Abstracts Business

As long as there is meat today, everything is a-okay

by Jonathan Bell

By means of material manipulation and adverse messaging, my work exhibits a critical response to the maleficent control and reliance businesses impose over employees and consumers alike. Through graphic representation and typographic expression I utilize image reproduction techniques and language, tangibly outputting materially driven portraits and visual statements. I employ material, typography and language that interact with one another in a paradoxical conversation. Exploring consumer habits and business omnipresence, which often reveal unsettling subcutaneous findings. Drawing these abundant connections reflects the all-encompassing presence of business. Ironically, the imposed construct of actively seeking connections and contextual relationships through contradiction, language and design principles ??? sublimates my unavoidable participation within the global syntax of consumerism and consumer design. The illustration and informing of instances takes on various forms: an enigmatic challenge to myself, a parody advertisement in some impressions and in others a historical dialogue and an expressive visual language derived from my experiences in the field. Advisors/Committee Members: Kelley, James R (advisor), Dimarco, Paula J (committee member).