• Product design, Branding

    Patriarchs of creation

    ’Patriarchs of Creation’ was my high school graduation art project in 2009. I investigated the relationship between products and art. I was looking for a topic which is determinative in art history. In the 15th century, the book-printing related to Gutenberg helped spread the story of Christianity, although most people could not read or write. Nowadays, when capitalist mass production defines everyday thinking and interests in a process where everything can be manufactured by machines and become vendible; the relation between art, sacredness and mass production is problematic. In a culturally and religiously complex consumer society, a sacred story probably can not be told by traditional art media any more. If we want to pass something to the crowd, we should use an ordinary and understandable medium for the people; instead of fine art, sacred stories could be better told by the products of capitalism. I was looking for a new way to convey the idea of Christianity. I chose the popular toy, LEGO as my asset, because it represents capitalist mass production, and it was also available to me. The content of the project goes beyond the basic narrative of the story. As a kind of game and to reflect on the chosen product, humour and expropriation of the story became part of the story. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher or else the Lord may punish you according to the 7th commandment.

’Patriarchs of Creation’ was my high school graduation art project in 2009. I investigated the relationship between products and art. I was looking for a topic which is determinative in art history. In the 15th century, the book-printing related to Gutenberg helped spread the story of Christianity, although most people could not read or write. Nowadays, when capitalist mass production defines everyday thinking and interests in a process where everything can be manufactured by machines and become vendible; the relation between art, sacredness and mass production is problematic. In a culturally and religiously complex consumer society, a sacred story probably can not be told by traditional art media any more. If we want to pass something to the crowd, we should use an ordinary and understandable medium for the people; instead of fine art, sacred stories could be better told by the products of capitalism. I was looking for a new way to convey the idea of Christianity. I chose the popular toy, LEGO as my asset, because it represents capitalist mass production, and it was also available to me. The content of the project goes beyond the basic narrative of the story. As a kind of game and to reflect on the chosen product, humour and expropriation of the story became part of the story. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher or else the Lord may punish you according to the 7th commandment.