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Composition: A top-down perspective emphasizes the individuals' cramped circumstances, squeezed between the ceiling and walls to symbolize their unity and shared sense of oppression.

Symbols: Lips are drawn on the ceiling to represent the act of speaking out, yet they appear sealed, conveying the inability to voice their concerns. The raindrops evoke the sadness, loneliness, and melancholy often associated with rain.

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Concept: This concept addresses the theme of environmental protection, emphasizing that while everyone is responsible for safeguarding the environment, the wealthy should bear a greater share.

Composition: The central figure represents the "wealthy," while the smaller figure on the left symbolizes the ordinary populace. The slanted composition underscores the disparity in social status between the two. The left side is simple, while the right is more elaborate.

Symbols: The contrasting toilets reflect different socioeconomic backgrounds. The left side shows a public restroom, while the right displays a luxurious bathtub. The bathtub, typically associated with cleansing, symbolizes both physical and spiritual purification. It represents renewal or rebirth from past troubles or guilt. The curtains represent the revealing or concealing of information or truth.

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Concept:

"The bathroom, often regarded as a private sanctuary where individuals attend to personal needs, serves as a potential forum for exploring sensitive topics. It functions not just as a place for physiological routines but also as a space for releasing psychological secrets."

Composition:

In these paintings, I depict various individuals from different perspectives, highlighting how people engage in distinct activities in the bathroom. This aligns with the concept of "multiple perspectives," emphasizing that even though their actions vary, these characters are interconnected. The exaggerated poses of the figures disrupt compositional balance, creating a strong visual impact.

Symbolism:

Elements like the laundry basket as a speaker, symbolizing the reverberation of sound throughout the bathroom, and the pipes hinting at the hidden yet vital connections between people, add symbolic layers to the narrative. The exaggerated postures emphasize the unique psychological state of each character. By incorporating elements from my earlier sketches, continuity is maintained, reinforcing the overall thematic cohesion of the artwork.

This composition invites viewers to reflect on the connectedness of personal spaces while considering broader social issues.

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Colors: Red and blue serve as contrasting colors that emphasize the main elements of the painting, especially the figures. Yellow functions as a highlight, providing brightness to certain areas, helping create visual impact and making sure that closely colored objects stand out. Gray is used for less significant parts of the composition. If too many bright colors were present, the painting's focal point could be lost. This approach ensures that the primary focus remains clear.

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Composition: I changed the perspective to a low-angle view, learning from Cindy Sherman's photography series Untitled Film Stills (1977-1979). In this series, Sherman portrays women with vulnerable expressions and poses, often employing a low-angle perspective to force the audience into the unsettling role of voyeur, objectifying the women and their bodies. I've adopted this composition to create an uneasy, horror-movie-like atmosphere.

Colors: Red and blue are contrasting colors and form the core of my composition, highlighting crucial elements like figures. Yellow acts as an accent color, used last to brighten areas that lack emphasis, creating visual impact and separation between similarly colored objects. Gray fills in less important areas, ensuring that the composition remains focused without overwhelming the viewer.

Symbols: I've added the transgender flag as a subtle hint and used the shadow of red lips in the mirror to allude to the underlying reality. The mirror serves as a reflection of two opposing elements, symbolizing women's internal conflict and their powerlessness in reality. The "surveillance" emitting red light signifies women being watched.

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Concept:

This concept revolves around the theme of war. In times of conflict, I hope people will find the courage to raise their voices, advocating collectively for world peace.

Composition:

The figures are positioned in the corner, while the horse dominates the visual center, taking up most of the composition. This arrangement highlights the different spatial relationships between the person and the horse, with the latter imparting a sense of oppression.

Symbolism:

Inspired by Picasso's "Guernica," the startled horse represents the wounded in war. Arnold Böcklin's "Isle of the Dead" influenced the inclusion of cypress trees, which symbolize life. In Western culture, bubbles signify both the beautiful and ephemeral, representing the fragility and brevity of life. This combination of symbols serves to emphasize the transient nature of existence.

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this painting based on the societal issue of women's abortion rights. The creative process made me think of tiles, which are a symbolic representation of the bathroom space.

Composition: I chose an eye-level perspective to portray a tranquil scene. With the horizon line flat, the visual focus naturally centers on the figures and the intimate parts of the woman. This perspective emphasizes the actions and privacy of the female figure.

Colors: Red and blue are contrasting colors that dominate the painting, emphasizing key elements like the figure. Yellow is used to brighten areas that lack emphasis, adding visual impact and separating similar objects. Gray fills the less significant parts, ensuring the composition remains focused and preventing an overload of bright colors that could obscure the main focus.

Symbols: The "scales of justice" are depicted as a drying rack in the bathroom, symbolizing fairness and justice. On one side of the rack, I've drawn household items, while on the other, I've depicted a baby's bottle, signifying the balance between "motherhood" and "self." Flowers symbolize a woman's life and intimate parts, covered in tile patterns to express societal oppression over women's bodies. Red water droplets hint at danger and pain.

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Charlotte Salomon's Life

Born in Berlin in 1917 to a wealthy German Jewish family, Charlotte Salomon grew up in an erudite environment in the elegant suburb of Charlottenburg, her household mingling with leading lights of the calibre of Albert Einstein, Erich Mendelsohn, and Albert Schweitzer. Her world, however, would soon start to crumble. In 1926, her mother died while convalescing at her parents' house, and in 1933 Adolf Hitler was appointed chancellor; nothing would ever be the same again.
Both Charlotte's father and his new wife, Paula Lindberg, lost their jobs - as a university professor and concert alto singer, respectively. Charlotte, however, was admitted to the prestigious Academy of Arts in Berlin, where she studied painting for two years until it was too dangerous to remain.

