Blog Post 4

I think that what Lippard is getting at with that statement is that many artists use things like irony, humor, and subversion in order to speak out against the ideas that are commonly accepted. They poke fun at the views and opinions of the prevailing group of people. She states that these artists “hold mirrors up to the dominant culture, slyly infiltrating mainstream art with alternative experiences” (199). They take common ideas of the dominant culture and twist them in such a way that they state the complete opposite of what the dominant culture was trying to say. They give an “alternative experience” to the commonly accepted ideas. This no doubt takes them out of the melting pot and into the direct line of fire of the current hegemony.

For example on page 200, Ester Hernandez uses irony to speak out against the raisin growing companies in her hometown. The picture takes the traditional raisin box logo and completely changes it. The original logo portrays a young woman holding a basket of grapes with the words “Sun Maid Raisins” written underneath. In Ester’s portrayal, there is a skeleton holding the basket of gapes and underneath is written “Sun Mad Raisins Unnaturally Grown with Insecticides- Miticides- Herbicides- and Fungicides.” When I first glanced at this image, I thought that it said “Sun Maid Raisins,” but as I looked closer, I realized it did not say that at all. This picture shows the complete opposite of what I had expected to see. Ester is very blunt about what she is trying to say which is that the Raisin companies are killing us by using herbicides and other fertilizers to grow the grapes. The fertilizers are not only on the grapes, but they are running off of the farms and into the nearby water sources creating hazardous conditions for the people in that area. She is stepping out of commonly accepted ideas and is speaking the truth about what the companies are doing. She is walking directly into the fire, and I am sure the raisin companies had a lot to say to her about this portrayal.