Klaus Staeck
Ronald Reagan
Official Photo
1982
This is a photomontage by Klaus Staeck titled, "Ronald Reagan Official Photo." My first reaction to this image was how bright and humourous message. At first, I was taken back by the brightness of the background color and the amazement of how Klaus was able to integrate a missile as a head. I think that the artist was tryning to show his views on the former President of the United States and his agenda. As you can see from the image, Klaus used a few elements of design as techniques. One of them being color, as evident from the red background. Another element he used is emphasis. The black suit with the red background, really makes the background stand out. Furthermore, you can also see texture by the smoothness of the missle head and the roughness of the man's jacket. Klaus also used value, which is the darkness falling on an object, you can see this near the top of the image. I think that the artist's intent was to show his response to a social theme or issue of his time. He wanted people to visually see what his opinion was of the former President Of the United States, Ronald Reagan. Overall I think that this image is succesful at its message and it does not change my opinion of it when I intially saw it for the first time.