In 1938, following the tragedy of the Night of Broken Glass, her father's detention and torture, Charlotte fled Germany to southern France, where she joined her maternal grandparents.
The old couple had taken refuge in L'Ermitage, a villa owned by a millionaire American woman of German parentage named Ottilie Moore.
The woman, thanks to her father's fortune had moved to Villefranche on the Côte d'Azur in 1929 and later converted her luxurious property into a shelter and hiding place for Jewish children and pregnant women.

Charlotte Salomon and her grandparents

Despite the relative tranquillity of the new context, the string of horrors in Charlotte Salomon's life was not over: following the outbreak of the Second World War, her grandmother - who Charlotte had found deeply depressed - after a first failed attempt, took her own life, leaving the 21-year-old Charlotte alone with the both mentally and physically abusive grandfather.

The hatred for the man was such that after they were interned by the French authorities for several weeks in the concentration camp of Gurs, while looking back to the night spent in the crowded train to the camp, she commented: "I'd rather have ten more nights like this than a single one alone with him."

The trauma of deportation added to another experience - even more shocking, to Salomon - as her grandfather revealed the young woman a dark, unbearable truth: their family held a long-concealed history of suicide and her grandmother was, in fact, the eighth suicide victim in the family over three generations. Charlotte's aunt, whom she was named after, had left the family home in Berlin one night in 1913, walked twenty-one miles and drowned herself in a lake; Charlotte's own mother, Franziska - who she had always believed to be dead of influenza - in actuality had jumped out of the window, just as her mother would do in France fourteen years later.

Living in the constant fear of going mad herself, Charlotte Salomon consulted the local doctor, Dr Georges Moridis and, by his advise, began to paint.
Finding in art the antidote to death and sorrow, Charlotte turned the grimness of her family autobiography in all its misery into her life's monumental masterpiece: Leben? oder Theater?
"My life began when I found out that I myself am the only one surviving, I felt as though the whole world opened up before me in all its depths and horror," she wrote. "I will live for them all." She took a small room at the Hôtel Belle Aurore in Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat and retreated there in almost complete isolation, painting frantically, if not obsessively, for months.

Title page of Leben? oder Theater? - Ein Singespiel

In 1943, the artist married Alexander Nagler, a Jewish Romanian refugee, in doing so, dangerously producing legal evidence of their existence and address.
As the Nazis intensified their house to house search for Jews in southern France, Salomon wrapped Life? Or Theatre? in brown paper, addressed it to Ottilie Moore, and then handed it to her doctor and trusted friend Georges Moridis: "Keep these safe, they are my whole life." In September that year, the couple was dragged from their house and transported to the camp of Drancy. Salomon was then deported to Auschwitz, her life tragically cut short in the gas chambers upon her arrival. It was October 10, 1943; Charlotte Salomon was twenty-six years old, and five months pregnant.

Life? Or Theatre?

Often overshadowed by Charlotte Salomon's dramatic fate, Life? Or Theatre? has recently come to occupy a place among masterpieces of modernist art.
The work is a massive corpus of nearly eight hundred page-size gouaches and hundreds of transparent overlays with vignettes, sarcastic comments and chorus to sit on top of the paintings.
Salomon herself defined the work as a singspiel - a traditional German music form which can be roughly described as a musical play. Images and texts are, in fact, accompanied by directions for music, as a modern soundtrack ranging from Nazi marching songs to Schubert lieder and extracts from the music of Mozart and Mahler in a genre-bending creation. Combining historical events, personal memories and imagination, Salomon retraced her dark family history from 1913 to 1940: from her aunt's suicide to the moment she decided to paint her life, rather than to take it.

Charlotte Salomon, Kristallnacht, 1940-42

The work is structured in three parts: the prelude, the main part and the epilogue and is narrated in the third person by Salomon's avatar, 'Charlotte Kann'.
The characters - Charlotte's family members - are listed at the start of the series, as in a theatre programme. "I became my mother, my grandmother [...] I was all the characters who take part in my play. I learned to travel all their paths and became all of them," she wrote.
Although Life? Or Theatre? offers a unique perspective on the extreme historical circumstances in which the work was produced, the collection is not about the war or the Holocaust, but rather an intimate and desperate act of self-expression on the themes of love, life, and death by an anguished individual who saw in art the redemptive power she could not find elsewhere.

Page from the concluding Epilogue section of Life? Or Theatre?

Almost obsessively created, the work does not lack complexity in terms of composition, process, and materiality. On the contrary, it shows a rich personal narrative and it is imbued with cultural references that are both musical and artistic - from the Old Masters to Munch and Van Gogh - but also cinematic, in particular reminiscent of Fritz Lang's pioneering films.
With its original, well-thought compositions, and intense colours, Life? Or Theatre? is deeply engaged with the art of the time and is immensely valuable both in its entirety and its single components.

Charlotte Salomon, guache, transparent overlay and combined images from Life? Or Theatre?

