I am not very interested in art because nobody has taught me to understand it. The only form of art that does not make me feel tired is posters. Posters are made to advertise something, e.g. a new play, film, or event. They also make people aware of social and political problems. I like them a lot because although they sometimes require some mental effort, I quite often understand their symbolism. I admire their authors for their ability to express their message by means of a simple image and a few, or none, words.
One of my favourite artists is Lex Drewinski. He was born in Poland but moved to live and work in Germany a long time ago. In his posters he uses just a few colours which are often contrasting, e.g. black and white, yellow and green, etc. To understand his message and appreciate the idea, you sometimes must be really perceptive, because he makes use of optical illusions.
Drewinski's posters are separate works of art or series of posters which revolve around the same problem or idea. One of his posters that has particularly stuck in my mind is a three-part poster. It repeats the image of a foot set against a background which, if you look carefully, shows a human face. The bacground is black in one part, red in another, and yellow in the third. The foot is white in all three parts. When we have a closer look, we can see a white man kicking the faces of people of other races. This poster is Lex Drewinski's way of drawing our attention to the problem of intolerance and discrimination.
The artist is a very sensitive observer of our contemporary reality. In his works he focuses on problems such as terrorism, religious fanatism, poverty, paedophilia, etc. This kind of art appeals to me, because it is intelligent, thought-provoking, and fun to analyse.
Słownictwo:
a poster - plakat
to advertise - reklamować
an event - wydarzenie
to require - wymagać
mental - umysłowy
an effort - wysiłek
to admire - podziwiać
to express - wyrazić
to appreciate - docenić
perceptive - spostrzegawczy
optical illusions - iluzje optyczne
to revolve around - obracać się wokół czegoś
particularly - szczególnie
background - tło
a race - rasa
to draw attention - przyciągnąć uwagę
intolerance - nietolerancja
inequality - nierówność
sensitive - wrażliwy
an observer - obserwator
contemporary - współczesny
to focus on - skupić się na
poverty - bieda
religious fanaticism - fanatyzm religijny
to appeal to - przemawiać do
Wyrażenia:
to make someone aware of something - uświadomić coś komuś
by means of - przy pomocy
to make use of - wykorzystać
to stick in someon'e mind - utknąć w czyjejś pamięci
to have a closer look - przyjrzeć się dokładniej, z bliska