Megan Koth is a highly creative artist who successfully illustrates and embellishes aspects of cosmetics, beauty rituals, and personal life struggles into her artwork. At the onset of her artist talk, she explores the influences and interests that sparked her undergraduate work at ASU. Wayne Thiebaud is an influential figure who frequently paints consumer objects, which inspired her to begin her career painting cosmetic items to reveal societal and cultural criticism. Necessary Objects is a painting that portrays three objects that have become rituals in the world of feminine beauty: tweezers, lipstick, and a razor. Through the commercial imagery of these three beauty products, Koth illustrates an underlying flaw within our society, where young …show more content…
Koth continues to tug on this idea throughout her post-undergraduate artwork with the introduction of the Mask series, where she takes self portraits that feature sheet masks to explore the beautiful, yet grotesque, scene of women's beauty rituals to attain a flawless appearance. As Koth was pursuing her MFA, she took on a more cinematic experience of beauty. She beautifully captured the "mild violence" of the process of peeling off a sheet mask to parallel the pain that many women experience trying to fit into beauty standards in Pink Peel. Koth conceptualized the idea that the canvas, or the walls of the gallery, is like skin, in which she is able to manipulate and apply paint on like makeup. In Big Clown, she builds layers of paint and applies a glossy layer to resemble smudged makeup. Through these blemishes, Koth is able to create tension, anxiety, and cinematic trope to conjure a feeling of chaos to the viewer. This exceptional ability to use the sheet mask as a subject rather than the individual behind it to evoke a visceral quality of the repulsion that is associated with beauty is one of her many
To elaborate, Scott argues that as a picture interpreter, we must make a distinction between the “ideal and the real,” to understand the true meaning of an image. She argues how the Gibson Girl and the American Girl were two idealised visions of modern beauty and femininity which made women to try to be like them. These two girls became markers of their decade, ...
Following Joan Jacobs Brumberg throughout her conveying research of adolescents turning their bodies into projects the reader is able to see where all of the external beauty fascination came from following up to the 21st century. Brumberg effectively proves her point, and any girl of today’s age knows the struggle of which she continuously portrays throughout her book. Beauty has become such a preoccupation that it has gone from soap and washcloths, to makeup, to cosmetic reconstruction of body parts.
She continually lists items throughout the story, measuring out her life in a compulsive manner. As in “4/ bathroom cabinet” the alphabetical listing of every item in her bathroom cabinet, also reveals Gorgeous as a product of consumerist culture. With the satirical proclamation of a “New You for Just $9.50 a month plus postage and handling” Gorgeous sees herself through products and the processes of beauty therapy. Thus, Wels’ continues to focus on the ‘surface’ where the character of Gorgeous can only be read in relation to the products surrounding her and her arrangement of
/The beautiful wife. / For sometimes she fancied he looked at her as though, / Measuring her. As if he considered, had she been worth it? […] Whatever she might feel or half-feel, the lipstick necessity was something apart.” (Brooks, 48-53). It wasn’t as though she was afraid of her husband distinctly killing a young boy or even her being partially the cause of it; it was a feeling of guilt she was trying to cover up. Her entire fantasy is distributed and destroyed, she retreat inwards and uses her makeup to create a wall to maintain the foundation of her life based upon the fairy tale imagery. For many women, makeup is an extension to certain parts of themselves. Carolyn worked so hard to maintain this ideal image of having the perfect family, being an obedient housewife, looking after her children and basically being beautiful, than watching it all fall to ruins because of individual actions. One can only put on so much make up, like a placebo, it is harmless but it really only hides and masks the reality behind it. Eventually the truth will show, whether it is someone’s natural appearance, the qualities of a family or an individual’s true
The transition to modern consumerism involved not just the introduction of responsible product formulation, but fundamental transformations of social behavior. Women were at the heart of this development in the cosmetic industry, and we will consider the contributions of two of them: Annie Turnbo Malone and Madame C. J. Walker. These women and their contemporaries paved the way for Estee Lauder and Mary Kay Ash in our time.
Just like this campaign for safe cosmetics its purpose has been to aware women, parents, workers and everyone who is affected by this problem of what big corporations are putting in the products we think are non-harmful. The title itself Chemicals in Beauty Products: The Story of Cosmetics is automatically supposed to draw women’s attention because of the words “chemicals” and “cosmetics”. Since this film was originally put on The Story of Stuff, a website for a variety of campaigns, we can assume this film was made for people who care and want to change the world to make it healthier. In addition, it also targets women who are interested in what they are putting on their bodies. Interesting enough, this video was released the same time the Safe Cosmetics Act of 2010 was introduced for the purpose of pursuing women, workers, and everyone affected by this chemical problem, to push congress even more to enforce this cosmetic act to be passed. The underlying purpose the producers of the film wanted from its viewers was to have them help get congress to ban all corporations from using hazardous chemicals in beauty products. Some strategies used to help their goal was to use logos and pathos to help evoke its audience to ultimately help put a stop to this problem once and for
In the Dove Real Beauty Sketches commercial, the Forensic Artist interviewed different women to do their sketches and it captivates women as an acceptable target audience for this advertisement. Women be more concerned about their appearance than men does and sometimes women also worry about how society view them in public. For example, at first the women in the video was unsatisfied
In the industry of cosmetology there has been women that have played an important role. Like Sarah Breedlove, who later became known as Madam C.J. Walker was America’s first African American female millionaire. She was born poor and orphaned, but later built her own business of manufacture hair products. A scalp infection lead her to the creation of her products. Like many women she struggled to find the solution to her problem, after she tried thousands of products, soon she started loosing her hair. While sleeping she had a dream of a man advising her of ingredients she needed to mix. She got up the next morning and did as her dream demanded. To her surprise this product had worked, she then begun selling her unique formula (“Beauty”). Who would have thought a women could have became so successful. They say dreams can lead you to great accomplishments and this was the case of Sarah Breedlove. Another example of a successful women is Jane Iredale, founder and president of Iredale Mineral Cosmetics. Jane Iredale introduced the full line of cosmetics, she wanted to create cosmetics that were beneficial to the skin. In order to make her products the best, she collaborated with make up artist, dermatologist, and plastic surgeons in the production (“Beauty”). These two women are great icons of the Beaut...