Recognition

Ottilie Moore, to whom Life? or Theatre? was addressed, never managed to see the work, as she had fled to New York.
Salomon's masterful collection spent the remainder of the war in Moridis' safekeeping instead, until Salomon's father and stepmother - who had survived the Holocaust by escaping Westerbork concentration camp and hiding in Amsterdam - learned of the work's existence and travelled to Villefranche to receive it from Dr Moridis' hands.

First published in 1963, Charlotte Salomon's life's work is still relatively little known but is drawing more and more attention from both the public and the critics, especially since the publication, in 2014, of the best-selling novel Charlotte by David Foenkinos which brought the story to the public eye.
The book reached almost cult status, to the point that not even the release of a previously unknown - and rather shocking - letter by the Parisian publisher Le Tripode succeeded in overshadowing the novel's - and consequently Salomon's - fame.
The letter is now part of the new edition of Life? or Theatre? and consists of a nineteen-pages confession of murder in which the artist documented the homicide of her abusive grandfather by serving him a "Veronal omelette". "I knew where the poison was," she wrote. "It is acting as I write. Perhaps he is already dead now. Forgive me."

Charlotte Salomon, Self-portrait, 1940

With only a few exceptions, Salomon's body of work is held at the Jewish Historical Museum in Amsterdam, where her parents donated it in 1971.
Being very fragile, Life? Or Theatre? is not on display permanently, with only six gouaches on display in rotation.
On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the artist's birth, the museum mounted a retrospective dedicated to her artistic legacy that has travelled to diverse institutions across the world. Following the exhibition's success, the museum has also decided to hold a series of shows, each meant to illuminate a different aspect of Salomon's oeuvre. The first in the series was Charlotte Salomon in close-up, the influence of cinema on Life? or Theatre?

Although imbued with illness, suffering and death from the start, Salomon's utterly original work has inspired artists, film-makers, writers and choreographers to make creations of their own. Among the others, Dutch director Frans Weisz realised a feature film and a documentary, in 1981 and 2011 respectively.
In spite of the personal and historical horrors, the final pages of Life? or Theatre? are decidedly optimistic, ultimately sending a powerful message of hope and life.
In Salomon's own words: "She found herself facing the question of whether to commit suicide or to undertake something wildly extraordinary." Undoubtedly, she chose the latter and succeeded.

Relevant sources to learn more

Explore Charlotte Salomon's Life? Or Theatre? online

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Lest We Forget. Charlotte Salomon's: Life? Or Theatre? - Artland Magazine

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On the occasion of the International Holocaust Remembrance Day, we pay tribute to the tragic life and ground-breaking art of Charlotte Salomon.

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Gregory Swimming Los Angeles March 31st 1982, 1982

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Gregory Swimming Los Angeles March 31st 1982, 1982

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Based on the responses I received, I also collected some embarrassing incidents. I decided to turn these events into an illustration because I wanted to learn how to create a narrative similar to those found in comic books, with a storyline that unfolds through the artwork. I experimented with different poses to capture the "dynamics" of people's actions within this space, aiming to portray the emotions and movements that reflect their experiences in these awkward moments, much like the panels in a comic strip.

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What is Visual Hierarchy? — updated 2024

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What is Visual Hierarchy? Visual hierarchy is the principle of arranging elements to show their order of importance. Designers structure visual characteristics—e. g., menu icons—so users…

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The Isle of the Dead, Arnold Böcklin ,1883, 150×80 cm

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The Isle of the Dead, Arnold Böcklin ,1883, 150×80 cm

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Howarth, S., & Mundy, J. (2015, August). Fountain. Tate. Retrieved November 12, 2019

Conceptual art is an art form.It emphasizes the importance of the concept and ideas of art rather than focusing solely on the structure of presentation or aesthetic value of the artwork.In conceptual art, the audience plays a crucial role.They receive and understand the concepts and ideas conveyed by the artist, and through their interpretation, evaluation, and participation, they give the work a deeper meaning.

Marcel Duchamp's artwork "Fountain" was displayed in 1917 at the Society of Independent Artists' salon, which was one of the most famous examples of conceptual art. The salon was a self-proclaimed avant-garde art organization aimed at liberating thought and supporting new art forms. However, many of the works in this salon required a fee to be exhibited. The presence of "Fountain" criticized this so-called avant-garde art organization, sparking critiques from many industry insiders and critics against Duchamp.

The artistic context and the designation given by the artist were enough to make an object art, rather than any intrinsic qualities of the object itself. This provocative stance flew in the face of a salon that charged artists to exhibit, thus highlighting the tensions between commercialism and the ideals of artistic innovation and independence.

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As I had previously thought about the impact of the toilet scene on me, I thought about why it was safe to be in a toilet scene, and read some of the literature on how toilets make people think. The word "imagination" extended to children's creativity.

I read parts of "The Beast in the Nursery" by Adam Phillips, who explores the potency of children's imagination and how adults gradually lose this faculty. He likens children's imagination to a "beast," representing unfiltered creativity and the pure expression of emotion. As adults, societal norms, cultural constraints, and the pressures of reality often "tame" this inner beast, leading to a diminishment of imaginative power. Phillips challenges the conventional view that adults should completely abandon the fantasies of childhood, suggesting instead that these fantasies have their value and significance. He advocates that even adults should strive to retain and appreciate this "beast" from childhood—a primal force and creativity emanating from deep within.

