RADIOACTIVE CATS-Sandy Skoglund

1) WORDS/IDEAS/FEELINGS THAT COME TO MIND …

-ugly

-sad

-debauchery

-boredom

-surrealist

-pitiful

-anxiety

-strange world

-quantity

-flash color

-radiocats

-animals of the future

-bad cats

-trouble

-rest

I think it’s a regular situation, but quantity creates a sort of very strange trouble. Cats are green, so they appear very flashy on the gray background This aspect is also very disturbing.

2) THIS PHOTO IS PART OF A SERIES CALLED “FAMILY PORTRAITS”… WHAT KINDS OF IS IT?!

It’s photographic portrait, but it’s also a tableau. Because the cats are not very real, not very concrete, so it’s a tableau.

3) WHAT DOES IT SHOW (describe the various elements, the situation, the atmosphere, etc…)?

We see radioactive, green-painted cats running amok through a grey kitchen. An old man sits in a chair with his back facing the camera while his elderly wife looks into a refrigerator which is the same colour as the walls.

The Colour of cats and the colours of the rest of the kitchen are much contrasted. The cats seem to be fluorescent.

It’s a normal situation: a couple with his cats. But the overwhelming number of cats is very scaring.

I’d just like to add : this picture is very representative of this disturbed period. In my opinion cats are victims of nuclear dangers. But also, the boredom and sadness of these two elderly persons is the result of the trouble and fear these people felt during the Cold War.

4) WHAT ARE THE THEMES? (UGLINESS…)

I would say: A paradoxal normality, a quantity frighten.

5) WHAT IS THE MESSAGE? (If any)

I think the message of this photo/tableau is the consequence of the fear of a major nuclear conflict during the Cold war. So, this work of art points out nuclear and war dangers. Il also reflects the sadness and disarray of people living between war and freedom.

6) WHAT,BASED ON THIS EXAMPLE, IS THE PURPOSE OF (this work of art) ART ?

This work of art was done to show the difficult life of people living in doubt and in terrible uncertainty. They didn’t know whether the war would burst out .

THE BEAUTY AT ANY PRICE !

This document focuses our attention on the real tyranny of the aesthetic ideal.

Today, the beauty must be slender and obedient. In fact, first of all, the beauty of the woman is characterized by a slim appearance, and by a big  breasts. This picture shows us the stereotype of the attractive woman in office.

In our time, most people would like to hide their body and their face through makeup, aesthetic surgery, tattoos and percings. In the end, nothing is pure. In conclusion, beauty fascinates and concerns a lot of people.

Prisoners of this consumer society, a lot of people lead a fierce fight against wrinkles, overweight and other little defects. Minds are manipulated. Medias create a woman or man picture, and, some people identify with retouched photographs of supermodels. There is even, according to articles, a profound addiction to the beauty from childhood!

Then, there are also people who exaggerate the stereotyped part. In fact, because of  this “ideal” of beauty many people use medicine and surgery which is often the cause of total disfigurement. Some of them become real caricatures: bimbos. These persons live in a superficial world and very extreme too. They become slaves of “beauty”, but here, it’s no beauty, it’s an industry beauty, so just big business.

So, today, beauty is only luxury, therefore only money. Beauty becomes a real trade, besides as the title says: THE BEAUTY AT ANY PRICE.

Sète, a contrating city ?

Sète is a town located in the South of France, near the Mediterranean sea. I have been there regularly for fifteen years, and I love this town. It overflows with colors, with smells and with very different people. On this photo, we can see the heart of the town crossed by "the canal". There are a lot of  "town's houses". In fact they are stuck together. I love this place, in my opinion, it's  charming. I wish I lived in a little house, pink or blue as they are.

But, when I look at this other photo, I don't say the same. In my point of view, these factories are very ugly and they ruin all my little dream of Sète. It's a gloomy and  greyish place. I don't understand why there are such places which deteriorate the beauty of the town.