As we look at Richard Hamilton's just What Is It That Makes Today's Homer So Different, So Appealing? (fig. 1.5), its cluttered space makes us aware of the process of construction. We become hyperconscious of the medium in photomontage, precisely because conventional photography is a medium with such loud historical claims to transparency. Richard Lanham (1993) notes how well Hamilton's piece from the 1950s suits today's "digital rhetoric" and then asks: "Couldn't this-collaged up as it is with clip art and advertising icons-just as well be called: Just What Is It That Makes Today's Desktop So Different, So Appealing?

Source type: picture
Info: "Just what is it that makes today's homes so different, so appealing?" A collage by English artist Richard Hamilton.
Original size: 970x1024 px. Edit