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Comprising four short essays, this book by the former principal child psychotherapist of London's Charing Cross Hospital is a fascinating work, full of daring hypotheses and poetic vigour. Yet it is by no means an easy collection to read. Phillips' dazzling rhetoric and radical insight make considerable demands on the reader's imagination as one tries to match his boundless enthusiasm for revisioning Freudian and post-Freudian theory and practice.

In this unusual psychoanalytic critique, Phillips' ability to rephrase the commonplace, to re-invent his own thesis time and time again, taking one of his own beloved hints and reconstructing an audacious argument around it, is reason enough to read him. In many respects his work is reminiscent of the equally challenging Jungian James Hillman, who also stretches theory and criticism to new limits.

Yet for all that, we can clearly see the elements of Freudian orthodoxy, where couch and castration complex are the order of the day, at least with the older generation of client. Like Freud, he champions the childhood imagination, the dreamer faced with the threat of adapting to the reality of civilisation and the cultural restrictions of adulthood. Drawing on a range of literary sources to support his arguments, he re-examines subjects such as humiliation, rage, sublimation, language acquisition and morality with a refreshing novelty and compassion for the child's dilemma. He highlights the constant clash of internal ideals, the wish for worldly competence, and the need to mourn imaginative freedom to attain it. He views the child as being totally engrossed in life, and supports this passionate involvement.
"In other words, the child does not suffer from a lack of commitment. Tantrums are only for the engaged."
Curiosity and interest, which Phillips considers are dominantly sexual in origin, form the bedrock of the child's vitality and uniqueness. In the essay entitled, 'A Stab at Hinting', we are warned of the dangers of the child/client succumbing to teachings and certainties.

"I want to suggest that analysis - unlike teaching and seduction - is an education through hinting, about hinting. The best kind of teaching like the worst kind of seduction is all hinting. For some people it would be the other way around."

In perhaps the most accessible of the four essays entitled 'Just Rage', he probes deeply into our difficulty and ambivalence around humiliation and rage.

" In my bad temper, I expose not merely my loss of control - that so much wished for transgression - but far more shamefully I expose my furtive utopianism, my horrifying, passionate ideal of and for myself. The one person I can never mourn the loss of is my ideal self. Anything, even the shameful excitement of humiliation, is better than that. That we can feel humiliated reveals how much what matters to us matters to us. Our rage is itself a commitment to something. Our betrayals, our travesties are forms of awkward untimely revelation. It is as though our morality, as disclosed by our anger is a kind of private madness, a secret personal religion of cherished values that we only discover, if at all, when they are violated."

This author's cherished values, the almost hedonistic affirmation of appetite and pleasure, draw us back finally to the raw inspiration of the curious child, to 'the beast in the nursery', where it might seem wiser to use hints rather than orders, where we too can learn to help the child not to grow out of things but to grow into them time and time again.
Tim Hannan

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irish association of humanistic and integrative psychotherapists

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Irish Association of Humanistic & Integrative Psychotherapy (IAHIP) - Book Review: The Beast in the Nursery - Adam Phillips

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The Irish Association of Humanistic and Integrative Psychotherapists (IAHIP) sets and maintains the standards of relevant psychotherapy training and practice in Ireland. We represent humanistic and integrative psychotherapy at national and international levels.

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My initial inspiration stemmed from my personal experiences with the space of a toilet. Often, I find answers to problems there, and my thoughts flow faster than usual in this setting. For me, the toilet represents a brief escape from reality, a haven. This led me to develop a concept centred around the theme of toilets.

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Bathroom as Metaphor - Heather Reid Writes HEATHER REID

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On this website, I encountered an inspiring story written by the author using the toilet as a symbolic element. This prompted me to reflect on the significance of the "toilet" concept for my project. Initially, I thought my project was simply about toilets, but I needed to clarify whether the toilet was merely a symbol within my theme or the central concept itself. However, it's clear now that the toilet merely provides a setting—it represents a cultural symbol. Please translate my words into English, using professional artistic vocabulary, but keep it somewhat academic without being overly scholarly, as it's not intended for a research paper.

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As if just wanting a nicer bathroom wasn't reason enough. As if being grossed out by that weird clay-brown-poopish color that was in there wasn't reason enough. But you don't know, maybe just leave well-enough alone. But you can't. Now it's in your head.

You tell your closest friend of your plans.

"I think I might paint the bathroom," you confess as you and your friend push your kids on the swings at the park.

"Really?" she says, truly excited in the way that Moms are with any sort of change. "What color?"

Good question. You haven't thought that far ahead but now it's out there. Now the idea of this is out there and that sort of makes it feel more real, like it could happen.

You begin to look at paint samples, testing them out in The App you download. You begin to casually mention the idea with others. The random person you see painting a doorframe on a house on your street. And your husband, since he lives with you and might see said bathroom sometime.

"What if I painted the bathroom?" you try to work it into your four-and-a-half-minutes of allotted adult conversation time as you are gathering the 32 sippy cups from around the house that somehow your two kids used during ONLY ONE DAY of hydration.

"Where do all these cups come from?" he asks, clearly enthralled by your plans.

"I don't know. Hey, what about the bathroom?"

"OK, sure. Do you want me to do it?"

"No," you say but hmmm maybe but no. "No I can do it," because you can do things even though you have not really painted anything before but it's a small room. How hard can it be? "I will do it."

The husband shrugs. "Sure let me know the colors you want, I'll get swatches."

You take that as a vote of confidence.

