Daily Ramble 26 - A POSTER IDEA

April 15, 2020

A POSTER IDEA
How It Came To Be

1. The Idea is Revived

At the start of my daily walk I first looked into the mailbox and saw that some books I had ordered arrived yesterday. That made me think I had a reward waiting at the end of the walk and I felt an increased motivation to finish the walk quickly. (2 miles in 37 minutes - possibly a new record if I always kept track of these times.) That made me think of how racing greyhounds are motivated by a mechanical rabbit moving around the inside rail of the racing track. And that, in turn, brought to mind a joking poster concept I had a few years ago concerning the School of Visual Arts (for whom Milton Glaser has done many fine works.) Probably, yesterday's Chaval ramble also had an influence on my thinking because the idea was cartoonish.

2. The Original Idea

My original thought was to show a student (or mass of students) entering the School of Visual Arts pulling a recalcitrant donkey and then, leaving the school riding the donkey and motivating it by holding a picture of a carrot in front of its nose. The superficial, student-recruiting communication was to show that the skill acquired in the school allowed the student to get ahead in life more easily. The deeper point was to comment on the pervasive tactic of motivating and manipulating people with virtual or illusory rewards - a tremendous part of human life and society.

3. Refining the Idea

The question is whether the idea can be reduced  to a single image or whether it would be more effective in a series of images.

Multiple
Images: a. Student trying to pull stubborn donkey
          b. Student in art class learning to paint a carrot
           c. Student riding donkey, holding a carrot picture in front of its nose

Or,
Single image: A happy student riding away from the school as in (c) above

The first version seems funnier but requires more work and is more in the vein of cartooning. The second version could work better as a poster when accompanied by an appropriate slogan.

And so, to work!

 For quick sketching purposes, I used a prepared image of someone on a donkey, in this case, Jesus. That adds a certain spiritual/historical spice to the work. However, if this idea should ever be actually produced, the Christian overtone might have to be changed. Perhaps Buddha can ride the donkey. Or Lao Tse. Or Milton Glaser.

The additional witticism of showing the carrot as an abstract painting comes from a suggestion by my ingenious partner, Emma, and makes a nice contrast with the archaic style of the figures.

In sum, I submit that this work, crude as it is in execution, deserves to be treated as fine art. This is due to the profundity of its philosophical implications, its play with established conventions and the stimulating ambiguity of its meaning. Calling all art critics!

END