BLACK PANTHER : Emory Douglas & The Art of the Revolution

Responses to racism and other world issues - Emory Douglas style.

Part of the exhibition was set up like a classroom.  School desks with books and magazines gave a deeper understanding of the movement and other related affairs.

A few weeks ago I was at the Urbis with Sam and James to see the Black Panther exhibition.  The exhibition was extremely well put together.  I was impressed not only by the content but also the way in which it had been constructed and displayed which made it easy to follow and understand as well as interesting to look at.  The exhibition showcased the graphic artwork of Emory Douglas for the black panther movement during the late 60's and the history and meaning behind the black power salute - the controversial fist raising at the 1968 Mexican Olympic games.

Much of Douglas' work from the period aimed to compel African Americans to stand up for their rights and to become active members of the movement to stop racism and the civil unrest.  Douglas understood the power of images in communicating ideas and his distinctive illustrative style using thick black lines and resourceful tint and texture combinations where vital to his success in portraying the conditions. His work made revolution seem necessary, giving a sense of power to those who felt powerless and victimized.  The ideas put across in his work are easy to see and understand because of his bold and clever use of text and imagery to evoke emotive responses.  He quickly became responsible for the design of the Black Panther's, Black community News Service (the official paper of the party) and used the papers popularity to inspire people to take action.  I think what was most inspiring to me was the way in which he was able to motivate the normally disinterested people through simple cartoons that where often in just black and white.  His slogans, "All power to the people" and "Revolution in our lifetime" and his use of pigs and rats for the first time to represent policemen and politicians were truly powerful persuasive devices that have stood the test of time and become part of everyday language.  Douglas' knack for portraying the poor with genuine empathy as outraged, unapologetic and ready for a fight, played an influential part in the revolutionary movement.  Although he is much less well-known I believe that his contribution had similar implications within communities as the great inspirational speeches of Martin Luther King.

In terms of how Douglas has inspired the way I think about my work is really the way in which his ideas and thought processes have been carefully realised to give maximum impact.  Although it is a cliche, it has re-emphasized the importance that sometimes less is more and that words and imagery should always be considered wisely.  As a designer or more importantly an advertiser I must constantly endeavor to understand the implications of the content in my design, which I have a tendency to overcomplicate because of a lack of confidence, perhaps.

At the end of the exhibition was the chance to create your own Emory Douglas inspired poster to be displayed on a wall, which I thought was a nice touch.  It was to allow the public to get involved in voicing their opinions, as well as being a tribute to the artist.  I didn't have time to do my own though :(

State of the Art : NEW YORK

Hey, this is my first post! So far I have been keeping a file of all my notes, lectures, tutorials etc and it is fast becoming the bulk of my journal.  Anyway last night I went to see the New York exhibition at Urbis with Sam, Jake and Matt and decided to begin my blog with a little write up of it.  In time I will add more to my blog with my previous work because I think it will be beneficial to share thoughts and ideas in this way, as well as adding another layer to my journal. (that was Mac talking). I'm not really used to keeping a blog or anything similar so i reckon I'll just keep it simple and informal.  I'll try to say exactly what I'm thinking and be as honest as possible, I cant be sure how it will turn out though so here goes.. Ok so... here's what happened...

This was an extremely detailed and intricate charcoal drawing and easily the most technically skilled and labored piece there.

We arrived at Urbis and were greeted with Manhattan cocktails which where fucking strong, probably to get us pissed because the exhibition was so ludicrously bizarre.  Dam I wasn't supposed to give that away so soon, or sound so cynical.  I didn't know what to expect as I hadn't found out anything about the exhibition prior.  The reason we were at the opening was because Sam's inquisitive nature had resulted in 2 free tickets, whilst we were there at the Black panther exhibition.  I presumed the work would be to do with the city New York... it turned out it was that the artists where all new yorkers and their works were just random installations, videos and other artworks that didn't have any relevance to New York, nor to each other.  The works where all separate pieces and there seemed no logical route to go around the exhibition. Everyone seemed to wander aimlessly about the arbitrary setup, in fact we almost missed a few bits of work that were hidden behind a wall.  Most of the artwork, although quite interesting and visually stimulating, went against most of the ideals of graphic design and advertising and what it means to "design" something.  To me design has to have a concept and a function.  This exhibition was completely the opposite but saying all of this is a bit pointless when it wasn't meant to be doing any of the things that design should - it was an art exhibition.  I would say the installations were entertainment pieces, typical of this kind of exhibition.  The wacky, self-indulgent creators and their "ingenious concepts" are something I always seem to be apathetic towards.  A lot of the work conjured up the usual "I could of done that!" and "what the fuck is that supposed to be?".  Even so I did quite enjoy the exhibition, I just thought it was of no use to me in my practice.

Ok the night was pretty much summed up with a performance piece by an american guy called Matthew Lutz-Kinoy.  It began with this Matthew bloke crawling on all fours towards the center of the stage, wearing black spandex and what I can only describe as a spaghetti bolognese mask.   When he lifted the mask to reveal his face I was surprised to be met by this Freddie Mercury lookalikey (well it was just his tash really).  Anyway Freddie's campness was a prevalent theme throughout the performance which involved dancing, singing, painting with his hands and throwing money about the place.  It was all quite strange if I'm honest.  There were moments when I didn't know where to look as I found it a bit embarrassing.  Maybe I just didn't get it but when I looked across at Jake and saw him chuckling with a grin from ear to ear (as if to say "oh god give me a hundred grand to do that and I'd probably still have reservations"), I knew I wasn't the only one. It was so undignified it was cringe worthy.  From what I gathered the narrative was based around the obsessive and narcissistic nature of a bipolar bar worker who spent his days pining over lost lovers :/  It seemed that he was driving himself crazy with the lust and loneliness inside his mind.   Deep I know....

The guy on the left is spaghetti faced Mr Mercury just before he began his performance (unfortunately my camera battery ran out - this was the last photo I took) and the other geezer accompanied Freddie with some part rehearsed, part improvised Elton John on acid type piano skillz to pay the billz.  

Anyway all in all I'd say the whole thing was enjoyable as a bit of fun, but taken seriously, unless its the weird and wonderful and pointless kind of art your into then its probably slightly worrying to draw any sort of inspiration from the ideas there.  Think Mighty Boosh takes on Tracy Emin but not funny or expressive and you wont be far off.  I couldn't help feel pretentious even being there.

So that's my first post.  It's a bit long but never mind. I'll try to keep them more succinct in the future, I'll probably just get bored of typing so they'll be shorter.

I'll post some photos to give an idea of the exhibition too.