That night you stay up late, downloading swatches into The App and obsessing over shades. Night Sky. Joy. Smoke on the Water. Ruby Slipper. Band names or paint swatches? Too many choices. You stay up until 12:45 am.

You narrow it down to three and your husband comes back from Home Depot with four, because it's a project now and he wants to feel involved. He paints samples on the wall and you pick one. He slightly disagrees but it's your project so you win. He buys the paint and some rollers.

And they sit in the basement.

Meanwhile, life goes on. You still dislike the bathroom and now it has four odd swaths of color on top of the original ugly color. Somehow there are other things to do in life. School starts. Birthdays arrive. Holidays approach and rush by like an express train. And then it's winter and the sky is endless gray and it's going to be winter forever and gah hasn't anyone painted that bathroom yet?

Friends return from using the facilities and ask if 'stripes' are a 'new thing.' Ha ha, you say, and close the door.

Then one day, about six months later, the sun comes out. The next day it rains, and washes away all but the most persistent snow drifts in the far corners of the yard away. And then the sun comes out again, like it means it this time.

And you wander down to the basement, just to see if that paint is still there. It is. You take the blue tape and begin to line all the corners, because details. You crack open the gallon of paint which seems like so much paint and you begin with the edges gaining some confidence until you nearly fall off the vanity but then you don't so you're good.

The next day, you go for the ladder and the roller and now it's looking... bad. But you see glimpses of your vision taking shape. And maybe it's the paint fumes, but yeah, OK not bad.

A few days later you are ready for the final coat, some touchups. Is this enough paint? Yes. It's almost done.

When that is dry, you put things back. The cup, the soap, the mirror, the hand towel holder that set off this project in the first place. You step back. You smile.

You see every imperfection. The tiny smudge on left of the light. The drip just above the doorframe. The smudge by the door. But it's done. It's yours and it's done.

You wonder what took you so long.

And now you want to paint the kitchen.

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Bathroom as Metaphor - Heather Reid Writes

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So, you think you want to paint the bathroom. No, you're sure you want to. Pretty sure, anyway.

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In order to find more inspiration, I visited various public places and friends' bathrooms, searching for new ideas. Unfortunately, I didn't find what I was looking for, but I discovered different painting techniques. I experimented with distorting the scenes more dramatically and using unique perspectives to showcase the entire layout of the bathrooms. I chose to use colored pencils for my drawings because they can create a "rough" and "messy" texture, which correlates with the typical perception of bathrooms. This approach allowed me to capture the essence of the space in a way that resonates with its often chaotic and overlooked nature.

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In the realm of contemporary art, the imagery of subcultures often serves as a means to challenge traditional silence. This work aims to delve into and highlight the uniqueness and diversity that individuals bring when they articulate their understanding of the world. By utilizing subcultural imagery, the illustrations not only function as visual representations but also act as metaphors, hinting at each person's inherent individuality and complexity—traits that are sometimes overlooked or suppressed in everyday social interactions.

I seek to use the visual language of subcultures to challenge the acceptance of traditional silences, encouraging viewers to bravely voice their opinions and publicly express their personal views. Each character in the illustrations symbolizes the value of independent thinking and their place within cultural diversity. The term 'edges' here refers not just to the marginal appearance but also to the sharpness and depth of thoughts, underscoring the power of individual ideologies and their role in shaping social discourse. This rewrite aims to maintain the essence of your message in a clear and engaging manner.

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Target audience: Young adults (ages 18-30). Young adults are typically open to new ideas and challenging traditional norms. They are in a phase of exploring their personal identity and societal roles, and may be more willing to engage in discussions about "taboo" topics. This age group is also active on social media, which facilitates effective promotion and participation through these platforms.

Artist position: Illustrator

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Marc Chagall, I and the Village, 1911, oil on canvas, 192.1 cm × 151.4 cm (75.6 in × 59.6 in), Museum of Modern Art, New York

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Marc Chagall, I and the Village, 1911, oil on canvas, 192.1 cm × 151.4 cm (75.6 in × 59.6 in), Museum of Modern Art, New York

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The emphasis is on the repeated use of "elements," drawing key elements from personal experiences and integrating suitable symbols in creation. For example, like "I and the village", he incorporated elements like animals and the village—these are things that accompanied his upbringing. The death of animals contributes to human survival, and humans upon dying return to the earth that nourishes animals, continuing the cycle of life. The violin, a quintessential instrument in Jewish culture, is used metaphorically by him to represent the precarious existence of Jews in the ghettos.

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After World War I, Marc Chagall found himself confined in Russia where he met his wife. Despite the surrounding turmoil of war, he cherished this period. He employed saturated colors and dynamic compositions to create a sense of movement and a dreamlike atmosphere. The artist in the painting might be depicted in a semi-abstract form, utilizing twisted and exaggerated lines to emphasize the fluidity of motion and emotion. Many sources I have gathered describe his story with his wife. However, considering his life experiences, having witnessed the darker aspects of the world through two world wars, what truly resonates with me is his continued expression of a longing for a better life in his paintings. In my work, although I address controversial topics in modern society, I still aim to convey positive notions. I use metaphors to expose issues, but ultimately, I aspire to encourage people to bravely voice their thoughts in the face of injustice. Thus, I have studied Chagall's use of color.

