Photo editing research

http://www.staudinger-franke.com/#selCat=1&openedPrj=prj_9&lightboxImg=img_18#
http://www.mymodernmet.com/profiles/blogs/10-incredible-photo

More research!!!

Kate MacDowell.
"The artist crafts and blends her subjects by exploring environmental juxtapositions of humanity and nature." Images
The work by the artist is mainly plaster pieces - the construction of the pieces are combined organic and human qualities which I find really interesting and unique. Plaster and casting is something I am curious about trying.

Another artist is called Smolderbone (on DeviantArt) images, I am intrigued by these works because of the combinations of fantasy and reality - the enchanced colours and shapes, the lines used and mixture of animals and nature in the pieces etc.

Hisashi Saito also created a piece I am interested in - mainly because of the surrealist aspect of the work.

Kate Macdowell

 

Smolderbone

Hisashi Saito

Links for research

Fredrick Sommer

SURREALISM
PHOTGRAPHY

My interest in this artist's work is because of the combination of grotesque imagery and the fascination with the forms themselves, e.g. amputation, carcasses etc. The beauty and disgust at deformaties/anomalies in nature.
The work is also representative of life and cycles because of the underlining chonological theme that seems to be underneath some of the photographs (the element of time and decay - things changes over time/suspended etc).

Themes such as age, decline, remains, infection/disease, endurance all seem to be running through the pieces.

Rosamond Purcell

Bookworm info


info

collage

art and science

First photographs

I decided to take a series of photographs to start my project off - looking at natural cycles, changes of state and upclose images of natural elements.

Some of the images were not so successful but the main point of the photography shots was to have some iamges that I could work from and use to create collages and edit the photographs. The photography was not so good because I did not have my macro lens with me ( which I will use in my next set of photography shots) also I was completely freezing!!! So it probably wasn't my best work.
The themes I decided to focus on where close-up imagery and the changes of seasons - relating to life cycles. As it had been snowing I thought it would be a good opportunity to take some photographs of wintery scenes.

LINKS

Tom Moody This is a link to a website, art looking at life cycles. It is only a small piece really but I really like the organic-like materials used, it seems very natural and grotesque in structure.

Insect Photography

Life cycle art

Summary of ideas

My first idea in the beginning was looking at a natural element based project.

I want to look at life cycles, decomposition, rebirth, destruction, cruelty of nature, beauty of the death in nature and so on.

But somehow link the isolation and kind of despairing aspect of how the natural world isolates you - hence why we live in built-up cities etc

The life cycles in nature also refer to our own life and its cycle.

I shall explore these concepts using photography - I want to capture natural elements, the close-up (often hidden) parts of nature's cycle. Expose, reveal and emphaise certain parts of that life cycle e.g. reproduction/rebirth, destruction vs decomposition, the beauty of death in nature and the cruelty of instincts etc.
I will represent these themes and portray the concepts using mix media with my photography and also series of sketches. I want to distort, morph, highlight, exaggerate and enhance. I will using editing techniques but I am more interesting in creating distortions on the photographs themselves using a range of materials: paint, textures, additional materials/attachments, collages, water-damaging the pieces, burning sections, fine-liners, glass paint, ink etc etc

I want to extend my photography collections into 3D pieces and create installations and maybe even small sculptures. I want to represent the themes of my project rather than just literally display blatant images depicting scenes of nature. I am interesting in using materials and effects that give the impression of something, e.g. texture or represent a object or feeling, without actually using the material itself. An example would be that if I wanted to portray a foliage piece then I do not want to use anything from a tree/plant itself, I want to create textures, colours and markings that would represent it or give the impression of it. Of course the distortion I want to use will change the impression of the pieces but with good representation of the themes then the piece can connect with the audience.

That is also a main focus - connecting with the audience. I want my work to be something that can be experienced, something that can confuse and create impressions on the people viewing my work. I shall do this through installation development - create a space that can be interacted with.

 

Artist Research: Mat Collishaw

Mat Collishaw - I like to get my Loving.

 

I was interested by this piece by Mat Collishaw because of the use of a projection of an image. I also liked the idea of using video footage.

 

Image and info

 

 

Francis Picabia (from the Tate Modern)

Francis Picabia

Otaiti

Leonora Carrington (from the Tate Modern)

Leonora Carrington

Eluhium

Melanie Smith (from Tate Modern)

Melanie Smith

Xilitla

I saw this artist's piece at the Tate Modern on my visit to London. I found the work to be very intriguing and very bizarre at the same time - the camera angles and the close-up shots were unusual and created a sense of movement around the space, also as if you were looking in hidden areas. The piece's main focus is looking at construction/dismantling a space. The film is projected vertically showing Las Pozas, a never completed surrealist-influenced architectural garden in Mexico built by Englishman Edward James. The piece expresses natural elements/environmental angles of the garden - there are aspects of distortion as the camera moves around the space and you can hear fragments of speech and sighting of people. The use of mirrors in the piece is really surreal as the mirrors obstruct the view of what can be seen.

