Daily Archives: March 29, 2019

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Analysis, Contextual Studies, Evaluating, Planning, Research

Artist Reference – Franco Fontana

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Who is he?

Franco Fontana was born in 1933 in Modena. He took up photography in 1961 and joined an amateur club. He held his earliest solo shows in 1968 in Modena, his native city, which marked a turning point in his career. He had published over severnty books with Italian, French, German, Swiss, Spanish, American and Japanese publishers. His photographs have appeared worldwide in over 400 exhibitions, solo and collective. His images are in collection in over fifty public and private, Itlaisn and international galleries. Many companies have asked him to collaborate on advertising campaigns, he had published photographs in The New York Times and various other major magazines, with Fontana being invited to hold photography workshops in various school, universities and institutes such as the Guggenheim Museum in New York. Every year he holds academic courses at the Politecnico di Torino, and the LUISS University, Rome. He is the director of the Toscana Fotoferstival and has collaborated with the Centre Georges Pompidou, the Japanese Ministry of Culture and the French Ministry of Culture.

Fontans photography mainly depicts extremely aesthic portrayals of natural landscapes, using vibrant colours and a high saturation to link beauty to what would typically be seen in things such as flower, fields and the sky. What has inspired me is his use of aesthetics through a more unusually high saturation, depicting which would usually be everday scenes in a more visually appealing approach. Here I intend to go about photographing nature in a more aesthetic manner, using the textures and patterns found in each subject as a means of photographing a hidden viewpoint not usually seen to the everyday eye. Some examples of his work can be seen below:

After looking over some of his works I decided that I would go onto analyse one of his images, by doing this it would allow me to have a broader knowledge regarding the techniques used to photograph the pictures and the more conceptual side of them. To do this I would have to look at three categories, technicality, visual and conceptual, the image that I have selected to study is called Paesaggio Basilicata, and was photographed 1990, depicting the use of minimalist styled composition of a agricultural landscape:

Technical:

Technically the image is composed using a very minimalist technique, capturing and using only the yellow crops and the contrasted black and white backdrop to provide the image with an overall very aesthetic product. The photo has been taken in two filters, one being coloured and the other monochrome, by doing this it really highlights the shadows that make up the layers of the hill seen in the background and as a result create an abstract like effect which in a way depicts them as waves. To stop the monochrome becoming too overpowering Fontana has included two small trees located in the center of the photo, including this allows for a more symmetrical and aesthetic looks as the continual gradients of the hill are broken up and separated. The yellow contrasts this due to it being a contrast to black and so allows the shades on the hillside to pop even more.

Visual:

Looking at the image its evident that a high saturation has been used to create the vivid colour of the grass which is depicted unnaturally yellow. This is also contrasted by the monochrome hills which by doing so allows for all of the hills to have a layered portrayal used by the darker areas which have highlighted and smoothed out the grass to create a more gradient effect as a result. Composition wise the placement of the trees in the center has definitely been thought about, this is because of how it breaks up the otherwise consistent pattern found throughout the photo, with the yellow flowers taking on about 1/3 of the image up so that it cant become too overpowering due to its colours.

Conceptual:

The style used for this photo is based on his on vibrant language, Photographic Trans-avantgarde, abstracting the landscape and its colours. By using things such as a higher saturation he aims to create ideals for people regarding the aestheticism of an area which is often over-exaggerated in order to push a certain mind-set onto the viewer.

Contextual Studies, Developing

Exhibitions

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Behind the Lens

I visited the CCA gallery which had an exhibition called ‘Behind the Lens’ by
Mike McCartney, Carinthia West and Rupert Trueman looking at Britain in 1960s-70s, pop/counter culture, sexual revolution, rock documentary.

This image stood out to me in this exhibition as the mirrors had been physically put into the landscape rather than being digitally manipulated in. I liked this as it shows nature in a different way to other images I’ve seen. I like how the landscape looks artificial, but still shows the natural waterfall and grass in the background and foreground of the image. I also like the simplicity of the image, and how the tree is the main aspect of the image, with the shadow along the floor.

Pop Icons

The second Private gallery I visited looked was called ‘Pop Icons’ and looked at Pop-art, reflecting on mass consumerism, advertising, celebrity culture, iconography. Artworks by Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, David Hockney, Peter Blake and other artists were displayed.

1950’s in Britain and late 1950’s in America, Pop Art reached its peak in the 1960’s and went on to become the most recognisable art form of the 20th century. It began as a revolt against the dominant approaches to art and culture and traditional views on what art should be. I particularly liked these two pieces above by the same artist because of their use of primary colours and the sections in which they’re divided into. I think i have slightly explored this in my project where i focused on block colours when editing the original images. Adjusting the colours in these images make them link to the work in pop art, although they are not a bold colours, this is something I could explore in my project further. I also like the use if cured lines and shapes representing the figures i the images as I think they relate to shapes and lines that you fins in natures and plants, linking to my projects.

