How much influence did art, the politicians brand and exposure thereof have in the 2008 American elections?

Is there an integral role between art and politics which can guide us in discovering truth or does art and design in politics walk dangerously close to propaganda?

How much does art and design influence the way people think and act? Or is art an embodiment of people’s perceptions implying that the art is in-fact preordained? The logo of a political brand is then a personification of a symbol or in other words the embodiment of the person it represents – similar comments in the video at the end of this post.

To what degree has art and design influenced the way Americans voted in 2008?

With these questions in mind please take a look at the collection of illustrations, caricatures, logos and video’s relating to the 2008 American Elections. You will notice there is more material on Obama which has nothing to do with my personal views. There was simply more of it. For example there were no real variations of the McCain logo like there was for Obama nor where there video’s talking about McCains brand development.

Enjoy: (Click on the images to see fully)

Obama Brand & Logo Development:
An interview with Sol Sender about the Obama logo and the brand that was built.

Sol Sender – Obama Logo Design Part 1 of 2

Sol Sender – Obama Logo Design Part 1 of 2

Other Videos:

This is a video compilation of varies political expressions

Obama And Pop Culture – CBS News

HipHop Scratching Video

That’s it! I hope you enjoyed!

Two weeks back I was in Berlin and managed to go to an exhibition of this talented and legendary photographer. He was a pioneer for artistic photo nudes and fashion photography. Many photographers and even advertisers now model their photos around his style. Although known for his more provocative work he also loved photographing architecture and landscapes.

Born in Berlin October 1920 and died in a car accident January 2004.

Helmut Newton

It was a massive exhibition and covered a lot of his work. To much to included in just one post. I have included some general photos and will probably add more as I rediscover particularly good ones.

Above: Here there is a massive mirror on the roof. So Helmut Newton is taking pictures through the mirror.

Above: One of his more famous photos.

There are thousand apon thousands. Google Image and other bloggers are our friends.

If you are brave and have a strong stomach Google ‘Joel-Peter Witkin‘. His photography is normally very macabre, morbid, hairy and even grotesque.

This set of photos, however, is very different from his normal style.