 

"The juxtaposition of the strange with the banal is heightened by the rotated format to produce mesmerizing results. One curatorial contradiction is the bright light boxes telling us about each work; they interfere with a direct encounter of the works in their darkness."

 

 

Artists

But I am far more interested in the effects that can be created to produce surreal works rather than the personal connections with dreams - that was my previous project and I am looking to move forward into a different concepts. The surreality of dreams is useful to look at when considering unusual photography compositions but the contexts of dreams is far too complex and psychological - I am interested in creating bizarre pieces that can become collectives of work and installations.

Catherine Yass' work is interesting to look at when considering the methods she uses to produce her pieces - I am intrigued by the effects she creates on top of the photography pieces, e.g. burning and soaking some of them etc. I like the colours in some of the pieces, the vibrancy of the colours creates a contrast with the darker background .
It would be interesting to reverse that and try brighter tones in the background and duller colours in the foreground to distort the layering and further morph the image(s) used. I would like experiment with splashes of contrasting colours in particular sections of the photographs - this is partially done in the second image but it seems stragetically arranged as the lines almost create a pattern that seems purposely formed like folds/creases made in the photograph. However, I do think this makes the piece look very striking and a piece I feel compelled to stare at due to the mixture of colour (with an oil-like appearence) that gives the piece depth as the layers are clearly demonstrated - you can see a faded image in the background.  
The images in the background of the pieces look intriguing but they are very concealed and indistinct - this is on purpose I think and you are meant to peer into the piece to try and figure out what the images are as the effects on the piece are meant to represent the object/scene in the photograph. I would want to highlight these features more if I was working alterating images - I am interested in highlighting the details in images, sharpening features and brightening specific objects and aspects of photographs so that they stand out from the background.

The image above has been enhanced to highlight certain features - I really like this piece as I want to work with my own photography images and enchance the most important sections e.g. particular objects, faces, natural aspects etc. I am also interested in enchancing more minor sections of my photographs to draw attention to less important sections and make them more noticable and eye-catching.
The third image down seems rather organic - I like this effect as I am intrigued by natural elements and how smaller parts of nature are the more interesting e.g. insects, fur molecules, particules of plants etc. The burning of the photograph is an interesting technique, it creates markings and smudges that distort the image. I would like to see the alterations to the images to be more 3D and more textured - mediums such as painting, scratching, attaching materials and layering images.

Progress from last project to the next

Catherine Yass was an artist recommended to me in my assessment feedback. I found her work very exciting at first glance; her work is based around photography and corrupting the works in different ways e.g. soaking pictures in water, burning sections of images, distorting, distressing etc. She wants to express the object itself in the image with photography such as burning parts of a photograph of gas towers.

I found a website that looks at one of her exhibitions; it draws comparison with the work I created for my last project - looking at dreams and mind imagery. I am still interested in the concept of dreams but on a less personal level, I like the idea of dreams creating scenes that we have pieced together in our minds from fragments of our daily life. I find the surreality of it the most interesting.

This is the website: Sleeping and Dreaming (Article), this is an exhibition from the Wellcome Collection. The exhibition wants to understand the states of sleep and also question the future roles of sleep when we live in a world that so hectic and fast-pace that it is "turning sleep into a luxury."

The works in the show look at sleep derivation and the strange states of sleep.

 

http://www.archiveofsleep.com/page/3 This is also a link to another website which shows another piece of Catherine Yass' work. I like the use of poetic work in the display as I think it creates a surreal sense of delirium when looking at issues of insomia.

Beginning

This is the very beginning stages of my next project and my progress to extend my individual practice.
I plan to experiement even more with different mediums but also to specify what particular medium I want to focus on.
I think I am going to extend the work I did in my previous project - as despite all the distress and confusion throughout the project I came to the conclusion that I like using photography with loads of diffrent mediums and that I like the idea of creating installations.
My tutor suggested I continue with my idea of installations as I created an ambitious display for my  in my last project using OHPs to create a space/atmosphere for the audience. I want to work with the idea of surrealism in my new project and explore different ways I can express a theme using photography and mixed media. It was commented in my project feedback that I did a good job bringing together lots of different mediums into a final installation - however it was rather stressful trying to create connections between all of them, although it was a useful skill to work on.  I think I shall decide on a particular medium that will be the main focus of my work so I can develop from that rather than coming at it from all angles and confusing myself.

My main themes so far are:
Surrealism
Nature/natural elements
Bizarre atmospherics
Insects/animal aspects
ETC