This post is to do with object analysis based on the area we were given to research,
my area was China Town/Soho/Covent Garden.
Product From A Shop
Packet of Confectionary from China Town
I chose a bag from a large selection at an oriental supermarket on the main street of China Town to analyse. This area is one of a few food markets amongst restaurants where people specifically come to experience authentic chinese cuisine, the majority of the supermarket's stock is specially shipped into the country and aimed towards chinese residents in London who are most likely willing to pay more for authentic produce.
The shopkeeper where i purchased the item said that the majority of people who visit the shop are either asian residents, tourists visiting China Town or London residents looking for specific asian groceries. I talked to a few customers who said that they find it easy to buy their oriental produce here because everything they want is in one central area.
They could also be found in a department store such as the speciality food hall at Selfridges, due to their special origin.
The bag's packaging to me is typical of a confectionery product from asian culture, using bright colours, cartoon characters whilst using imagery to reference natural forms and flavours.
I initially associated it with chinese and japanese culture as it is interpreted in the western world, playful and childlike.
Each packet's packaging is the type of material that could be presented as a 21st century piece of art. Commercial, shiny plastic, disposable but not degradable.
There may not be anything natural about the product at all, but i feel their use of colourful and exotic imagery draws in many customers and target audiences.
If they were sold at a market stall they would not only look out of place but also cheap, plasticy, perhaps even less appetising. Out of their environment without other eastern groceries they could look like just another factory made piece of unauthentic cultural memorabilia.
Painting from a Gallery
Water Lily Pond by Monet at The National Gallery
Claude Monet was not from England, but pieces of his work with importance to art history are leant to our National Gallery where people from his home country France come to view his work. This shows how art's power and control creates a hierarchy between countries, much like currency and government.
As a piece of cultural iconography, this painting isn't particularly relevant to the specific gallery or city it's being shown in. It could also be easily reproduced as a famous image as memorabilia on market stalls or a print hanging in a shop.
it's effect is similar to how large companies like Coca-Cola use their trademarks in advertising, having an image that can be recognised around the world gives a comforting familiarity.
As a famous painting it draws people in to view the piece in the flesh, they may have similar feelings of that to meeting a celebrity, the painting in that sense is an icon.
Monet was very important in the impressionism movement, this is one of many famous paintings filling the National Gallery with tourists. But they may not necessarily understand the movement theoretically, but it's fame makes it something everyone can feel they are a part of culturally.
This central area of London is the tourist hub of the capital, the Gallery and area are very much of historic importance.
Words that i associate with this painting include painterly, daub, cool colouring, peaceful.
The painting is one of beauty and idyll, you could theoretically think about the meaning behind this painting in relation to the impressionism movement but it certainly doesn't have a dark psyche to it like Francis Bacon's work for example.
Product from a Market Stall
Homemade soap from Covent Garden
The object I chose was a piece of homemade, handmade soap from a soap stall in Covent Garden's historic Market.
It was creamy in colour with dried lavender inside the piece of soap, which to me gives connotations of all things natural and organic.
The stall itself was decorated to have a rustic feel, with old wood as its base, more lavender strands and hand wrapped gifts. Keywords that sprung to my mind for how they were trying to present themselves included bespoke, handmade, fragrant, cleanliness, countryside.
It was very much aiming to keep within an english rural countryside ideal that appeals to tourists and residents alike.
These things suggest it was made in the country by hand using good quality materials but there isn't necessarily any proof of this, as there weren't even ingredients labels on the soaps!
Along with tacky memorabilia, scenic photography prints and henna tattoos in the market stalls at Covent Garden, this soap stall almost seems out of place, but i believe that it uses this to its advantage as it is definitely selling what their market audience such as tourists would want or imagine to find out of an english market stall.
Out of context, the soaps sold on this stall would also do very well in a gallery shop or supermarket, they are packaged very much as good gifts or treats for ones self.
