Barbie, nuff' said.

I was trying to find a specific art piece that interested me By Milton Glaser, the one where Bob Dylan is portrayed in black and has coloured stringy hair, that specific poster was mimiced by the 'Barbie' co-orporation where Barbie is seen on the poster with minor changes from the original one.

(Barbie is a fashion play doll manufactured by the American toy-company Mattel, Inc. and launched in March 1959 where it made a huge hit immediatly after the product was introduced.
The Barbie doll was inspired by another fashion doll which is german made from the 1950's which was named Bild Lilli doll. )

 Bild Lilli Doll.

One of the first Barbie dolls.
Wikipedia, 2001.  [online] Available at: <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbie> [Accessed 16 December 2012 ].

Wikipedia, 2001. [online] Available at: <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bild_Lilli_doll> [Accessed 16 December 2012 ].

 

But then I came through one of the 'Barbie' websites which shows different transformations that this famous blonde character went through to look like some of the well known famous art pieces we know today. http://www.barbiemamuse.com/eng/barbie_ga_man_ray.php

I recognised some of the original works which Barbie later imitated such as the piece by Man Ray, Andy Warhol and Erwin Blumenfeld.
My personal response consirning this movement is that i think it is good advertising from the Barbie corporation but at the same time I feel like it is degrading amazing pieces of artwork and making them look cheap.

I also think, and know that it is a fact that a huge transformation is shown here. Taking a famous art piece which is a part of history and transforming it exactly into a modern type of promotion. The painting and artworks are copied exactly but using Barbie's famous face in every one of them which I think is the whole transformation point of it, instead of for example, seeing Mona Lisa's dull looking face, one can see a smile and make-up.
Barbie Muse, 2009. [online] Available at: <http://www.barbiemamuse.com/eng/barbie_ga_Marylin_Warhol.php> [Accessed 14 November 2012 ].

 

 

 

American Icon transformed

The story behind the 1917 'Uncle Sam poster' is not a very known one , but it is shown a lot in different situations. Uncle Sam is a famouse U.S army and american government character.
 

Uncle Sam

 

He was used to get people to support WWI. Uncle Sam (supposedly named for Samuel Wilson) was first mentioned in the War of 1812, when a business man labelled barrels of meat for
" U.S.", meaning the United States. It was joked that U.S. stood for Uncle Sam.

J. M. Flagg's 1917 poster, based on the original British Lord Kitchener poster of three years earlier, was used to recruit soldiers for both World War I and World War II.

 

''By the 1850s the name Brother Jonathan and Uncle Sam were being used nearly interchangeably to the point that images of what had been called "Brother Jonathan" were now being called Uncle Sam. Similarly, appearance of both personifications varied wildly. For example, one depiction of Uncle Sam in 1860 depicted him looking like Benjamin Franklin'' taken form Wikipedia article named 'Uncle Sam'.

 

Wikipedia, 2001. [online] Available at: <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncle_sam> [Accessed 13 November 2012 ].

 

Some 50 years later, another poster was released that was transformed from this original Uncle Sam poster, it turned into another poster depicting Uncle Sam as a wounded soldier which suggested that he wanted the war to end.

This transformation was iconic and kind of ridicueled the first poster which thousands of Americans took to heart.

 

Personally I think it is really clever and fit the experience well, some people can take it to be offensive though, just because it is taking an american icon and injurying him and maybe showing frailty to the american army.

 

Other means of transformation is seen consirning Uncle Sam when in marchandise such as:-

clothing

 

funny posters

 

and costumes

 

Transformation, in this subject has been, and still will be seen over and over again because Uncle Sam is suck an icon, people would want anything that would be connected to him in any sort of way.

 

 

Bibliography: Google search engine for pictures

for information  :

http://www.csmonitor.com/2003/0404/p18s01-alar.html

http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O75555/i-want-out-poster-daniel-john-and/

 

A simple yet iconic transformation

 

In the first image, A normal sailboat is seen in which the 'Burg al Arab' was modelled and designed after that is why I decided to portray it in the theme of 'transformation. Something which is seen very commonly has become a world known image of beautiful structure and high elegance This seven star hotel is situated in Dubai, on the coast of an Island of its own.

Burj al Arab was designed by architect Tom Wright . The construction of the island on which this hotel stands on began in 1994.

 

"The client wanted a building that would become an iconic or symbolic statement for Dubai; this is very similar to Sydney with its Opera House, London with Big Ben, or Paris with the Eiffel Tower. It needed to be a building that would become synonymous with the name of the country."^{http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burj_Al_Arab}

 

From personal experience, when I visited this hotel in 2010, I viewed it as being extremely modern, as it is also on the inside except from the amazingly beautiful theatre which has more of an old-Hollywood style to it.

Unlike my other posts, transformation in this item is only seen from design and it was only inspired from a sailboat and not exactly copied.
Another thing I like about this transformation is that the sailboat has been invented a very long time ago and they  succesfully transformed it into something modern, streamline and perfect.

^{Bibliography : quote and information taken from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burj_Al_Arab}

            google search engine for pictures

And the transformation begins..

 

I wanted to show you transformation in to different aspects, art transforming into photography and film. The idea came from me being bored and thinking of things that hopefully other people would not think of. The first thing that came to mind was the 'Girl with the Pearl Earring' which is the masterpiece of dutch painter Johannes Vermeer.'Today the painting is kept in the Mauritshuis gallery in The Hague. It is sometimes referred to as "the Mona Lisa of the North" or "the Dutch Mona Lisa".' Taken from Wikipedia with the title 'Girl with a Pearl Earring'.

 

This iconic painting which almost everyone knows or heard about, which a few years ago was taken and transformed into a film with a 7/10 rating and is currently the 107th in the IMDb.com's top 5000 list. This film came out in 2003 and was directed by Peter Webber. The screenplay was taken from the novel of the same name from Tracy Chavalier.

 

Just like the painting, the film has alot of bright colours and it seems that it flows and shows a sense of harmony.

The cast of the film ;

Colin Firth as Johannes Vermeer

Scarlett Johansson as Griet

Tom Wilkinson as Pieter van Ruijven

Cillian Murphy as Pieter

Judy Parfitt as Maria Thins

Essie Davis as Catharina Bolnes

Anna Popplewell as Maertge

Alakina Mann as Cornelia

(taken from wikipedia article named 'Girl with the Pearl Earring')

The plot of the film is set on of what some people may say is the true storry behind this painting, where A young peasant maid (played by scarlett Johansonn) is working in the house of painter Johannes Vermeer becomes his talented assistant and the model for one of his most famous works.

Personally this is one of my favourite paintings and I thought this transformation was amazing it showed its diversity from one object to another but still it showed the same concept of lighting and the music of the film suited the painting amazingly I also think that Scarlett Johansonn was the perfect person to play this character because she is such an amazing actress and played the roll amazingly.

The link to the trailer of the film : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zg4P-u8tu-8