Iconographic Reseracg On "The Feast Of Trimalchio" By AES+F

AES+F,an internationally famous artists group from Russia,has displayed their works in more than 100 international expos.Their works are of various art forms and characterized by obvious personal iconology,combining multimedia arts like photography,video and installation.AES+F is consist of four artists from different fields,including Tatiana Arzamasova and Lev Evzovitch from Moscow Architectural Institute,Evgeny Svyatsky from Moscow State University of Printing Arts as well as Vladimir Fridkes who used to be a famous photographer of international fashion magazines such as “VOGUE”,“ELLA” and “MARIE CLAIRE”.Gareth Harris honored AES+F’s works as “dynamic immortal drawings”.Those artists devoted themselves to combining modern fashion with the subtlety and delicacy of classic oil painting,thus creating their unique aesthetics on fashion.Under the background of globalization and consumption,they present their thought about the world in their works,bringing viewers great shock in both sight and hearing.This paper takes “The Feast of Trimalchio” by AES+F created in 2009 as its research object.By analyzing their works’ images with the methodology of iconology combined with contemporary cultural background,this paper explores the artists’ thinking and reflection on modern society so as to ascertain the artistic value and impact of AES+F’s works.The first chapter of this paper introduces its research background and goals.The second chapter analyzes their works’ way of creating and text resources by fully understanding Gaius Petronious Arbiter’s historical and social background as well as the customs at that time,which helps to clarify the difference of contemporary understanding about arts with the past.The third chapter conducts iconologic analysis on “The Feast of Trimalchio” with Erwin Panofsky’s iconology as it theoretical basis.The images’ symbolic meaning is finally presented by combining necessary structural elements of picture composition with the profound historical meanings behind the images.Their works are analyzed in three levels of pre-iconographic description,iconographic analysis and interpretation based on Erwin Panofsky’s iconology theory.AES+F’s artistic value and impact is concluded in the fourth chapter through understanding and analyzing their works as well as making reflection on this consumption age.The last chapter views their works’ s breakthrough to art forms in the perspective of content and form.There is no perfect and flawless art.We should have a rational and dialectic view towards art,which means we need to realize not only arts’ inheritance from the past and breakthrough to the present,but also its limitation.