Gallery Director Chris Clifford said, “Pop Art often takes imagery that is currently in use in advertising. Product labeling and logos figure prominently in the imagery chosen by pop artists, seen in the labels of Campbell’s Soup Cans, by Andy Warhol who is one of the artists featured in this exhibition. I also liked this image I displayed above as the repetition of the curved lines and colours, links to the theme of variation and similarity. I also liked how the patterns in the 2D images looked 3D like they wee coming off the image. In his image I thought that the blue colours linked to colours in nature and water, and the bright orange also links to my experimentation where I have included colour which arena normally found in nature within my images to make them stand out.

Being Human –

Feminism, representation of women artists in the art world, alternative voices etc.

I think the this exhibition related well to this project as a lot of the work focused on nature, emphasising the representation of woman artists. This relates to my work as one aspect i am exploring is femininity in nature, looking at soft shapes that follow a stereotypical view of woman. I particularly liked these pieces above as I think that they represent ideologies of sublime, with the storm and dark clouds above the landscape, creating movement. The tones in the image are cool and emphasis the shadows, looking at the vastness in the scene. This relates to the work I am doing now as I have explored the ideologies behind sublime and beautiful, this type of image being something I could explore more in my project where I look at the other dangerous side to nature, rather than the fragility that i have focused on so far. So far i have explored warm, soft tones and colours in my images, this contrasts to these pieces where predominately cold dark colours are used, and is another aspect that i could look at in my work, contrasting cool and warm tones.

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exhibit write ups

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CCA GALLERY

Overview of the cca gallery: The exhibition at the CCA gallery was a variety of more documentary focused aspect of photography, with some elements so highly edited when discussing new 20th century art and photography.

Going to CCA gallery I found two pieces which I belive could benefit my work and really influence the angle of my project. So far my work has been about the creation of beauty, However I have considered adding both beauty and chaos to form a disrupted narrative contrast, and I belive these two pieces perfectly fit into this possible expenditure of my theme. There is such a raw exposure of emotional expression, the sense of solitude and isolation coupled with the movement of the faces coming from within the centre of the composition, creating a new disposition of character. I also belive the use of red and black and white, creates not only a contrast between the pieces themselves, but both colours have strong connotations to strength of emotion. Red is a substantial denotation for that of suffering, pain and elements of blood. However, the black and white creates an element of exposure, as in you are looking into someone. This x-ray type of site shows an area well with-the aspect of your own chaotic image. My own work surrounding chaos could be produced more similarly to this work, but showing more of a movement instead of layered images, I will experiment with these effects, and possibly done with photos of different plants and mediums.

the artist: why they did this:

I chose this image also, as to my mind, there are clear connections to my shoot idea of self portraiture, there is a clear connection of emotional vulnerability, and almost a mocking or finding of personality. The character is presented as a form of mimicry, and done in such a way to show a vulnerability and a sense of false acts and emotions. I find it very interesting using objects such as a mirror to show a whole three dimensional view and performance of a person. I have spoken previously about the media within photography, and to my mind, this is a free flowing performance and an act of character, used in order to presented a certain display of masculinity or femininity, the use of the fist is only really visible to the viewer on the non reflected side, this sight of a tight fist accompanied with gritting teeth, perhaps is a warning or a clear dispute of women feeling anger and aggression as her posture and pose is very different from the femininity of the plait and jacket. I could link this to my project again finding what people find to be sad or happy and perhaps how unpredictable this could be due to someones appearance.

PUBLIC AND PRIVATE

The public and private was a very different exhibition than that of the CCA gallery. The exhibition was much more concentrated on the idea of pop art and pop culture. Much of the work was highly colourful, edited and abstract, made at the time of hugely monumental periods of popular culture. With many artists work such as, Andy warhol. Warhol was the artist who created the mediated expression, everyone one day will have 15 minutes of fame. I believe this is relevant to this exhibition as many of the works, were not created to from or create something seen but was to from and create a more controversial forming of elements. The exhibition itself was named ‘ pop icons of the 20th century, Britain and American pop art’ this work was emerging in the 1950’s in Britain and late 1950’s within America, the peak of pop art was in the 1960’s and went on to become the most recognisable art form of the 20th century. it was the revolt against the dominate approaches to art and culture and the traditional views on what art should be.

This piece I decided early on, was my least favourite piece I saw out of all three of the exhibitions. It is not to my taste, due to the wholly abstract lack of composition, showing three key areas, arranged with no intentional form scattered around the piece. Too, I belive the deep tonal red contrasting the the lighter abstract triangle, not only creates an uneasy element, but too contributes to the contrasting of red at the top of the piece. The lines are not straight, yet not so un-even to be considered an intentional element. I do not see the intention as to why this piece was formed, And this is my initial problem with the piece, It is definitely not conventional of art, yet does not, to my mind symbolise the revolution and refusal to show conformability of fine art previously seen. Additionally the contrasting of all the triangular shapes, to that of the rainbow and rectangular shapes , does not work well as an overall successful composition.

