ТЕАТРАЛЬНЫЙ ПЛАКАТ В.КУЛИКОВА В КОНТЕКСТЕ РЕКЛАМНОЙ КОММУНИКАЦИИ

The relevance of examining theatrical posters created by V. Kulikov in the context of adver­tising communication presents itself in the insufficient research done on the communicative component of this artist’s work in contemporary academia. Publications dedicated to Vitaly Kulikov’s art, approach it first and foremost from the perspective of art criticism, while theatrical posters also serve as means of advertising communication. Vitaly Kulikov’s works have completed a full “life cycle ” —from straightforward advertisement to a classic example of poster art.

Objectives. The object of study are the creative tech­niques of Vitaly Kulikov, used by him in the theatrical poster to achieve maximum advertising effect.

Methods. The research was conducted through a semi- otic analysis of the visual complex of theatrical posters by Vitaly Kulikov.

Results. Vitaly Kulikov was interested in theatrical posters because it gave him an opportunity to realize his adherence to the “spirit of the avant-garde” in an unbiased atmosphere. He saw the merits of posters in the aphoristic expression of thoughts, its democratism, accessibility and efficiency as well as the direct contact with its viewer.

Theatrical poster is a fruit of creative rethinking of the performance seen by the artist. The artist is the first spectator and at the same time the co-author of the play. Vitaly Kulikov has understood it very well and re­peatedly stated in his interviews that the poster is “an accomplice of the play, another actor”, “visiting card of the play ”, repeating the words of Nikolai Akimov, the well-known artist, the author of theatrical posters: “The theater begins with a poster”.

In his works Vitaly Kulikov offered his own interpreta­tion of a play, attracting the interest of potential viewers with a visual metaphor and thus drawing their attention to the play itself. It has been demonstrated that posters by Vitaly Kulikov is use of the AIDA model — attention- interest-desire-action (E. Elvis).

Furthermore, the paper examines which artistic meth­ods were used by Vitaly Kulikov in his posters to fulfill informative, expressive, and directive functions of ad­vertising communication.

The informative function is carried out by means of an impeccable composition, nontrivial imagery, concision, minimalism, use of local and contrasting colours, sim­plicity, applicative visuals and expressiveness of the font. The expressive function of advertising communication is realized through the use of a wide range of emotions (humour, sarcasm, tragedy) to interpret the themes of a play. A big role in representation of emotional aspect is given to gestures and postures of the respective char­acters.

All three layers of visual coding are used to achieve expressive influence: iconic, iconographic and tropical (U. Eco). The main communicative effect of theatrical posters by Vitaly Kulikov is achieved through the layer of tropes: hyperbole and metaphors. Kulikov’s visual metaphors are both unexpected and paradoxical; they are focused on one central idea.

Relations between the verbal and the visual in Kulikov’s theatrical posters have also been examined. It can be noted that a specific verbal-visual rhetoric is used to achieve a synergy of influence on the recipient and is typical for the theatrical posters.

According to the terminology established by G. Bon- sip, Vitaly Kulikov mostly uses verbal-visual analo­gies (metaphors). It means, that conceptual image ex­pressed verbally is visualized by means of a number of signs that stand in an established relation to verbally expressed meaning. Verbal-visual parallelisms presup­pose a correlation between visual and verbal comple­xes of signs, and verbal-visual hyperbole, where the meaning is presented visually simplifying the semantic relation through exaggeration.

The maximized manifestation of the title’s semantics in the visual imagery as well as the connotative usage of fonts, which are typicalfor a number of posters are also shown. The paper notes that theatrical posters created by Vitaly Kulikov possess a certain degree of suggestive influence on the recipient — in other words, influencing on subconscious.

Using the full arsenal of artistic influence, including archetypes of iconic forms and symbolic colours, en­gaging the recipient into recognition, guesswork and analogies, makes him an active agent in pre-interpre­tation of stage play, which in turn intrigues him and prompts the wish to see it. The works of Vitaly Kulikov evoke a series of associations, which in itself are chan­nels of poetics.

Conclusions. Advertising communication in theatrical posters is closely related to the complex of expressive artistic means of the genre. A poster artist is one of the key figures of a stage play, establishing direct contact between the troupe and potential viewers. Through the use of non-trivial visuals as well as utmost laconism and minimalism which were able to catch the eye of a potential viewer, V. Kulikov succeeded in achieving an advertising effect in theatrical posters. A potential viewer was motivated to watch a play first and foremost through visual metaphors which pulled him into a game of pre-interpretation and co-creation.

Further study could focus on the receptive aspect of artworks with application of semiotic instruments.