maandag 25 februari 2013

Monday Mural

 I had to laugh when I saw this one on the wall. in Rotterdam. At first I thought it must be an exhibiton about a poor girl having a terrible job, but when I googled I found out this billboard is art created by Ken Lum and is gracing the facade here since 1990! The artist isn't advertising anything, but his billboard does truly contain a "message". He provides insight into the codes of advertising.
By incorporating the stereotypical design of the advertisement, he is showing how ingrained our visual habits are. We automatically make a connection between word and image, and take the direct language of the sign personally. But is Melly Shum a real person? No further information gives contradition between image and text. Unlike normal advertisements , this work of art does not provide answers, it merely raises questions.

Well, this is a lot of text for the monday morning, if you want to read more look here
For more Monday Murals have a look here

12 opmerkingen:

  1. Interesting backstory with this image. Hard to believe it's been there for over 20 years. I immediately wondered what it was all about because the person depicted, who is supposed to hate her job, is actually smiling.

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  2. A lot of people hate their jobs, I would imagine an image like this might make them think about pursuing other options to change their lives.

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  3. Well there is a lot of people who would gladly like to have a job so that they could be able to say the same thing.

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  4. Verrassend. Het laat je wel even nadenken.

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  5. And what is she going to do about it? That's the question that popped into my mind.

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  6. Like you, I read this as an ad for a gallery show. Thanks for the info. My first question was why is the text in English? Why is she smiling? Possibly she shows a smile as her public image and the "hate" is part of her private thoughts? Amazing that this image has survived for 20+ years without getting tagged! Thanks for contributing to this week's Monday Mural.

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  7. I'm happy with all your words today Marianne, otherwise I would not have got the true meaning of this mural.

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  8. jij hebt een rondje Rotterdam genomen. Deze heb ik ook in Flickr.
    Leuk om ook van iemand anders te zien.Fijne avond en groetjes, Dietmut

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