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This painting incorporates Chagall's characteristic elements of dreamlike hues, Romanticism, and personal symbolism. The flying artist symbolizes the unrestrained exercise of creativity and the liberation of the spirit. In Chagall's works, flying often serves as a metaphor for escaping the confines of reality and pursuing dreams and freedom.

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Charlotte Salomon's magnum opus Leder? Oder Theater? (Life? Or Theatre?) is an incredible series of paintings, created during the Second World War. Yet her work focuses on familial abuse and tragedy over the horrors of the Holocaust.

Being a young Jewish woman, Salomon was forced to flee Nazi Germany in her early twenties, and was sent to live with her grandparents in the South of France. However, far from being a place of safety, there is evidence to suggest her grandfather was sexually abusing her.

After her grandmother committed suicide in 1939, her grandfather revealed that many other loved ones in Salomon's life had committed suicide, including her mother, and this knowledge weighed down on her. She turned to painting to cope with her depression, driven by "the question: whether to take her own life or undertake something wildly unusual".

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BBC - Defying the Nazis: The Jewish masterwork painted in hiding

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Charlotte Salomon created hundreds of paintings while hiding from the Nazis.

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1948 - Painting for The Saturday Evening Post cover.

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American, born Daugavpils, Russia (now Latvia), 1903-1970

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American, born Daugavpils, Russia (now Latvia), 1903-1970

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The Two Fridas, 1939, Oil on canvas, 173.5 x 173 cm, Museo de Arte Moderno, Mexico City, Mexico.

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The Two Fridas, 1939, Oil on canvas, 173.5 x 173 cm, Museo de Arte Moderno, Mexico City, Mexico.

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Vik Muniz, Pictures of Garbage: Mother and Children (Suellen); Atlas (Carlão), 2008.

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Since the 1980s, wealth inequality in the United States has significantly increased, with the income and wealth of the top earners, especially the top 1%, growing much faster than those of other groups. The presidential election of 2016, which occurred during one of the peak periods of political polarization in the U.S., highlighted the nation's deep divisions over economic policies, immigration, healthcare, and other key issues. The widening wealth gap and economic inequality became central topics in election debates.

In this context, the installation of a gold toilet in a museum—a place symbolizing cultural sophistication—becomes a powerful medium for discussing the unfair distribution of wealth. It prompts viewers to reflect on who can afford such luxuries and what the status of ordinary people is in a society where wealth is highly concentrated. This art installation not only critiques the ostentatious display of wealth but also challenges the viewers to consider the implications of such inequality and their own positions within these dynamics.

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Piero Manzoni, Merda d’artista, 1961

Piero Manzoni's "Artist's Shit" is a piercing critique of the commercialization of the art market in the 1960s and the role of artworks as commodities. The work consists of 90 cans, each containing Manzoni's faeces, sealed and labelled with an exact net weight of 30 grams, indistinguishable from ordinary food cans on the outside. Manzoni priced these cans at the equivalent value of their weight in gold, challenging and satirizing the art market's method of valuing art.

"Artist's Shit" directly targets the art market and its consumers. Through this work, Manzoni criticizes the art market's superficial and simplistic understanding of art value while also mocking collectors and investors who are willing to spend substantial amounts on such "artworks." He challenges the traditional sanctification of artworks and artists within the art world and how the market drives the creation and circulation of art. This piece not only questions the definitions of art and value but also provocatively reflects on the dynamics of supply and demand in art economics.

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By Lauren Gee

Who was Piero Manzoni?

Piero Manzoni was born in Soncino, Italy in 1933 against the backdrop of Mussolini's fascism. He was of noble descent; his father Egisto, was a count, rendering his full title Il Conte Meroni Manzoni di Chiosca e Poggiolo. He was part of a large family with four siblings; two brothers and two sisters, of which he was the eldest. During his early years he was sent to the infamous Jesuit school Liceo Leone XIII, though this education did not include any specific artist training to speak of. Following the death of Manzoni's father in 1948 by heart attack, (a fate that would later befall Manzoni himself at the young age of 30) Manzoni went on to pursue art more seriously. He began painting at seventeen, starting with abstract and gestural works typical of the post-war period, but his style was to change greatly. Ultimately he become a leading pioneer of conceptual thinking in Modernist practice and an infamous iconoclast, with his shocking use of materials culminating in the controversial Merda d'artista, an act of artistic sacrilege that confirmed his place in the annals of the avant-garde.

When was Piero Manzoni Working?

Manzoni made art at a critical time. World War II had transformed Italy greatly, with the subsequent rebuilding resulting in a massive economic boom. Coined 'The Italian Miracle', Italy's economic and social development grew the country into an industrial stronghold. Alongside his contemporaries Manzoni made art which navigated and reacted to the shift in Post war Europe, changes which had left many unable to recognise the humble neighbourhoods they had grown up in. His work has been read by many as a critique of the mass production and consumerism that had taken over Italy, an erstwhile agrarian and humble economy. His choice of materials ranged from rabbit fur to cotton, and eventually his own excrement, directly challenging the finished goods and production values of the factory and production value in their re-appropriation of everyday objects. Merda d'artista can be seen as one of the most obvious examples of this opposition-he directly references a manufactured product of the factory and even utilises a vessel emblematic of this production process, the tin can, filling it with his own excrement, and thus yielding a protest to the industrialisation that had seized his country.

