When I first saw Fairey’s Obama poster I think one reason I liked it was because whether you relate it to Soviet posters, or they also reminded me of WPA posters, that bold, flat, primary-color style has for me “left-wing” associations. More recently the anti-corporate WTO protest movement has used a similar bold graphic style. For me this style says “Progressive” loud and clear. If I may go so far, beyond the initial impact of the bold solid color with cubist angles there is, an implied nostalgic respect for labor. Obama could be talking about uniting the country and acting bipartisan but these posters say “Workers of the World Unite”.

Here are a few random comments in a random order.

I believe that Red is so prominant, not just because it was the official color of the communist party, but Russians have a deep fixation with the color. Even their name for the color Krasni, is simular to their word for beautiful krasivi. I don’t think it signifies blood or terror in any way, but beauty.

You can walk through these images and see fear and oppression, but they were really expressions of a much more beautiful nature. I don’t think they wanted people to feel small, they wanted people think the together they were big. Soviet “oppression” was really an alternative to Tzarist/Church oppression, it was a message of elevation, even if it didn’t really turn out like that. These postered didn’t impliment opression, if anything they promised less opression.

This style of “official” Soviet art is also naturally compelling, not just politically, but take for the example all the old movie posters that have been turned into t-shirts for Brooklyn hipsters. The art lends credence to the message. Like when the Beatles sang All You Need Is Love. I could write a song by the same name, and it wouldn’t start a revolution, it was the artistic genius that made the message clear.

We can image these posters hanging in place of our Obama or McCain posters, but we shouldn’t look at it through our 20th century eyes. This kind of massed produced “publishing house” style of printing was something new in the Soviet countries at this time, so it had a much bigger impact. No one ever hung a poster for the Tzar, or anybody. These weren’t just posters, they were billboards, sides of buildings, it was an all out visual blitz.

Speaking of the 21st century, Edinaya Russia (The One Russia – Putin’s party) has taken a page from the Soviet book, in their use of imagery.

I’ll stop going on about this and other things and just end with saying an interesting, thought provoking show, thanks

Of course he’s looking up and to his left.

But what I find most interesting is the color scheme. Half red and half blue – I get it, red and blue states. The red is not satire though, it’s sincere, and it’s meant to convey that he has some Ronald Reagan in him – see the stark red tie.

The blue though is the most interesting. The blue on his face is nuanced, it’s in different shades – just like Obama himself.

I spontaneously attended the Madonna concert the other night. A friend offered an extra free ticket an hour before the show. My calculation was: Straight guys don’t attend Madonna concerts (at least they don’t brag about it) vs. Madonna is an iconic figure, she was my first crush, and she kicks ass.

So the show got going and so did my body. I couldn’t have stopped dancing and moving my body for anything – and we were way up in the balcony. I bring this episode up because at one point during the show I looked around and gasped at how many motionless bodies surrounded me, staring awe like at Madonna. I was sad for them, they were missing out on her true art – bring’n the dance…the party…the swing.

I was reminded of this when John Maeda spoke of the passive nature of looking at things.

People can be so reluctant to engage. But art is a two-way street.

The greatest architecture is not great because it’s pretty, it’s great when you walk, work, live, or pray IN it. The way the sun is directed in like a vital piece of furniture, or the way the stairs fantastically wiggle up, or the way that the hallways force people to run into each other.

Yet, the architecture tours still pass by with camera-toting people, outside looking in – outside looking in.