Lastly, I chose this piece as I found the use of the three primary colours, to be really successful. The piece itself, has such a strong centred composition with the primary attention being drawn into the female sitting down, the amount of levels within the piece allows your eye slowly to be drawn out and see everyone surrounding them. This piece was one of two from the artist Allen jones called table talk. I belive due to pop art being a more informal connection people are able to have and form a condition with art, this piece shows a demonstration of a real life scenario which too seems to mimic the everyday actions we all have. Not only within this piece is their a a clear element of seduction, but also a clear illusion of mystery within the piece, and perhaps a new form of seeing the male gaze. Their is also a clear juxtaposition of the women not wearing clothes and the male figure watching being dressed as a detective type of man. Because of this I believe it is changes form an unipersonal imagery, to emphasis a personal feeling and symbolism characterised into abstract expressionism of our own lives. Due to this piece being clearly a fine art piece and so not a photography image like my two previous inspirations, My intention of influence would be the way he so effortlessly captures an emotional connection shown through the sense of reality of the piece itself. The colours too are very bright and abstract which too is a pivotal element of seeing beauty within the world.

Developing, Experimenting, Final Outcomes, Recording

Shoot 2 – Home

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Home shoot

For this shoot, I wanted to just focus on light and/or shadow affecting objects or areas in and around my house. I used my Canon camera for this shoot. Below are the contact sheets displaying my responses:

Contact sheet 1
Contact sheet 2
Contact sheet 3

Experimentation

To edit my images, I used lightroom. I adjusted the brightness, contrast, shadows, whites, blacks and sometimes the clarity. I also experimented with 2 black and white images but thought that the colour images looked best for these types of images, as light and shadow contrasts the best when in their natural colour.

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Compare and Contrast

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Mine

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is IMG_9585.jpg
My final image I edited using photoshop, I didn’t use double exposure in the final creation of the image as I felt that the reflection on the water was distorted enough. However I did change the colour balance and incred the levels of blue and red to give the image a blue/purple tint to it. This makes the overall image feel very cold, which is in contrast to Laura’s image. I do think that the image does feel very dreamy/fantasy like due to the colours and the fact that only some parts of the image are in focus

Laura El Tanawy

To create this image I think that Laura has used double exposure/layers. The image has a sense of dram/fantasy, due to the collection of the things in the image, the trees flowers, birds. The images give off the connotations, of tropical weather because the type of tree that is in the image in normally found in hotter climates, and the use of the reds and yellows in the image. Where as in tmy image has more of a colder feel to it. However of the things that is similar between the tow images is the use of pastel colours rather having the colors of the image be very bright and fully saturated.

Developing, Experimenting, Final Outcomes

Shoot 1 – Flowers

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Flower studio shoot

I did this shoot at home, where I wanted to focus on nature and close-ups within my project of light and darkness. Some pink flowers had fallen off one of the trees in my garden so I took 3 different flowers and did a shoot inside with those flowers. I wanted to focus on shooting close-up images of the flowers, where I got someone to hold a torch onto the flowers so that it created clear light and shadows within my picture frame. I took these images with my Canon camera, and experimented with the ISO to see different photographic responses with the light I was using. I also varied between the use of the ‘close-up’ mode on my camera. Additionally, at the time I found these flowers, there was a bold stroke of sunlight that looked appealing on some flowers I had in my house – so there are 6 images in my contact sheets that were not taken in a studio shoot – I took them primarily due to the sunlight shining onto them through the window.

Contact sheet 1
Contact sheet 2
Contact sheet 3

This shoot was inspired by mainly 2 artists: Rinko Kawauchi was one of them. Her illuminance photo-book consists of images such as:

Rink Kawauchi’s image
Rink Kawauchi’s image
Rink Kawauchi’s image

Images of mine inspired by Kawauchi:


Experimentation

I used lightroom to edit these images. I wanted to experiment with adjusting the brightness and contrast, as well as the vibrance, highlights, shadows and clarity.

Image with low saturation
Same image as above but with high saturation
Image with low clarity (-95)
Same image as above but with high clarity (+95)
Analysis, Contextual Studies, Developing, Planning, Research

‘Concerning the Spiritual in Art’ by Wassily Kandinsky

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Who is he?