Lucio Fontana (1899-1968), slashed canvas

Artists that influenced him

It is clear to see the art and lineage of artists that influenced Manzoni, with the Merda d'artista channelling both the Duchampian gesture of the readymade and its inherent critique of the high art object. Despite having no formal art education in his early life, Manzoni did study for a short time in Milan at the Brera Academy where his contact with other artists would have also helped to shape his practice. He became friends with fellow artist Argentine-Italian Lucio Fontana, a painter most well known for his bright canvases pierced by deep slashes, also a direct challenge to the received 'values' of the medium of painting, and with an ideology that had a close kinship with Manzoni's own. It was through Fontana that Manzoni became introduced to the International Nuclear Art Movement led by Italian avant-garde artist, Eaismo. In 1948 they produced a manifesto in which their stance against the industrial use of nuclear power was established. Manzoni also retains a longstanding comparison to French artist Yves Klein, part of this same movement. Klein also painted highly conceptual monochromatic canvases as well as producing more conceptual pieces such as 'The Void' a work consisting of an empty gallery. In this sense Manzoni and Klein were similar in that their work was constantly pushing the boundaries of what could be referred to and celebrated as art.

Piero Manzoni - Achrome, kaolin on canvas

The shit in a can

Manzoni produced Merda d'artista at the end of his career in 1961, two years before he passed away. While living in Milan he made the series, comprised of ninety cans of shit, each numerically labelled, as one would expect a set of prints to be, with German, French and English titles describing the cans as 'Artist's shit'. In a letter to fellow artist and friend Ben Vautier, he humorously speculated that 'if collectors want something intimate, really personal to the artist, there's the artist's own shit, that is really his.' Though said in jest, his critique of the art market and those invested in it was a real and integral manifestation of his thoughts at the time, sitting at the core of much of his work. Before Merda d'artista he had made 'Artist's Breath' in which he blew up a red balloon and then framed it as a piece of art. Through this declaration of what could be considered art he further challenged the way art was seen. In using his own breath and then own excrement, he inserted his own physical being into his work in a very literal and specific way, also asserting the artist's cult of personality as the ultimate arbiter of what could, and could not, be deemed art. At the time of its making it was recorded that he sold one can to Alberto Lùcia for 30 grams of 18-carat gold. In more recent years examples from the original edition have made some eye watering sums at auction, including at auction in Milan in 2016 where one of the tins sold for a new record of €275,000.

Piero Manzoni

Is it Art?

Manzoni follows a long conceptual tradition in which the viewer is challenged to re-evaluate their preconceptions or perspective about familiar objects. The work can be likened to Marcel Duchamp 's 'Fountain' in which he appropriated a urinal deeming it a fountain rather than vernacular low-grade bathroom porcelain, and also to René Magritte's "Ceci n'est pas une pipe" in which he claimed a painting of a pipe, was in fact 'not a pipe'. Duchamp and Magritte, like Manzoni, challenge what is both being shown and perceived through the framing, presentation and titling of the work. However, Manzoni goes one step further in simply naming his piece 'Artist's Shit', an ultimate act of defiance fully realised. The stark transparency in which he presents the work shows no effort to conceal the contents of the work, but rather provoke and confront the set of expectations we bring to art and the gallery space.

Piero Manzoni and The Myths of the Merda

It is much disputed as to whether the can does in fact contain Manzoni's shit, with some sceptics believing it to contain plaster, though this theory can never be tested since the act of opening a can to check will render it valueless as a commercial entity. Though the work seems a natural fit in terms of the artist's ideas about art and materiality, it has been said it was made in reaction to a specific statement made by his father in which he was told his son, 'Your work is shit'. His father supposedly also owned a canning factory thus defining Merda d'artista as a perfect rebuttal to his closest critic. When Manzoni died in 1963, it is said that his friend and artist Ben Vautier signed his death certificate, claiming that it was now a piece of art, a fitting final word for an artist who had sent his life subverting what could and could not be considered art.

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Piero Manzoni and his Merda d'artista. - Artland Magazine

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Piero Manzoni (1933-1963) Italian artist and creator of Merda d'Artista, pioneering avant-garde artist whose excrement became the ultimate anti-art gesture.

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The History of Graffiti in the West

Graffiti art is an art form that originated in street culture. It dates back to ancient times but began to develop in the West in the early 20th century. Graffiti art in the UK has Bristol and London as important centres. Recent graffiti artists have diverse styles, including abstract, realistic and geometric.

Colour: The colours used in graffiti art are varied, and there are no set rules. Artists can choose from bright and vibrant colours, black, white, grey tones, or unique colour schemes.

Elements: Common elements in graffiti art include words, images, symbols, geometric shapes, patterns and so on. These elements can be creatively combined and interpreted to form the artist's signature.

Expression: Graffiti artists express personal views, social issues, political stances, emotional experiences and more through their work.

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primary research in Japan - vintage shop Yellow House

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primary research in Japan - vintage shop Yellow House

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Hockney has long been skeptical about photography's capacity to make complex art-"I mean, photography is all right if you don't mind looking at the world from the point of view of a paralyzed Cyclops- for a split second. But that's not what it's like to live in the world." But when curator Alain Sayag convinces him to mount a show of his photographs at the Centre Pompidou in Paris, he has a breakthrough regarding how the medium might be used to create two-dimensional images with the perspectival sophistication of Cubist paintings. To document Hockney's collection of personal photographs-which number in the thousands-Sayag suggests using a Polaroid camera for making "instant" prints. In short order, Hockney adopts this device to make new artworks: composite Polaroids showing multiple viewpoints in a single work of art. They are an innovation on his method, since the 1970s, of compositing multiple snapshots to plan paintings.

