Exploring how artists portray the theme of consumerism through their work.
Consumerism is the act of buying goods and material possessions, it is an obsession with constantly wanting more items. (Hayes,2022) refers to consumerism as the ‘theory that individuals who consume goods and services in large quantities will better off.” Furthermore, he also goes on to say that an individual’s happiness can be solely based on obtaining material goods. With consumerism being extremely prevalent today, I am going to explore in this essay how artists promote the idea of consumerism in their work and if they are supporting it or are against it. Initially, I chose to explore this subject in further detail because I believe that as a society, we are too materialistic, we constantly want to own items that we don’t even need. And as a matter of fact, we seek validation from others because of the things we have. I think it’s important that we recognise how are buying habits can affect others and the world around us. Artists like Andy Warhol explore consumerism within their artwork by doing paintings of soup cans and coco cola bottles, he wanted to show us how we can over consume items even if they are essential everyday items like food and drink. Many artists also, explore this subject through their work and most of them are against it, this will be discussed further on in the essay.
In the West, the first signs of consumerism emerged in Europe because there was a growing market for sugar. People who were wealthy had developed a taste and indulgence for it, so this led to a higher production of sugar. The market then grew larger and because of this, it became ‘the world’s first mass consumer good’ (Stearns,2006). Other items of purchase such as beds, mattresses, and household furnishings also became items of consumption; people wanted better quality items for their houses. Tulips became an item of purchase in the seventeenth century, they were imported from Asia and became quite popular in Holland. This led to paintings of tulips also becoming a consumer item and I believe this is due to their aesthetics.Because humans like nice looking items, it pushes them to consume more goods. As we can see, consumerism has been around right from the beginning of time, people have always felt the need to indulge into their pleasures and have more of what they desire. Whether that be sugar or handmade paintings.
However, this wasn’t the only time in history that consumerism was on the rise. According to (Martinque,2016) since the industrial revolution, society started consuming at a very high rate. The industrial revolution was a time in history where new manufacturing processes were being made. It was the transition from making goods from our hands to using machines to make them instead. Before it started, items were made on a small scale in a system called the cottage industry. After this,factories now had to be in cities and towns, and this meant that items were being produced on a larger scale. As a result of this, products became more affordable for people to purchase and this in turn led to consumerism.
Andy Warhol was an American artist who was well known for his pop art style, Warhol also used to depict the theme of consumerism throughout his artwork. Warhol grew up in Oakland and then began his career as a commercial artist. He was fascinated by consumer products and produced marketing materials (Beetham, 2015). One of his most impacting works was his Campbell canned soup paintings. This painting consisted of 32 different flavours of canned soup all lined up in 4 rows. The colours used in this artworkare very simple there are reds, whites, and a hint of black. Every can is in a repetitive order but when you look at the writing carefully, they all have different flavours on it. Furthermore, all the cans are on a white background which could indicate that the artist wants you to focus on this very simple item. When you first look at this painting it looks nothing more than an aesthetic painting of soup cansbecause of its simplicity it leaves the interpretation up to the viewer. However, in this artwork Warhol is communicating the message of consumerism to us, he wants us to understand how mass production has saturated American culture and society. Hence why he has painted all the cans in rows to indicate a line of production within a factory setting. I don’t believe that Warhol is trying to glorify consumerism rather, he wants to bring awareness on the issue. Even with essential items like food, the artist states that he used to drink this soup for his lunch every day for 20 years, he was a heavy consumer of this product(Delson,2021). Warhol also stated that “buying is much more American than thinking and I am as American as they come” (Schroeder, 1997). From this we can infer that it is common for people in America to buy without even thinking beforehand about if they really need this product. Furthermore, Warhol also criticises himself in his statement by saying that he is as American as they come therefore, he recognises his own flaws and contributions to aconsumerist society.
Barbara Kruger is another artist who also critiques the idea of consumerism in her work, she is an American artist who is well known for her collage style black and white photographs. Kruger takes images and places slogans over them in red and white writing, her slogans are sharp and catchy plus they cause you to think about your buying habits (Magazine, 2012). This one of Kruger’s mostremarkable pieces it is called ‘I shop therefore I am’, in this piece we can see a black and white background of a hand holding the sign. The photograph looks like a billboard poster and the red statement is captivating. The hand in the picture almost looks like it is grabbing something which could suggest the need to want material possession over an item. The boarder of the picture is red just like the letters, I can also notice that the phrases ‘I shop’ and ‘I am’ is much larger in text than ‘therefore’. I think this is an interesting detail to the photograph because it is first thing that the viewer can see, and it could also communicate the self-centred actions around consumerism. Interestingly, Kruger got inspiration from the phrase ‘I think therefore I am’ which was said by the French philosopher Rene Descartes. The phrase essentially meant that if a person can think then it proves their existence. Moreover, Kruger then flips this meaning into her own by saying that humans are not defined by what they think but by what they own.This is all ties into her theme of criticising consumerism. Kruger believes that society has become fake because people are defining their self-worth by their material possessions; they don’t want to focus on other aspects that could attribute to their value like their character and interests (Public delivery, 2022). Overall Kruger’s work highlights the shallowness of a consumer driven society, she critiques and bashes the ideologies of individuals who are obsessed with consuming. Using bold red statementsagainst contrasting images her work convicts you and allows you to think twice about your own behaviour. I believe her work does a good job of being attacking consumerism, the use of colour and photography in her work draw you in as the viewer and brings awareness on the grim reality of consumerism.
To conclude, consumerism is an economic and social system that has emerged over time within society. As stated earlier in early European times, it started as a high demand for sugar amongst wealthy individuals because there was a growing market for it. It was then at its peak when the industrial revolution began with the invention of mass materials this made its more affordable for people to buy goods. The truth is humans have always been creatures that desire have material possessions we see it from the very beginning of time and even through artist’swork. Even though Warhol was a well-known artist and is still recognised for his work today, he made art in the 60s addressing the issue of consumerism and even recognising his own flaws and contributions towards it. The only aspect that seemed to make consumerism different in the past wasjust what people were consuming. I believe that as a society we need to change our habits and mindsets towardsbuying goods. We believe that we must own everything to keep up with the trend so that we can stay relevant. It is atoxic mentality to have because it shows that we lack contentment within ourselves. It so important for artists to bring awareness to an economical issue that is negatively impacting our society without people drawing our attention to it, we are left to think that there is no problem with our excessive habits of consumption.
Bibliography
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