Image Essay #5

I chose a piece by an artist we talked about in class, Robbie Conal, as my image essay for this week. This work is entitled Martha Stewart Lying (as apparent by the title within the work.) I found this image particularly amusing. There is a lot of associative meaning and references to things normally associated with Martha Stewart. For instance, the magazine is entitled "Lying" in the same font of Martha Stewart's periodical, "Living." Not only is this a play on Martha's magazine, but the trouble she got herself into for doing just that. Insider trading, anybody? The gold tooth is what makes this image hilarious, in my opinion. It is associated with the hip hop culture and excessive money, which is what she was lying in order to retain. In the bottom left corner is a stereotypical "housewife" of the '50s, scolding Martha. Martha Stewart attempts to perpetuate that prototype of the perfect housewife.

Robbie Conal is famous for his skewed depictions of politicians and current events of the time, especially scandalous events. I have seen a few of his works around. After a little research on Conal, the way in which is distributes his artwork is quite interesting. Apparently he distributes his artwork (generally on posters) throughout cities during the night. I think I have probably seen his work in Time magazine. At any rate, Conal uses association to get his point across in his artwork, and that is exemplified in this piece.