The main point was that you read it differently. It wasn't just a photograph. It was abstracted, stylized: the ideas were based on Cubism in the way that it filters things down to an essence .... It worked so well that I couldn't believe what was happening when I looked at it. I saw all these different spaces, and I thought: "My God! I've never seen anything like this in photography." Then I was at the camera night and day. I bought a thousand dollars of Polaroid film straight away! Within a week I'd done very complex things. I quickly discovered that I didn't have to match things up at all. In fact, I couldn't possibly match them, and it wasn't necessary. The joiners were much closer to the way we actually look at things, closer to the truth of the experience.

The Centre Pompidou exhibition opens in July, and provides an overview of Hockney's years of personal photographs as well as recent experimentation. Andy Grunberg, writing in the New York Times, notes the [NESTED]impact of the composite Polaroids in light of art history: "By photographing at different angles and distances, Hockney forces a number of perspectival disparities to appear .... Hockney has long admired Picasso; this is as close as he has come yet to paying homage by style."

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Makes composite Polaroid pictures, exhibits at the Pompidou, moves from Polaroid to Pentax camera for photographic collages...

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Hayley Wall- Femme VisibilityWinning artwork for Lesley magazine’s poster competition.

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Hayley Wall- Femme VisibilityWinning artwork for Lesley magazine’s poster competition.

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is an artist and illustrator based in South East London, UK. Hayley’s work highlights the struggles and joys of queer and disabled people as their bodies move through the world. Hayley has a keen eye for social justice and their work challenges and reframes dominant perspectives around disability, mental health, queerness, and gender, while simultaneously celebrating the resilience and vitality of oft-marginalized identities. Hayley’s illustrations are thought-provoking and aim to boldly challenge conventional and rigid notions, inviting viewers to embrace a more inclusive and empathetic world view.

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Street graffiti often occurs in unauthorized public or private spaces, thereby engaging with issues of control and power over public spaces. In certain instances, street graffiti can become part of social movements, such as those opposing commercialization, poverty, or racism.

This form of expression utilizes the urban landscape as a canvas to challenge societal norms and voice dissent. Graffiti artists often aim to make bold statements that invite viewers to reconsider their surroundings and the issues depicted. By transforming everyday environments into forums for public discourse, graffiti acts as a powerful tool for cultural and political engagement. Its presence underscores the tension between authority and individual freedom, highlighting the artist's role in shaping dialogue about pressing social issues.

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Since the late 18th century, as discussed in Raymond Williams' "Culture and Society," culture has been seen as an evolving entity that includes not only high culture but also the sum of various lifestyles. In this sense, street graffiti reflects how culture grows and evolves at the grassroots level, and also shows how subcultures can influence mainstream society. This perspective allows us to see graffiti as more than just vandalism; it is a form of cultural expression that communicates the experiences and values of those often marginalized or overlooked by mainstream narratives.

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DICK HEBDIGE -SUBCULTURETHE MEANING OF STYLE

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DICK HEBDIGE -SUBCULTURETHE MEANING OF STYLE

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"From the late eighteenth century onwards, the concept of culture has been a focal point for English intellectuals and literary figures in their critical examination of various contentious societal topics. Matters such as the implications of mechanization on human well-being, the complexities of labor division, and the rise of large-scale societies have been central to debates framed within what Raymond Williams termed the 'Culture and Society' dialogue, as initially presented in his 1961 work" (Williams, 1961).

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Depending on previous works,I have given more thoughtful consideration to the composition of my illustrations. Moving beyond just focusing on the postures of people in restrooms, I have added more detail to the overall scene to clarify the content being expressed. On the right, I aim to convey that the restroom is a safe and peaceful place where everyone can feel secure. To enhance this message, I included more dramatic elements like aliens and rockets in the illustration. This particular artwork depicts a restroom as a space where one can temporarily escape reality. It shows a person hiding in the restroom, isolated from a busy work environment.

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People's postures and behaviour in toilets

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People's postures and behaviour in toilets

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People's postures and behaviour in toilets

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People's postures and behaviour in toilets

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People's postures and behaviour in toilets

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People's postures and behaviour in toilets

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People's postures and behaviour in toilets

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People's postures and behaviour in toilets

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Choosing to use the zigzag position when going to the toilet in public toilets

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Choosing to use the zigzag position when going to the toilet in public toilets

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When the toilet door is broken and you're afraid of other people bursting in.

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When the toilet door is broken and you're afraid of other people bursting in.

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Awkward things that can happen in the toilet - meeting someone you know and saying hello

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Awkward things that can happen in the toilet - meeting someone you know and saying hello

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Character design - learnt from other funny comics

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Character design - learnt from other funny comics

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Character design - learnt from other funny comics

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Character design - learnt from other funny comics

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Character design - learnt from other funny comics

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Character design - learnt from other funny comics

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After comparing the styles of these comics, I decided to sketch some characters based on people I observed on the streets. I exaggerated their features in my drawings—for instance, a very tall person was depicted with extremely slender arms and legs. Children playing and laughing in the streets were drawn with wavy arms to capture their lively motion. I chose a paper that resembles toilet paper for my sketches to align with the theme. These sketches are quite rough, as this is just my initial attempt at this style.