Culture and Values

1. The two major dominant elements of Picasso's Guernica are the horse and the bull. It is always believed that the horse and the bull are very important characters when it comes to Spanish culture. Essentially, Picasso has used these characters to act diverse roles. Of course this has made the job of interpreting the particular meaning of the horse and the bull arduous. At a time when Guernica was bombed by the Italian and German fighter planes, this painting so strongly protested against this bombing (Ruhrberg & Walther, 2000). And just after the painting was completed later that year, Picasso accepted the painting to go on a tour around the globe, his purpose being to ensure that people around the world would be conscious of the horrors that were being executed in Spain. For this reason, Guernica can be labeled as the most renowned anti-war statement the world has ever had.

2. The writing by Picasso- "painting is not done to decorate apartments; it is an instrument of war"- has very serious implications especially to artists. This statement can be taken to mean that paintings can serve a purpose greater than the decorations we think they serve. A case in point is his very painting that has moved beyond an object of beauty to protest against the horrors of war.

3. I strongly believe that art has the power to influence thought and action. Think of how firms use art work in their advertisements and how this has a big impact on the sales they make. For this case, firms use art work to woe people to their products. And the result is that people end up buying more of these products. This clearly shows the power of art in influencing thought and action.

4. I find the big popsicle that the body builder holds particularly intriguing. The popsicle has a label 'pop' and this could just be an observable label for this specific sweet. It can also be used to refer first to pop culture and ultimately to pop art. This clearly shows that the meaning is concealed in the loop. In other words, a case in point of pop art portrays pop as a word on the creation of pop culture. I think that the meaning is concealed in an immeasurable loop, which ultimately turns out to be the meaning.

5. I suppose that Hamilton's collage critiques the consumer culture in the U.S after World War 2. The picture is a room with a coffee table, portable recorder, television set and three sofas. The TV just behind the naked woman shows a woman talking on the phone. The woman cleaning the upper level of the stairs with a vacuum cleaner. This could be an obsession with material things.

6. I think pop art is a critique of a culture of consumerism. This kind of art uses brand names, movies or magazines to convey the perception of the artist regarding society. For a very long time, artists have created facsimiles by use of soft sculptures with the aim of accentuating the triteness of a given mass culture. More specifically,