Talking Walls - Posters

This piece is a representation of 'controlling one's fate'. The paintbrush with the American flag scribbled on it is giving the message of freedom. Freedom to create anything we desire. It illustrates our own individual pictures of America that we paint in our minds. The flag itself represents freedom. Is all of America free, or is this how we would like to paint it and present it to others? It supports the cliché that 'beauty is in the eyes of the beholder'. We all have our different perspectives, and paintbrushes, some bigger than others, but we ourselves have the opportunity to paint our perspective to show to the world.

James Warren
Undergraduate, 3rd year
Professional and Technical Communication
College of Liberal Arts

See clearly

Camelot is over we have pictures to prove the heroes have stumbled, the public has cried Moody Blues, white dove, crimson splashes of love (?) the castle has tumbled, our hearts feel denied Yet out of the ashes a phoenix can still rise

above

images of crisis impaled on the collective iris A single tower proudly commands a view for tolerance but there too we see impending violence as if a virus infecting expression. American demands benevolence speaking with a paintbrush? Or is it our silhouette

not shading

Our souls desire in seeking to illustrate the plan piercing our vision as if with the edge of a stiletto slice (ing) of life shown within the Metropolitan healing the division in the light of an artist's studio the brilliance in a Los Angeles gallery can blind

our eyes

Luane Davis
Associate Professor
National Technical Institute for the Deaf

Louis Danziger's poster "American Paintings from the Metropolitan Museum of Art" from 1966 is a wonderful example of a simple solution carrying power and meaning. Without representing any of the work, Danziger was able to create a message of not only "American Pride" towards the show, but also that there should be a feeling of respect towards it. The image of the paint brush and American flag goes well beyond a literal solution for American Art, it brings out a sense of emotion, pride, and accomplishment from the viewer that says, "Yes, we made it, and this is who we are."

Adam Smith
Graduate Student, 1st year
Graphic Design
College of Imaging Arts and Sciences

At first glance of Louis Danziger's poster for the Los Angeles County Museum of Art's "American Paintings from the Metropolitan Museum of Art" exhibit, images of All-American creations like apple pie and baseball flood my mind. Danziger's simple, striking use of an artist's paintbrush superimposed by the impression of the colors and design at the American flag immediately inspires a patriotic response. However, after noting the year on the poster - 1966 - other associations surface that are not quite so mundane - or innocent.

Although I did not experience the decade of the 1960's first hand, the stories from my elders and the teachings of history books have ingrained in me an image of that pivotal decade every bit as striking as Danziger's poster. Central to Danziger's design is the use of the colors red, white, and blue - the colors of Old Glory itself. Until the 1960's, American society, arguably was governed by a code of conservative, puritanical mores. With the dawn of the sexual revolution and the growing influence of rock music, heightened by the British Invasion of the Beatles in 1964, the American status quo experienced a youthful rebellion. As the 1960s progressed, political and racial turmoil heated the divisions in the United States. With the Vietnam War raging overseas and the Civil Rights crusade embattling the home front, everyone seemed to question what America represented and whom it represented. With all this unrest, the Star Spangled Banner no longer symbolized a unified nation that valued "liberty and justice for all" as the American "Pledge of Allegiance" dictates. So Danziger's impressionist use of the flag becomes even more telling.

Another notable aspect of Danziger's poster is the absence of the artists, names whose paintings were included in the exhibit. As my mind races in wonder of the artwork that formed the show, I am left in awe of the power of Danziger's not listing the artists on the poster. Indeed, the exhibit could have been full of pedestrian Norman Rockwell paintings, but the subtlety and power of Danziger's poster implies otherwise - perhaps even an exhibit of American painters who were forging new frontiers in art, like Andy Warhol with the pop movement.

Regardless, Danziger's poster design speaks of a decade fraught with strife, suffering, and death which artists unquestionably incorporated into their work. Whether the exhibit the poster advertises served an overt political or social purpose or not, Danziger allows the viewer to decide. By placing that decision in the viewer's mind, Danziger thereby created a timeless, tell tale work of graphic design

Shannon Gregory
Graduate student, 1st year
Graphic Design
College of Imaging Arts and Sciences