| Artist: | Jeff Koons |
|
|---|---|---|
| Title: | Hennessey, The Civilized Way to Lay Down the Law | |
| Date: | 1986 | |
| Nationality: | American | |
| Context: | Postmodernism | |
| Movement: | Neo-Pop Art | |
| Materials: | photograph | |
| Subject: liquor advertisement poster targeting an African-American upwardly mobile audience; part of the Luxury and Degradation show. Note the text: the civilized way to lay down the law--promoting a status-oriented message with claims that their product will show how civilized you are (i.e., not primitive); reveals the rather ugly mixed messages of and manipulations of advertising. Style: de-contextualizes the ad from its original context and then re-contextualizes it within the installation where it takes on new meaning as the hype of advertising making false promises and promoting liquor consumption as a sign of status. Context: late capitalistic, consumer-oriented society in which moral values get skewed by advertising and media manipulations; focuses on class structures and status-seeking through material acquisition. | ||
