Sunday, February 15, 2009

Image Two




The image that I found is a modern design created with Arabic calligraphy. I found it at a typography website. It is a black and white image that looks like a hot bowl of soup (or drink) with steam rising upward. The calligraphy makes up the steam and the contents inside of the bowl. I think the meaning of the design is to portray how gossip stirs and comes to a boil before spreading. There is a small caption on the side of the image saying, “For the first time in theaters, a comedy about gossip that will blow your mind”. The image seems to be placed on a poster for what looks like a movie or a play. Dates, times, and cast names are printed on the bottom right area of the page. I think that the design is a creative way of portraying gossip. I think it definitely gets its point across. But most importantly, since I’ve been learning about writing throughout the past week, seeing the calligraphy worked into the image makes it even more creative and interesting. I can see how positive and negative space is used well. The overall design is also very neat and crisp. I think the artwork has great quality within it because its meaning is successfully brought out when someone looks at it. Of course, the caption is what helps one to figure out that the image may symbolize gossip. Because of the image looking very simple—black and white, thick lines, not too detailed—I was attracted to it right away. My eye is drawn to work that is less detailed. I believe that the image relates with what we have discussed in class because, like I said earlier, Arabic calligraphy is integrated into a modern design. When I first saw the design, it reminded me of Chinese Calligraphy because they integrated painting and calligraphy. I think that the artist did a great job at working with the calligraphy, by making it represent the steam, because it is curvy and seems to be freely rising.

4 comments:

  1. I think this is a really creative way of using calligraphy in an image. I like how the calligraphy is the steam of the hot soup or drink. The only thing I don't like from the image is the black rectangles attached to the calligraphy. It looks out of place to me, maybe it should have been at the bottom or just further to the right and not attached to the calligraphy swirling affect.

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  2. I also think that this is a good way to incorporate calligraphy into an image. I like the image with the Arabic writing tied into it. However, I'm not a fan of the English typography. Especially the caption in the black rectangle. It distracts from the delicate Arabic script.

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  3. I really like how this artist used foreign calligraphy to make this poster more interesting. It's very intriguing and as artists ourselves, we can appreciate the extra work put into this piece. I'm curious to know where you found this image. I never would have guessed that this was a poster designed/intended for the US (or English speaking people). To me it looks like an advertisement for Ramen Noodles or something. One thing that really distracts me is how the text at the bottom is attached to the bowl. There needs to be some spacing in there, it would add more interest and purpose.

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  4. I like this image and I think it's very creative. It was a cool idea to use Arabic calligraphy in the way that they did and it does look like soup or something. I feel like it's important that the english text is there because otherwise I wouldn't have understood the meaning, but with the story behind it the message becomes clearer.

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