Essay on Kuchinskys Cartoon as a Thought-Provoking Mechanism

The genre of the picture under consideration is an editorial cartoon. This genre is immensely popular across the mass media, including newspapers, magazines, news websites and social networks. Cartoon is a highly effective means of transmitting critical and often controversial ideas through laconic and yet potent visual means, in the first place, visual symbols and also quite often the color scheme. The given image efficiently employs both of them to create a bitter social and political satire which serves as a powerful thought-provoking mechanism forcing the viewer to contemplate such serious issues as human rights infringement, freedom of thought, the foundation of dictatorship, etc.

Pavel Kuchinsky, the author of the cartoon, is a Polish cartoonist, who has been working in the field of satirical illustration since 2004. In his works, Kuchinsky creatively portrays the unsightly aspects of human relationships, addictions and illusions. The artists favorite subjects are politics, economics, environmental problems, social networks and new media. He received more than one hundred prizes and distinctions for his poignant visual satires. In 2005 he was awarded the "Eryk" prize by the Association of Polish Cartoonists, as a newly discovered cartoonist, with a record number of awards in international competitions (Kuczynski). Kuchinsky has a very distinct individual style characterized by a bright color scheme, heavy symbolism and subtle humor.

Ironically enough, though the artist has been creating editorial cartoons since 2004, he has become popular only recently, thanks to the digital mass media and social networks that he is so acidly criticizing. Thus, Kuchinskys work is a living representation of the way in which the right to the freedom of speech is being realized on the digital basis. It is no coincidence, that in 2015 soon after the tragic yet symptomatic Charlie Hebdo incident (where 12 members of the Charlie Hebdo editorial team were killed by two Muslim terrorists) he held an exhibition at Cartoon Xira. The press-release for the exhibition perfectly sums up the social background behind the image under consideration:

Thanks to the Internet revolution, during the last 15 years humanity has changed its perspective on various issues involving community life: politics, religion, and morality; and this phenomenon is because the Internet made anyone able to get informed about any topic, generating opinion and somehow awakening curiosity and involvement of each person in their own social circle. (The Controversial Kuczynski at Cartoon Xira)

The Internet revolution and the countries that are still opposing its effects are clearly the main subject that the cartoon under analysis is symbolically discussing.

The most prominent feature of the given image that easily catches the eye is the color scheme. It is highly symbolic. Warm colors predominate, but they give an aggressive rather than soothing impression. Gradual transition from red in the bottom left corner to yellow in the top right corner can be observed. Red is a color with a plenty of symbolic connotations. In the context of the given image it relates to aggression, power and domination.

Red has also always been a color associated with the communist regimes. The flag of the USSR, the Red Banner, was a red field with a golden yellow hammer, a sickle and a star. If earlier a red banner was a symbol of revolutionary activity, after the USSR was created the red became a color associated with the repressive actions of its government against dissidents, intellectuals, nationalists, artists and other individuals whose worldview differed from the official doctrine and posed a threat to the unifying politics of the state. The wave of arrests, trials, incarcerations and killings came to be known as the "Red Terror." At least partially, modern Russia is a historical and ideological heir of the Soviet Union, as it is one of the countries where the human rights are abused even today. And though its flag is composed of three colors: red, blue and white, red is the one most often used in the official emblems, such as, for example, sports uniform. Obviously, these historical references are important for Kuchinsky as a Polish citizen whose country suffered from the Soviet occupation. In one of his interviews, he said, Im [a] observer. We all live together on (sic) this world, for so many years, but we keep making the same mistakes. (qtd. in Dolmage) This idea translated into the language of color and visual symbolism makes the viewer ponder over the ways in which people allow for the dictators gain power and absolute control over their lives over and over again, and how it all starts with such a seemingly minor thing as a limited access to information.

Modern China also uses red color in its official symbolism. In China the communist regime openly controls the private life of the citizens seriously limiting their rights. This includes censored access to information and infringement of the right of self-expression. China is a country with a controversial political regime which often becomes the subject of Kuchinskys illustrations. Though, in the given image the country is intentionally left unknown and the accent is on the general trend itself, the situation with China regulating its citizens access to the Internet is an obvious target of the given visual satire.

Another significant color in the picture is yellow. The yellow filed on the right, behind the border, into which the bright red is slowly merging, symbolizes rather more moderate politics. Yellow is often associated with gold, money, prosperity. Thus, it can be a symbolic reference to the countries with a developed market economy, which are often accused of worshipping "the golden calf". At the same time, it is important to say that the yellow color does not merge into the green, which shows that the other side is not being idealized the grass is not at all greener there.

The at symbol rising in the top right corner of the picture is white as it is symbolically associated with the sun. The gradation of colors suggests that the very change from red to yellow in the picture happens thanks to the light that the white sun is shedding upon the ground. The Internet is the medium which nowadays secures the freedom of speech and is the least censored means of communication. At the same time, the sun-like at symbol also satirically hints at the way the Western community perceives the Internet as the center of its life, the pseudo-divine all-knowing and omnipotent power. Here Kuchinsky brilliantly catches the contradictory character of this complex phenomenon. The meaningful ambiguity of the symbolism that he is employing creates a productive space for discussion.

The other important symbols are huge red scissors, posts on the border and the frontier sentry box (which are red too), and the soldier guarding them. They symbolize the governmental control over the citizens (the hand with a mouse) access to information through the Internet. Kuchinsky does not significantly differentiate the two territories divided by the border, it is the same flat surface. Posts, stuck into the ground, are not even a part of a fence. In this symbolic way, the cartoonist shows that all the borders dividing people are illusory. The need for connection is interrupted not by some natural differences, but by the manipulations of the politicians backed by the military forces.

The composition of the picture is quite symbolic too. The diagonal border line divides the picture into two parts. The left bottom part of the picture stands for the left political views, and also for the past and the outdated political regimes. The right part is a representation of the right political views and the future that is certainly an era of the Internet.

The visual symbolism of Kuchinskys cartoon is rather heavily loaded with social, political and historical references which are difficult to miss, and yet seem open to interpretation and dialogue. This is obviously a distinct feature of the individual style of this artist, which makes his work extremely valuable in the modern context of active manipulation with the mass consciousness and the infringement of freedom of speech in many countries of the world.

Works Cited

Dolmage, Jaimi . These Paintings of Animals are Bold and Beautiful but When We Looked Closer, the Satire Blew Us Away. One Green Planet, One Green Planet, 23 July 2017, www.onegreenplanet.org/animalsandnature/pawel-kuczynski-animal-paintings-satire/.

Kuczynski, Pawel. Witam / Hello. Pawelkuczynski.com, Pawel Kuczynski, pawelkuczynski.com.

The Controversial Kuczynski at Cartoon Xira | Event. Culture.pl, Adam Mickiewicz Institute, 2015, culture.pl/en/event/the-controversial-kuczynski-at-cartoon-xira.