If you haven't been checking out Speechification yet, then you should. The soundclip that goes with their post about Tony Blair's official portrait is every reason why the site is shaping up as one of the most engaging podcast resources on the net. There's even a player embedded so you can listen up pronto. The chilling point about the painting above, according to the artist, is that it depends on the viewers politics how the poppy is perceived. As I said. Everything is contextual. I'm betting Lauren is going to love this one too.
Sunday, 20 January 2008
Speechification
If you haven't been checking out Speechification yet, then you should. The soundclip that goes with their post about Tony Blair's official portrait is every reason why the site is shaping up as one of the most engaging podcast resources on the net. There's even a player embedded so you can listen up pronto. The chilling point about the painting above, according to the artist, is that it depends on the viewers politics how the poppy is perceived. As I said. Everything is contextual. I'm betting Lauren is going to love this one too.
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Why is this contextual? The context is a portrait which is immutable, it is the interpretations that change and they are shaped by personal knowledge and bias rather than context in this case. No?
ReplyDeleteExactly John. Interpretations are contextual. In this example they are polar opposites. The viewer changes the context. But the truth is immutable if you read the artists perspective.
ReplyDeletehow great is speechification!!
ReplyDeletewhat i found more interesting about this portrait is the sense of fading about the whole thing - his hair, his suit, him into the background and i would have liked some more information about this, from the artist.
in terms of context - there are far greater influences which bring the context into play than the presence of the poppy:
where it's hung (ie, westminster or your local tesco),
prior experience of viewing paintings,
prior experience of viewing stately portraits
prior education (ah, that ol' chestnut)
and whether there is extra information (like the interview) at hand.
however, the use (or taking advantage) of the poppy has been well-used by the artist to pinpoint the openness of interpretation to a political (or royal) portrait.
C'mon Lauren. The Poppy represents the only thing people will remember Blair for in the future. Although there is an argument that without UK forces in Iraq. The Bush regime might have been much much more uglier. If it doesn't get more ugly than listening to 'Ride of The Valkyries' while the Shiites and Sunnis are divided and ruled by oil interests and torture becomes vogue while habeas corpus falls by the wayside. Thought you might get revved up by that one though.
ReplyDeletei don't disagree with your feeling about blair. but if it's the only thing he'll be remembered for (no matter what one's feeling about it is), then then context isn't an issue, and the poppy is an obvious choice.
ReplyDeleteand if not, then other elements of the painting come into play.
[what are you doing in beijing and me in australia when there are fabulous debates like this to be had over a meal in soho!]