Why hello, welcome to another week of blog writing. Well, I'm sitting here on a Saturday night and I just got home from work, yessss work. Funnily enough, I work at a supermarket [Foodtown] as a produce assistant. This point brings me to the subject of my blog...COMMODITY. Dunnnnn dun dunnnnnnnnnn. Okay well I heard the word commodity in the lesson and my brain was like 'oooohhh I've heard that word' but sadly enough I didnt know what it actually meant. I thought it was going to be some confussing meaning that would take me five years to understand. But its a pretty simple concept to understand =] with the help of my friend Daniel who is doing economics at uni I was able to get my head around the meaning of commodity, and it basically means this: 'Commodity is an object or service that is produced for exchange or a market rather than for consumption or use by the producer' In order for me to understand the idea in my own way I thought of a Baker. So this Baker wakes up at the crack of dawn to bake bread and tasty things, which is what he's good at. Then he sells all of his bread to the people, he doesnt make it for himself but for the people. But now what happens if the Baker wants bread himself?? Does he eat the bread that he made or does he go to another Baker?? Kind of like if you were a Hairdresser, would you cut your own hair [probably with difficulty] or would you go to another Hairdresser?? But its funny, now days things are just produced in factories, production lines, these cheap things dont last. This kind of reminds me of the work by Picasso, 'Still life with chair caning' where Picasso was mocking the idea of the mass produced caning printed on cloth, it wasnt hand made anymore but printed on cloth.
To continue, the production of commodities is a process that occurs within a capitalist system. Now, a capitalist system is basically the 'flow of workers' a capitalist society reduces the worker to their labour, it breaks jobs and skills into component parts. For example the Baker, he's good at baking bread or cakes so he does, but he probably wouldnt be good at icing the cake for example, so another trained or skilled person would ice the cake, and so as said by Marie Antoinette, 'Let them eat cake'. The capitalist society works because it reduces costs, maximises output, which equals to maximal profit. So the more they sell the more revenue they get. Commodities are understood due to monitery value. This allows exhange to occur. Its about the value of the product and not the quantity. For example, a few weeks ago I bought my first pair of 'Nike Air Force 1's' which cost me $100 they were actually that cheap because I have small feet and fit the childrens shoes, but anyway the adults thought I was mad for paying that much money for my Nike's, my Dad declared that he could by like 6 pairs of shoes for that much money from Number One Warehouse and that my shoes were probably made in the same factory in China as his cheap shoes. It occured to me that I had paid that much money for a label not only the label, but the quality. My Nike's will last longer than my Dad's Number One Shoe Warehouse shoes, but he sort of wins because he said he could by like 6 pairs for $100.
Okay thats enough ranting about my shoes. Slowly I will get to my point. Linking an artist to the idea of commodity seemed like a feat in itself, but with a bit of thought and a pretty awesome documentery about Andy Warhol I eventually came to a conclusion. Mr Andy Warhold is pretty famous for his introduction and origin of the 'Pop Art' era. When we as people [because everyone has heard of him] think about Warhol we identify him with the artwork involving Marylin Monroe or the Campbell Soup Cans. I'm going to use the Campbell Soup Can series to emphasise the idea of commodity presented by Warhol. The Campbell Soup can series by Warhol emphasises the capitalist society of today, it also shows how such a simple thing like the Campbell Soup Can can create great interest by consumers. Mr Warhol himself was a fan of Cambbell's Soup and at it everyday for lunch.
I really do feel like soup now.
To continue, the production of commodities is a process that occurs within a capitalist system. Now, a capitalist system is basically the 'flow of workers' a capitalist society reduces the worker to their labour, it breaks jobs and skills into component parts. For example the Baker, he's good at baking bread or cakes so he does, but he probably wouldnt be good at icing the cake for example, so another trained or skilled person would ice the cake, and so as said by Marie Antoinette, 'Let them eat cake'. The capitalist society works because it reduces costs, maximises output, which equals to maximal profit. So the more they sell the more revenue they get. Commodities are understood due to monitery value. This allows exhange to occur. Its about the value of the product and not the quantity. For example, a few weeks ago I bought my first pair of 'Nike Air Force 1's' which cost me $100 they were actually that cheap because I have small feet and fit the childrens shoes, but anyway the adults thought I was mad for paying that much money for my Nike's, my Dad declared that he could by like 6 pairs of shoes for that much money from Number One Warehouse and that my shoes were probably made in the same factory in China as his cheap shoes. It occured to me that I had paid that much money for a label not only the label, but the quality. My Nike's will last longer than my Dad's Number One Shoe Warehouse shoes, but he sort of wins because he said he could by like 6 pairs for $100.
Okay thats enough ranting about my shoes. Slowly I will get to my point. Linking an artist to the idea of commodity seemed like a feat in itself, but with a bit of thought and a pretty awesome documentery about Andy Warhol I eventually came to a conclusion. Mr Andy Warhold is pretty famous for his introduction and origin of the 'Pop Art' era. When we as people [because everyone has heard of him] think about Warhol we identify him with the artwork involving Marylin Monroe or the Campbell Soup Cans. I'm going to use the Campbell Soup Can series to emphasise the idea of commodity presented by Warhol. The Campbell Soup can series by Warhol emphasises the capitalist society of today, it also shows how such a simple thing like the Campbell Soup Can can create great interest by consumers. Mr Warhol himself was a fan of Cambbell's Soup and at it everyday for lunch.
I really do feel like soup now.
otay. i'll be god and write a critical comment. :)
ReplyDeletehow do the cans emphasise a capatalist society? does the mass production of warhols cans relate to this idea in any way?