How visual our holidays be.

As Americans, we are not always the most festive people. Halloween through Christmas has to be the most festive period. Many color changes and symbols, some of it reflects the Euro-Christian background, but a lot of it is borrowed and goes steps further.

Think how far the Nast Santa goes today, it is almost like in the 21st century we need new images. Kids really don’t get “boughs of holly,” “one horse open sleigh” and “jingle bells” as relatable iconography. A project I once gave my kids was to design a “new” Santa. Santas appeared with mohawks, shorts, hover boards,  etc. We need to push our iconography further, even if it means those little horrors like pink and aluminum Christmas trees, and lots of real, fun bargain junk.

It is nicely nostalgic to see this old setting at Leu Gardens in Orlando, but our world today is somewhere else.

Protected: For friends

This post is password protected. To view it please enter your password below:

Password:

Review

Earlier I put up a video for friends to see, via a link. All but two images were original. This presented one dilemma. The other was the sounds were created by others. In the postmodern age, litigation preceeds art.

The 21st century will need to find out who we are, what our work is, and where boundaries begin and end threateningly. Our work becomes slaves to be litigated over by antiquated copyright laws, which measures itself solely the bottom line.

The photo above shows a poster done for part of a school day festivity. Should we worry that publishers will come after us for copyright violations? Imagine Warhol going to Campbells for permission, Jasper Johns going to Ballantine Beer, etc. . .?