As of the day of this critique I have reached a state that is very close to finding my final design. In the fall semester, over winter break and up until a few weeks ago I have been throwing around ideas in my head and in note form, but never really getting anywhere. Once I finally decided to stop torturing myself and simply pick up my camera, head out in my truck to photo whatever catches my eye, it finally clicked. I have decided to depict a variety of random buildings in an abstracted form. The buildings are digitally cutout and airbrushed, printed on matte, then the foreground and background are painted in, further enhancing the illusion of abstraction and isolation creating a completely surreal image.
Another reason for painstakingly painting each image is to make a statement about digital reproduction. It's obvious to most that the ability to mass produce digital images significantly decreases their individual value. We live in an era where anyone with internet access can steal and reproduce almost anything that can be stored digitally. Adding a layer of acrylic paint by brush to the surface of the digital printout makes the piece individual again, something that cannot be reproduced and devalued. Competition in the world of digital photography is immense, this is an attempt to separate myself from others and show the element of the human hand in my work. The inspiration to add paint to digital prints came from a personal role model, Gottfried Helnwein.
Critique #1:
The critique in my opinion went well. Though I was not fully prepared to explain my work, I was however prepared with three rough prints to demonstrate what I am attempting. The feedback was positive but left me in a state where I do not know where to go from here based on the critique alone. Luckily I prepared plans on how to finish my work. After sharing this with the group it was clear I should attempt it. That plan being presenting this work in an alternate form. Instead of printing on matte, the shots will be printed on transparency film and presented on a vertical light-box frame. There are many variations to this idea; (1) print a solid image on film, show on a light-box, (2) print only building cutout on film, hang approx 3 inches from a painted canvas of an abstracted sky and ground, use florescent tube light around perimeter to illuminate film and canvas, (3) the final idea is to print the cutout on film, then paint the void with a transparent paint or ink, then presenting on light-box.
I think the flourescent lights will provide a clean antiseptic look that will punctuate the idea of human detachment and isolation that you mentioned. As far as applying paint onto transparency, perhaps you could try silkscreening onto the film? Overall I like your project and im intereste to see how the lightboxes will look.
ReplyDeletei think the idea of the buildings is there, how you blackened the windows and void it of any erosion and human contact. they are gloomy and dark. this is where i start to question what the light box offeres under this picture. it will certianlly brighten the work up and make it more of a dynamic compisition but then also it might reset the mood to being some sort of sketch for a company and their new project. but there are ways that you could aviod this if you are photoshopping this work. i think seeing it thought the light box will arrise some new questions and should be fun to challange film like that, while mixing it with paint. i did enjoy the comment of comparing its style to hoppers work, and if you were considering adding people this might be a way to find attitudes into them.
ReplyDeletei love your initial idea of spacing the image from a painted background in the light box. it fully utilizes the light box and will add greater dimension to the work. and with this project idea, i think i like the idea of lights shining from behind and through the painted background. the best thing to do, and i'm sure you know this, is to make work prints of all of your ideas here and see which one is the strongest, and that you feel the strongest about - because they're all great ideas.
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