The artist I chose was introduced to me by my teacher Mrs.Rose because she follows him on twitter. His name is Bruce MacKinnon a cartoonist for the Halifax-Chronicle Herald, and like many Canadian cartoonist his comics are sometimes based on controversial topics. A recent topic he drew was based on the shootings in Paris also known as "Je Suis Charlie". In the aftermath of the terrorist attack cartoonist world-wide created controversial pieces with the bases of "Je Suis Charlie", MacKinnon did as well:
MacKinnon not only draws about international controversies, but Canadian based ones as well. The first one I found was based on the issues going on with the Dalhousie Universities dentistry student body.
However, I believe MacKinnon's work that best displays issues in Canadian society is his war memorial tribute to Cpl. Nathan Cirillo. The soldier was killed in late October 2014 while standing guard at Ottawa's National War Memorial. His death was seen as an act of terrorism and had an immense impact on Canadian politics and society. With this in mind MacKinnon drew this cartoon:
Analysis & Interpretation: Through an analysis of this piece I found that MacKinnon used a plain background so the complete focus of the piece was on the soldiers. The background is shaded from dark to light blue bringing the viewers' attention into the center where Cpl. Nathan Cirillo lays. The soldiers are dark green almost the same colour as the actual War Memorial making it realistic and seem as though they have come to life. Only Cirillo's feet stick out with white and red socks making them stand out compared to the dark and neutralized colours that are used in the rest of the piece. You can really see that the cartoonist main focus was Cirillo.
My interpretation of this piece, would be that the soldiers of the statue have come to life to welcome Cpl. Nathan Cirillo as another Canadian how has sacrificed his life for the protection of his country. One soldiers kneels by his side almost as if he was seeing if he was alright and another offers a hand up to the memorial. I think this means they were inviting him to memorialize with the rest of Canada's fallen soldiers.
Consideration of Cultural Context: The cultural context in this piece is clear. It also plays a very prominent role behind how and why the drawing was created. It was clearly made because of what issues were currently present in Canadian society or our culture. Also in Canadian culture, everyone has a right to voice their opinions or stance on a controversial subject. In some countries, voicing your opinion is frowned upon, and drawing about such a subject would not be possible for cartoonist such as MacKinnon.
Expression of Aesthetic Judgement: Aesthetically I think MacKinnon achieved the message he was trying to portray. The piece says a huge message about the death of Cirillo. He used the characters of the National War Memorial very well in having them helping one of their fellow fallen soldiers. I thought he had appropriate use of colour, which made Cirillo stand out. I think this drawing was very successful in reminding Canadians about the prominence of this awful event which had a huge impact on our government and society in itself.
Rick Mercer recently did a "Rick Rant" on his show about MacKinnon link here:http://www.cbc.ca/mercerreport/videos/clips/ricks-rant-paris-shootings
No comments:
Post a Comment