Note to PHO2008 & DIS2601

siology is a collection of thoughts, inspirations and creative processes which have contributed to my practice in first, second, and now third year studying photomedia and art.

Wednesday 23 March 2011

Patricia Piccinini

Patricia Piccinini, Still Life with Stem Cells

Piccinini's irksome sculptures are subtly confronting/disgusting, but also endearing. They are very textural, and make the viewer want to reach out an touch them. This makes it easier for the viewer to connect with the artwork, but a division is maintained between object and subject thanks to the creepy feeling the bodily forms evoke. While they are human, and pathetic, they are also unknown entities and retain potential to disgust.

It is this disgust that I am aiming to achieve in my panorama project. An everyday activity like eating, which should evoke empathy and understanding from a human audience, suddenly becomes disgusting on a large, close-up  scale and difficult to connect with. It is this dilemma which intrigues me and which I wish to create.

Monday 21 March 2011

Greed Photoshoot

Another Horse Bazaar idea (with only two weeks to go!) is to use 'the body' in an intrusive and revoluting photographic collage. I chose to photograph an activity which is essentially instinctive and animalistic: eating. My model (who, understandably, wishes to remain anonymous!) did a great job of capturing that disgustingly raw, bodily animal which is inside us all. Although the photos do take on a slightly comical edge, I think that on the big screen they will mostly protray the power of human physicality, and hopefully will have a similar affect on viewers as Hesse's sculptures had on Michael Fried.

In terms of editing, I am planning on creating a collage, as explored previously in this blog. Cropping the model out of the background and lining up a series of cropped photographs side by side - perhaps even overlapping them and making them semi-transperant, resulting in a meaty mess.


Photoshop editing will overlap the images to further abstract the subject

The Body

In theory we've been discussing 'The Body' in relation to Eva Hesse's modernist sculptures, and how images which directly or indirectly reference skin, muscle, organs etc often make a very direct emotional connection with the viewer. While critics such as Michael Fried criticize Hesse's work because the impact of such purely physical, gory images makes them feel uncomfortable, it is obvious that references to the human body are powerful and perhaps even more so on a massive photographic scale.

Tuesday 8 March 2011

Theme: Electricity


Atsuko Tanaka, Electric Dress, 1956

From a thematic perspective, I'm interested in photographing & editing some form of electricity, whether it be artificial light (in the studio or preferably in real world pop-art style) or actual sockets, plugs, cords and globes. I think on a large scale and in an industrial exhibition space like Horse Bazaar, these subjects will provide an overpowering and relevant visual effect. I do not exactly wish to 'make a statement', as Atsuko Tanaka did with her 'Electric Dress' (above), which stood as a neo-dada statement about the traditional v. new-age industrialism. I'm more interested in the optical effects of electricity, and wish to make the most of this large-format project in examining the purely objective, visual effects of a certain pop material - as listed above. The use of Adobe Photoshop in this project also contributes to this electric theme - I wish to make obvious a relationship between the digital image and the digital world, instead oft he 'unedited' analogue photograph's relationship with nature.

Panoramas



I have no idea how this image was created but gee would i love to know, it's totally head-spinning stuff and on a big scale would completely transform the room!

Will Pearson: UK Panoramic Photographer



More of Will Pearson's photographs, including 360 degree panoramas and Polar Panoramas, found at http://www.willpearson.co.uk/