When looking at this image what we see and what we are interpreting are subjective and usually different from the author’s intent. Before we dive into the encoding and decoding of this image. What do we see? What are the denotations? This is a picture of a of a representation of a red balloon and seemingly half a girl drawn on a piece of paper. The image of the drawing is shredded from a gold frame. Without context or knowledge of the setting or artist this painting could be interpreted in a multitude of ways; As the girls face and upper body is covered she could be watching the balloon leave happily, hopefully reaching or sadly falling from the frame or escaping, it is almost limitless.
When people ‘read’ an image, it depends on what they’ve already been exposed to as explained in the Encoding and Decoding Model (Hall, 1973). The artist of the piece ‘Love is in the Bin’ is a well known street artist from Bristol, Banksy. Originally it was believed that his arguably most renowned piece, ‘Girl with Balloon” was up for auction. But just as the final bid was accepted ‘Girl with Balloon” was shredded and “love is in the bin” was created. Banksy claims that the whole image was meant to be shredded in its entirety, however, I am a strong believer that art is arbitrary and once it is completed by the artist, audiences have free-reign to interpret the ‘signs’ they see. Art Historian and Professor ‘Preminda Jacobs’ highlights in her understanding the subversive message she receives and recognises the “guerrilla tactics” that express the “disdain for the critics, dealers, gallery owners and museum curators whom they depend on for their livelihood.” (Jacobs, 2018) In which case others could interpret hopeless irony to the fact that critics suggest that the artwork has doubled in price.
I receive similar connotation of an attempt to reject the system and highlight the obscurity that street art is being handled and embraced as fine art. Particularly through the signifier of the large gold frame, evoking concepts such as wealth and superficiality. When juxtaposed with the illegitimacy of the shredded work it does highlight the artists attempt to push social messages by undermining the profitability of this work. However, with the context of the increased price surrounding the newly established work other connotations such as the impossibility of beating a system that embraces this subversion can also be drawn.
References
Jacobs, P. (2019). Banksy and the tradition of destroying art. [online] The Conversation. Available at: https://theconversation.com/banksy-and-the-tradition-of-destroying-art-104810 [Accessed 28 Mar. 2019].
News Corp Australia Network (2019). Banksy buyer breaks her silence. [online] NewsComAu. Available at: https://www.news.com.au/world/europe/banksys-shredded-girl-with-balloon-renamed-love-is-in-the-bin-says-sothebys/news-story/f5a2143c58c694661901dd35dbb459b3 [Accessed 2 Apr. 2019].
Shoot, B. (2019). http://fortune.com. [online] Fortune. Available at: http://fortune.com/2018/10/08/banksy-girl-with-balloon-self-destructed-video-art-worth-double/ [Accessed 27 Mar. 2019].
LAURA 