Generation Wealth is a 25-year multimedia project by Lauren Greenfield. The project was released as a photobook, an art exhibition, and a documentary. Its purpose is to comment on society’s obsession to be wealthy, young, and beautiful. 

Former model Ilona Stolie and her 4-year-old daughter Michelle in their luxury mansion.

        In the image, Stolie is wearing a sweater that says I’m Luxury. The sweater was recreated for Stolie by stylist Andrey Artyomov in a blue color that was made just for her. Ilona Stolie is an icon in Russian style and fashion, which equates to wealth. This shows one part of society that desires wealth and now those beliefs and traditions are passed down onto the younger generation where the desire for wealth and luxuries will only continue to grow.

A 49-year-old patient recovering from plastic surgery eating lunch in a private room at a luxury cosmetic surgery aftercare facility.

Lauren Greenfield documented the moment where a 49-year-old woman recovering from a full face laser resurfacing and an upper eye lift at an expensive facility that offers certain luxury treatments. room rates can go up to $1,195 dollars a night. The image not only shows the desire to spend money but the desire to be young and beautiful as well.

In episode three of john burgers “The Ways of Seeing,” Burger talks about valuable objects in which we buy. The most valuable object we can buy, Berger says, is an oil painting. In the oil paintings, the objects depicted in the paintings often look real. We as people have become obsessed with things and wealth. Luxury is present in pop culture and the way we think. Just like in the above images, certain luxuries are seen, such as the luxury of an expensive home or the luxury of plastic surgery. Unlike the oil paintings Berger discusses, wealth isn’t just about things or money but can be about beauty, youth, or just looking rich. Wealth is about the impact it makes on society and the mind and the way we adapt to it in everyday life. A lot of people are concerned about luxury brand names and whatever image they portray and that is a result of the importance and the light we shine on these things.

The wealthy seem to have the need to show their status to the world. It is not enough for themselves to know they have money some have the urge to show every individual who they cross paths with that they have money. This image of Tyga with his chains is contemporary to episode 3 in Ways of Seeing. In episode 3 Berger talks about oil paintings in particular of portraits of people in the era as a status symbol showing that they have enough money to be painted on canvases which at the time was limited to only the wealthy. So all though Tyga is not painted on a canvas he has a picture of him with his chains to flaunt his wealth on social media. Wealthy people seem to want that acknowledgment from society so desperately of being wealthy. This image is different from the oil paintings because it is not a painting but the message is the same the oil paintings were delivering.During the oil painting age portraits of oneself were the status symbol in this day in age its designer clothes, jewelry, super cars, etc. So times change and the wealthy do not evolve!

In Episode 3 of “Ways of Seeing,” Berger describes how the accumulation of wealth during the Renaissance in Italy together with the rise of oil painting allowed people to hire painters to paint pictures of themselves and the things they owned. Oil painting, with its focus on objects and special ability to show the qualities of objects, became a way for those with money to showcase their wealth and power. Nowadays, instead of using oil paintings, many people show their wealth through social media, posting pictures of themselves wearing expensive clothes, eating at fancy restaurants, and traveling to exotic places.

However, one difference between now and the age of oil painting is that nowadays, some people post images on social media that make themselves look rich and glamorous, even if they are not in reality. The below photo appears to show two glamorous women with money, flying on an exclusive private plane:

Source: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-6435173/People-taking-Instagram-photos-inside-fake-private-jet-interior-inside-store.html

A viewer of this Instagram post might be envious of the glamorous lifestyle shown in the photo and of the wealth required to live this lifestyle. However, sometimes the illusion overshadows the reality. The above photo was not actually taken in a private plane, but instead in a replica created inside a store to allow people to take Instagram photos to “fake” their lavish lifestyles. The actual set, shown below, is much less glamorous:

Source: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-6435173/People-taking-Instagram-photos-inside-fake-private-jet-interior-inside-store.html

What is different between now and the oil paintings that Berger discusses, is that even though both oil paintings and social media posts are used to show wealth, nowadays for some the illusion of wealth is more important than the reality. Their goal may be to receive attention and likes and followers, which may help them to make money from social media. Although this private plane replica was created in part with a humorous aspect, it highlights how some people try to create fake images of wealth and how social media encourages this, whereas in the age of oil paintings, only the truly rich could afford to have them painted.