The above advertisement for Olay Total Effects Pore Minimizing CC cream demonstrates modern day fixation on celebrity culture and photographic subterfuge to avoid truth. The model represented is a conventionally attractive woman whom, because of how healthy she appears, looks prosperous. The quote beside her “I’m not an airbrushed kinda girl, I just want to look it” conflicts with her appearance. From this we learn that she is an average woman infatuated so much with the celebrity look that she too wants to display herself as one. “air brushed kinda girl” implies that those who constantly look airbrushed (celebrities) possess negative personality traits ergo, one would not like to act like them. The assumption that celebrities are
Shaving, applying makeup, and curling hair are a few practices that if a female does not partake in, society, and the social norm are stunned. Those are just a few disciplinary body practices in today’s society. Disciplinary body practices “Are practices because they involve taken-for-granted routinized behaviors and they are disciplinary because they involve social control in the sense that we spend time, money, and effort, and imbue meaning in these practices that regulate our lives” (Shaw 193). These practices can extend way beyond the basic beauty routine of a female as well. Plastic surgery plays a huge role in these body practices. Even men have practices that they are expected to partake in. They are less extreme in terms of price and just simpler in general. But for example, men are expected to have shaved necks, large muscles, and a broad upper body. These standards are causing body and beauty shaming around the world. Disciplinary body practices relate to the adamant consumer culture, constant media advertisements, widespread globalization, persuasive colonialism, and powerful imperialism.
...of Beauty is full of condemnation for cosmetics and threats to women about the ‘dangers’ of cosmetics.
One of women’s constant struggles is upkeep with culture and society’s ever-changing definition of beauty. Although both genders have hair on their bodies, the views and acceptability of the amount or the location of body hair vary immensely. In fact, women are often thought to be hairless and men to be hairier (DeMello, 2014). Women must then put in effort to uphold a standard, in which the idea that being feminine is natural and effortless (Toerien and Wilkinson, 2003). That being the case, I will argue that the hairless female body has been transformed over time to represent beauty and youth. More importantly, I will argue that it has now become normative in Western society and deemed unacceptable if women do not conform to the hairless
There are so many forms of propaganda that surround our lives on a every day basis, and these negative messages persuade and shape our thoughts of perfection, of who we are, and who we ought to be. The beauty industry and its’ advertisements is one type of propaganda that ultimately characterizes the way we think of ourselves. The media is relentless in reminding us every chance they get why women need to be perfect and what we need to achieve that. There is endless pressure as women to have a perfect body and appearance. The beauty industry’s aim through advertisement is to make women feel as if we need to buy the beauty products in order to look and feel like the models on television, magazines, and in commercials. The beauty industry is very successful because as women, we often feel compelled to buy whatever is necessary to look “perfect.” In years past the beauty industry has been solely focused on the obvious beauty tools such as makeup, hair accessories, lotion, etc. However, we have become more intrigued by even more aspects of the beauty world such as undergarments and everywhere in between. In other words, media propaganda is more interested in the “selling of sex” now than ever before. An unfortunate yet accurate depiction by actress Helen Mirren reads, “Flesh sells. People don’t want to see pictures of churches, they want to see naked bodies.” Just as Mirren knows this to be true, so does the beauty industry and they have taken it and ran with it.
Thanks to the influence of the ancient Egyptian introduction to makeup art in burial rituals, makeup has made its way all around the world and established its position as a very successful industry. Among several cosmetic and toiletry brands, Lancôme Paris, is one of the most popular today. Examined by one of France’s most prevalent thinkers, Roland Barthes, Paris is seen as the world center of sophistication, elegance and high society. An expert on the nature of society, Barthes, is also famous for his theory of the cultural myth that subconsciously produces meaning in the most basic parts of our lives. Combining Barthes definition’, its lustful visual and charming slogan, a vintage cosmetic advertisement for Crushed Rose lipstick allures its consumers by producing myths regarding instant beauty and perfection with the purchase and application.
Which I think is a good thing but at same time you have to understand that life just happens you can’t prepare for the unsuspected. You just have to play with the cards you were dealt with. Which is what I think the knife represents, a monkey wrench in your plans. Next in correlation with the skull and the mirror, my focus shifted towards the lipstick. My first thought when I see lipstick is women and beauty. However, I had to dig a little deeper, suddenly I changed my perspective to that of a woman. I think that women care a great deal of how the appear to the world and suffer mentally, to me this justifies why the lipstick was placed on top of the skull. It is constantly on their mind that they have to look good for the public, to the point that it might be detrimental to their mental health or confidence. Some women would literally kill to look beautiful. After analyzing that whole section my next observation was the hour glass which delineates time. Now time is defined as a measurement, but has so many underlining meanings. I remember you discussing how time is money and this is true but to me it means so much more timing is