Digital literature in the United States of America is presently a prominent form of literature. This style of Art has gained popularity with the increased usage of internet and digital applications. The style has been applied in a range of artistic works including cannibalistic poetry. Michael Oswald has distinguished himself among the best digital artists in California today. Michael Oswald, popularly known as Michael, has also distinguished himself in digital art, owning digital host networks specifically for displaying his artistic work. Michael has majored in photo art, editing a number of reference photos to remarkable art, which has raised him to the renowned artist in America and the world at large. The thematic nature of his art attracts people to his digital works as well as his use of symbolic art. However, the symbolism in his artwork drives people more to his work than the themes displayed as the themes back up the symbolism in the artwork. This paper analyzes Michael Oswald’s digital artwork and the use of symbolism in his digital art.
The major theme in Michael’s works is the place of women in the society. He illustrates this theme by using art, showing what the women perceive as their place in the society and the true place that they should take (Wan 331). In amalgamate; he uses the image of staring and arguably surprised woman to show the need for women to learn from the opportunities that were ahead of them. The artwork symbolizes how women leave their opportunities to make a change and end up regretting the fact that they did not take their chances. Just as the artwork is stationary, women stare at the opportunities and do nothing about them. Oswald used this image symbolically to show women that they need to explore the opportunities they get instead of staring at them and taking no action.
In amalgamate artworks, Michael Oswald used the symbol of a woman holding a rod in her arms, with a cracked face and cracked body parts to show that the women needed to sacrifice to change their position. The symbolic use of a rod shows that the women required an instrument, which could be in the form of physical fighting weapons, in order to get freedom and act to change their place in society. The rod shows power meaning that women possessed power, but they failed to understand the best way to utilize the power they had. The cracks on the body of the woman symbolized a sacrifice, which implies that women must sacrifice from among themselves in order to get to the point of respect and power in the society (Wan 331). It also shows that women can only undertake the struggle for the liberation of fellow women instead of relying on others to liberate them and give them power in the society.
In Under My Skin artworks, Michael Oswald also uses the symbol of a woman with a torn dress to show how divided attention killed the vision for many women in the nation (Guertin 116). The many hands symbolically show different needs that women face and their inclusive nature. Many women have the ability to succeed but the lack focus on individual tasks. Women want to undertake many activities and succeed in all the tasks, the idea that Michael shows is impossible. The hands represent the different capabilities and ideas that women can accomplish while the torn clothes represent the shattered vision of many women. In the digital art, Oswald shows that women faced many distractions to the development and growth of their ideas although they had the ability to develop. Through the art, he advances the theme of centralized attention, which indicates that the best way for women to grow in their activities was focusing attention to particular tasks and doing them to their best (Wan 335).
In the team gold sketch artworks, Michel Oswald also uses the symbol of gold falling off a woman’s feet to show that women were relevant, and they could exploit their value to hasten their growth and place in society. According to the photo caption, women possessed valuable resources that the society needed in order to improve. Most of the modern women are educated and have skills imperative for the development of the society. However, they have let their skills and expertise fall off instead of using the skills to develop the society. The message portrayed here is not the fact that women have value, but the fact that they let their value fall off by engaging in show-offs and unnecessary competitions among themselves. Gold symbolizes value and the ability to attract relevant development while the falling off symbolizes the uncaring nature for most of women who let their talents and abilities become obsolete without rendering much help to the society.
In amalgamate; Michael Oswald uses the symbol of nakedness to show the impact of morality on development (Pote 639). The moral levels for the modern women are poor to the extent that a dress code has evolved over time. Oswald says in the caption ‘most of women dressed to kill men’ and some even displayed their nakedness to the public. He notes that morality in the society can only be boosted if women started to use the right attire. He uses the symbol of a woman lifting weight afterwards to show that women had the muscle to outplay immorality in the society. From the artwork, the woman is struggling to lift the weights but eventually, she manages ad gets it up comfortably. He says that women did not find morality an easy culture to get rid of among the people, but they had the power to get rid of it. If women tried to change a few aspects of their lives like their dress codes, the evil levels would drop significantly. However, the artwork shows that this would require heavy input from women in order to manage.