A contemporary image is created in modern times, when we live on. The oil paintings that Berger discusses are from traditional Western art. Contemporary images that have been used to illustrate wealth are image with big houses, or people wearing gorgeous wedding dresses. The oil paintings that Berger discusses are similar to the contemporary, they just have different producing ways, represent different times. Modernized houses compare to old architectures; laughing ladies with white teeth compare to virtuous women with closing mouth. They represent the time and the society when they are created. We can see the history of the art. From the oil paintings to contemporary image is the development of the art. However, they usually have different value, an oil painting from traditional Western culture often more valuable than a contemporary. Why are antique expensive? Because they are rare, nonrenewable, and represent the meaning that painters want to tell nonverbally. Contemporary images are much valueless because they are common. A small part of contemporary images are sold in high price, but most of oil paintings from the traditional art history are sold for millions or even billion dollars. Contemporary images and oil paintings are essentially same because they are made under the eras, but they are much different because they are created under different eras.

Despite the course of the years we still live in a society where people revere the luxuries and wealth of others. As we can see in chapter # 3 of John Berger, people used oil paintings to show their wealth, power and greatness. Berger say “the paintings themselves were simple demonstrations of what gold and money could buy” this shows to me that, oil paintings were used to demonstrate their grandiosity. Nowadays people use social media to demonstrate the same thing as several centuries ago. In conclusion, no matter what method of communication is, the human being will always want to demonstrate his superiority to the rest, thanks to this video I realize that people are more materialistic than I thought, we want more than what we have, and this is not going to change until the end of our existence.

To society, wealth equals success. If you wear all the high end brands, own a nice car and live in a huge house, everyone looks at you as someone who has it all. In episode 3 of “Ways of Seeing” with John Berger, he talks about the exhibition of wealth in European oil paintings. The high class were painted while surrounded by all their possessions to display and show off their wealth. Materialistic things were what proved your social status.

Today, instead of paintings we use photographs and post them to social media outlets. Social media has brought materialism to a different level. It has raised the bar and now everyone craves to live up to these extravagant life styles. Even people who don’t have the money to support these things will go out of their way, emptying their bank accounts just to seem wealthy.

The photograph below shows Jeffree Star, a beauty influencer, in front of his expensive car, wearing expensive clothing. It’s similar to the oil paintings because the sole purpose of this picture was to show off his merchandise. The only difference is the more modern aspects such as the car and designer clothing. Back then they wore fur and would use food or jewels to stand around.

I’ve attached a video of a YouTuber who’s showing her fake designer items. This video shows how desperate people are to fit in and feel accepted through the items they own. People will spend money on fake things as long as they have the label.

This is an image of a rapper that rose to fame a couple years ago and found himself facing almost 30 years in prison. His rapper name is Tekashi 69 and from these images shown below you can see how in this new generation its been prone for people in the music industry to “flex” and flaunt their cash and achievements. its a way of showing off to make you look better then others this is in with agreements to Bergers statements in episode three of “ways of seeing/ ways of hearing” Berger voiced that rich individuals used to purchase oil artistic creations to appeal to others and show how rich they are. Riches that can be reproduced in oil paint and obtained as though they claim everything with the canvas causing them to appear to be more extravagant. This is a common practice that still exist in the 21st century. due to the new social media age its more commonly seen now.There could be an argument that they are simply showing pride that they have accomplished something, which has lead them to acquire these riches. However, in this case, I would rather see them showing off their actual achievements as opposed to materialistic gains.