Satirical art criticizes individuals or society by being "savagely observant" as Bird puts it. Satire usually has a heavily partisan emphasis about whatever subject matter it is taking on. It is also usually harshly judgmental and often intended to be comical.
Though I do enjoy some satire like Stephen Colbert (I am not nearly as dedicated of a fan as Kathy) other times I think that it can be overly judgmental. Bird gives Hanson's Supermarket Shopper as an example of satire. To me this piece seems really mean. I don't think we should laugh at and make fun of people that are different from us and have different values, which it seems like Hanson's piece is doing.
In my own work I think I could find ways to use satire appropriately. When satire is aimed at political situations and used to address social justice issues I think that it can be particularly poignant. I had previously discussed using satire in a social justice piece relating to "the new norm" of family structures. I think that simply swapping out people into situations that you wouldn't expect and juxtaposing 1950's family imagery could create interesting satirical pieces. I recently had been thinking about creating these scenes through doll houses and paper dolls. I think that this also has an interesting link to how we teach children these values and views of the world very early on in life and through seemingly harmless avenues like cartoons, dolls, and books. I think that I am strongly drawn to this idea, but I am unsure if I have the technical skills to succeed in this type of artistic undertaking.
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