For When Life Has Colored Lines

 

For When Life Has Colored Lines

How We See the World

"At the same time, many of those who aspire to be among the one percent (one poll showed 42% of Americans believe that they are or will be in the 1%) are carrying fake Louis Vuitton bags and wearing fake Rolex watches. This peculiar and unequal mirroring of fakery epitomizes the way of seeing in the global city."

This quote highlights an intriguing contradiction: many people aim to join the wealthiest percentile but often carry fake luxury items. It shows how our desire for status sometimes clashes with our means. It makes you think about why we value certain symbols of success and how that might not always align with reality.

"The artist Clement Valla has made locating such errors into an art form, which he calls postcards from Google Earth. This failure to render creates images that are nonetheless oddly familiar because they look like the CGI-created disasters that litter today’s Multiplex Cinemas."

It's intriguing how Valla turns these errors into something artistic, blurring the lines between reality and digital manipulation in our visual world. I also think making “mistakes” into art is a beautiful and creative thing.

Ways of Seeing John Berger: 

"But we accept the total system of publicity images as we accept an element of the climate"

This comparison emphasizes how ads have become ingrained in our daily existence, influencing our perceptions without us questioning their impact. It's a reminder to stop and think about how these constant images might be shaping our values and ideals without us realizing it.

"Publicity persuades us of such a transformation by showing us people who have apparently been transformed and are as a result, enviable. The state of being envied is what constitutes glamour."

In my opinion, it's a thought-provoking insight into how advertising operates by manipulating our desires. It suggests that glamour isn't just about beauty or success; it's about this aspirational envy that marketers cultivate to sell their products or ideas. It challenges us to be more aware of how these perceptions influence our desires and self-image.