Born in Moscow in 1866, Wassily Kandinsky took up the study of art in earnest at age 30, moving to Munich to study drawing and painting. A trained musician, Kandinsky approached color with a musician’s sensibility. An obsession with Monet led him to explore his own creative concepts of color on canvas, which were sometimes controversial among his contemporaries and critics, but Kandinsky emerged as a respected leader of the abstract art movement in the early 20th century. In Munich, Kandinsky was accepted into a prestigious private painting school, moving on to the Munich Academy of Arts. But much of his study was self-directed. He began with conventional themes and art forms, but all the while he was forming theories derived from devoted spiritual study and informed by an intense relationship between music and color.

Color became more an expression of emotion rather than a description of nature or subject matter. He formed friendships and artist groups with other painters of the time, such as Paul Klee. He frequently exhibited, taught art classes and published his ideas on theories of art. He had already formed the New Artists Association in Munich; the Blue Rider group was founded with fellow artist Franz Marc, and he was a member of the Bauhaus movement alongside Klee and composer Arnold Schoenberg. Back in Germany after clashing theoretically with other artists, he taught at the Bauhaus school in Berlin and wrote plays and poems. In 1933, when the Nazis seized power, storm troopers shut down the Bauhaus school. Although Kandinsky had achieved German citizenship, World War II made it impossible for him to stay there. In July 1937, he and other artists were featured in the “Degenerate Art Exhibition” in Munich. It was widely attended, but 57 of his works were confiscated by the Nazis.

What is the book about?

The book acts as a reflection of anticipating “the spiritual turning-point” where Kandinsky looks at how this could occur within people. To do this Kadinsky looks at the artistic meanings of the psychology of colour, the compositional interrelation of forms etc. As a result of this her main goal as an artist becomes the constant search to find the very innermost necessity that can be found within the spiritual foundations of any individual. When looking through the initial pages of the book it is made very clear that Kadinsky is trying to anticipate the emergence of abstract art as the purest form of influence on the human soul, allowing many to view the future optimistically, foretelling the upcoming emergences of spirituality. Some examples of the book and its content can be seen below:

After reading through a bit of his book and looking over some of his artwork, I decided to go onto analyse a piece of his work that for me summed up his points stated in the book and his link between spirituality and the individual. The image I have selected is called ‘On White II’, and was created 1923:

Visual: The piece overall is very aesthetic through its contrasting bright colours and the use of negative space to create feeling within the blocks and random assortment of shapes jotted around. The bright colours for me draw a sense of happiness linked together with gloom, this is due to how the vibrant colours compliment each other bringing about a sense of joy, however contrasted to this is the darker greens and black which for me derives the image of its joy and instead implemented some underlying perspective of loss of gloom which could potentially be interpretted.

Technical: When looking over the image its clear that though the image looks like a random assortment of coloured shapes each piece has been carefully placed to be as effective as possible to that it can impact the viewer through its paint splatter like composition. The use of black within allows to break up the overlapping shapes which otherwise would have become too overpowering without a border. For me the use of the negative space occationally included with a few black lines adds to the overall effectiveness due to how it boxes in and compresses the piece so that it is only confined to one area making it as a result more minimalist.

Contextual: Kandinsky used an array of geometric shapes and lines in a colourful and riotous contemporary display, prompting many artists to imitate his style. On White II, is located at Georges Pompidou Centre, Paris, France. As the title suggests, white is predominant in this painting, including the background. Kandinsky used white to represent life, peace and silence. The majority of the geometric shapes are presented in a variety of colours, reflecting the artist’s love for the free expression of inner emotions. Striking through the kaleidoscope of shapes and colours are bold, spiked barbs in black, representing non-existence and death. Kandinsky liked to paint while listening to music, and On White II, is his interpretation of the music, as created by his inner consciousness. The abstract and possibly mesmerising display of shapes and colours can be compared with the complexity of a musical composition.

Analysis, Contextual Studies, Developing, Research

Artist Study – Emily Allchurch

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Sources:

Planning, Recording

To DO

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  1. Produce a detailed plan of 3 shoots for each idea in your specification that you are intending to do;  how, who, when, where and why in the next 3 weeks?
  2. Think about lighting, are you going to shoot outside in natural light or inside using studio lights? Maybe shoot both inside and outside to make informed choices and experimentation. Remember to try out a variety of shot sizes and angles, pay attention to composition, focussing, scale, perspective, rule of 1/3rds, foreground/ background and creative control of aperture (depth of field) and shutter speed (movement). If appropriate, think about how to convey an emotion, expression or attitude and the colour palette, tone, mood and texture of your pictures. Consider mise-en-scène (everything in the frame) – e.g. in portraiture deliberate use of clothing, posture, choice of subject objects, props, accessories, settings. Make a selection of the best 15- 20 images for further experimentation. Produce 2-3 blog posts from each shoot and analyse and evaluate your photos through annotation showing understanding of basic visual language using specialist terminology.
  3. It is essential that you complete your principal shooting over Easter and return on Tue 23 April with a few hundred images ready for further post-production and editing.
  4. Upload blog post with above planning by Fri 5 April