thank you POCKO for kindly sharing my story and work. Full article, everyone: http://www.pocko.com/kotryna-zukauskaite/

Reading: Ways of Seeing by John Berger

John Berger's ('one of the most influential intellectuals of our time' according to the Observer) "Ways of Seeing" is one of those books that I wish someone had told me about when I was a student. Someone could have saved me hours wasted in galleries and museums trying to keep a straight face pretending I understood what I was looking at.

Well, I knew few dates and few names of the painters, knew something about their place in art history and could appreciate their craftsmanship, but I had almost no deeper understanding, or at least a clear method of reading art beyond that. So I'm deeply thankful to John Berger for pointing my attention to:

A different meaning that words and our own emotions bring to the art piece.
Status and power that content of classical European oil paintings ensured to the owner;
Gender issues and portrayal of the female body (I love how Berger draws a clear line between terms 'nude' and 'naked');
An analysis of glamour as an invention of industrial society in modern times during which 'The pursuit of individual happiness has been acknowledged as a universal right. Yet the existing social conditions make the individual feel powerless' (p.148). And I'm pretty sure, no one ever forgot to show this book to people in advertising business.

I guess Berger summed up a lot of things that intuitively were floating in my head, but could not be described in my own words. And though 'seeing comes before words' according to Berger himself, now, after reading his book, I have a clear starting point and few keywords in my head every time I start to analyse any visual in front of me.

image taken from here

The book contains and extends ideas firstly presented in "A BAFTA award-winning series with John Berger, which rapidly became regarded as one of the most influential art programmes ever made." (BBC2)

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In the first programme Berger examines the impact of photography on our appreciation of art from the past.

This second programme deals with the portrayal of the female nude, an important part of the tradition of European art. Berger examines these paintings and asks whether they celebrate women as they really are or only as men would like them to be.

With the invention of oil paint around 1400, painters were able to portray people and objects with an unprecedented degree of realism, and painting became the ideal way to celebrate private possessions. In this programme, John Berger questions the value we place on that tradition.

In this programme, Berger analyses the images of advertising and publicity and shows how they relate to the tradition of oil painting - in moods, relationships and poses.

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'A snap in the face of the art establishment ... Ways of Seeing revolutionized the way that Fine Art is read and understood' - Guardian.

THE STATE OF THE UNION. OBAMA. 2011.

Everyone who knows me personally knows that I am a geek of politics, and a geek of info graphics. So I just had a Christmas Morning moment when watching a video of The State of The Union speech by president Obama at www.whitehouse.gov/state-of-the-union-2011 - with those little PIE CHARTS and other data changing according to the part of the speech! Great way to sum up main issues for those who tend to loose attention during an hour-long speeches interrupted by applauses each minute or so.

Great stuff for those like me who work in visual industry (and wishes to do more editorial illustration on politics), is addicted to listening long interviews or long speeches on important issues from different fields of life, and LOVES info-graphics. Happy times. Oh and that Salmon chart was just beyond my highest expectations!