Michael Oswald uses the artwork in angel in the making update to show the development of a woman to a value-adding person in the society capable of developing economy in the world to higher levels. He argues that the artwork showed the fact that women could row from their humble states and impact economic development in the world. This means that the caption relates to evolution of women (Pote 637). The rod in the woman’s hands shows that women slowly realized the power they had especially in their ability to change their place in the world and influence the development among fellow women. The modern woman has evolved to a person with a strong personal identity and women no longer undervalue themselves. However, Michael Oswald advances the theme of continued growth through the artworks. As much as the women had grown in stature and character, they had a room to evolve continuously into highly productive people and game changers in the society.
All the artworks by Michael Oswald are prominent because they convey different messages to people. The themes and motifs in Michael Oswald’s works show that he creatively developed his artworks to attract different audiences and carry a variety of messages to the art readers (Pote 639). However, some of the artworks are more prominent than other artworks. Amalgamate artworks are prominent due to the range of themes conveyed through the artworks. First, through the amalgamate artworks; Michael Oswald conveys the theme of change among women when he shows that women often had a lot of resources and power around them although they never utilized them. However, a change in mentality for the women meant that they realized the power they had and made optimum use of their resources. The theme is supported in Marionette artworks. The woman in the artworks has all the resources around her, yet she is lying down and putting none of them into use. This was the stage when women discovered their abilities. However, their evolution has proven influential in their self-discovery and development in the society.
Amalgamate artworks also portray the theme of women as a source of their own happiness. This means that women possessed the ability to grow and influence their development if they put the skills and abilities that they had to work. Through the artworks, he shows that the women possessed golden abilities. However, most of them let their abilities go to waste, as they did not make proper use of them. This shows that the women had found themselves and that they knew their talents. Through self-discovery, women could advance their growth and stature in the society making them a hub of their personal growth (Guertin 42).
Michael Oswald’s artworks in Marionette also influenced the perception of the people on his artworks. Many of the followers of Michael’s artworks conceive marionette artworks as the center of his exploration on the theme of women development and empowerment. Through the artworks, he shows that the growth achieved among women in America, and the world was tremendous. The women had realized their place in the society, and most of the women were working towards having the best institutions for their development. Nonetheless, Marionette artworks also show the hindrances that women had in their development. Divided attentions mainly affected the development of the modern woman. Most of the modern women strive to achieve perfection in many things at the same time (Wolper 71). Oswald says in one of his captions that the internal struggle from the women killed their visions. Women have attained sufficient education to make them successful in the society. However, most of the women lack the moral attributes to attain a position of full development in the society. Oswald also explained through marionette that as much as the constraints prevented the women from development and realization of their potential, their will to grow mainly influenced their developing stature in the modern society.
Angel in the making update artworks also influenced the development of Michael Oswald’s artworks. However, most of the themes addressed by the artworks mainly linked the developments in Play with me artworks and team gold sketch artworks. The themes in the three sets of artworks mainly involved the development of women in the society. The artworks revolved around the theme of self-realization among the modern women and the will to develop. Play with m starts from the perspective of the young women asking people to help them develop and do their best during their free times. Team gold sketch then shows the development of women to valuable people and the realization of such development among the women (Guertin 23).
Concisely, Michael Oswald is one of the most established digital artists in the world, making a wide range of artworks that attract attention from different people across the earth. Through his artworks, Michael has influenced the development of many themes especially themes around the place of women in the society today. Michael portrays the women as powerful and resourceful through their possession of golden abilities to develop the society. Michael also portrays the women as creative and powerful with the ability to influence positive change, as well as influence policy formation in the society today. Michal Oswald uses many symbols to advance these themes including rods, carvings, and gold. All the artworks by Michael Oswald are influential although some of the artworks influence the artists more than others do. Some of the most influential artworks by Michael Oswald include play with me, golden team sketch, marionette, amalgamate, and angel in the making update. The artworks are prominent because of their thematic stature and ability to influence perception about the women in the society.
Works Cited
Guertin, Carolyn. Digital Prohibition: Piracy and Authorship In New Media Art. London: Continuum International Pub, 2012.
Pote, Michael Allyn. "Mashed-Up In Between: The Delicate Balance Of Artists' Interests Lost Amidst The War On Copyright." North Carolina Law Review 88.(2010): 639.
Wan, Ke Steven. "Managing Peer-To-Peer Traffic with Digital Fingerprinting and Digital Watermarking." Southwestern Law Review 41.(2012): 331.
Wolper, Vicki Ellen. Artistic Web Design Using Adobe Dreamweaver And Photoshop : An Introduction. Sudbury, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning, 2011.
