This post is a display of 15 chaotic photo edits which I have produced in response to the photographer and film-maker Dexter Navy. In order to create these I have used imagery which I have taken over time from various countries (China, Italy, France, England etc…), some of my artwork and a couple of pieces of imagery found in newspapers. I used double exposures and high contrasts in order to form the layered chaotic aesthetic. I also embraced quite a low resolution aesthetic which is something I explored in my last coursework project and surprisingly found that it adds value to the images whereas I originally presumed it would take away from the quality of the images.
Dexter Navy is a filmmaker and photographer. Across both lens based mediums his aim is to produce work that is ”psychedelic, cinematic and at all times holds an authentic feeling.” Dexter’s career began when he was 18 years old as i-D Magazine stumbled across his photographs which he used to post on Tumblr, and then they asked him to start shooting for them. From there his creative career has massively grown, he now has a very respected portfolio of work which is prominent in modern fashion and music culture. From working on video production for big name artists in the music industry to producing magazine covers and advertising campaigns for world renowned fashion brands.
Just to name a few of the artists and brands who Dexter has worked with: Dior, A$AP Rocky, Kendall Jenner, Louis Vuitton, Playboy Carti, Converse, Kanye West, MAINS, topman, Alexander Wang and many many more…
I believe that aesthetically Dexter Navy is a very relevant creator to look at in terms of how I intend to go about this project, this is because his chaotic and psychedelic visual tendencies are something which I will take inspiration from and use as a reference when producing my work.
Below are just a few links to music videos produced by Dexter Navy…
In my coursework I looked at how photographer Lewis Bush had put together an article explaining how breaking the rules of photography can be a great way of working as a photographer. The article covers how breaking the rules of photography can be a way of finding new ideas and exploring areas of the creative subject which you would not otherwise, if you stuck to the rules. He goes on to talk about how the best ideas aren’t clearly visible and in order to find these new and innovative creative ideas, photographers must break the rules and take things to the next level. The article covers 8 rules within photography that can be broken in order to achieve this, these 8 rules are the rules of: Objectivity, Audience, Manipulation, Reality, Technicality, Ownership, Camera and The rule of rule breaking. Of these 8 rules I have decided that I will like to explore the rule of manipulation.
Within the rule of manipulation sub-section of the article Bush looks into the photographer Alice Wielinga who breaks this rule within her work, and relates well to my initial ideas of this exam project. I took a particular interest in her work after seeing it for the first time as I found that the aesthetics of it were very individual and intriguing. Here are some examples of her work, the first of which has some context attached by caption…
From series: North Korea – A Life between Propaganda and Reality. It is April 2013. While the Western media follows Kim Jong-Un’s steps during his missile test launches, I travel 2,500 kilometres through the North Korean interior. Once arrived, the images I know from my advance research correspond with the scenes my guides proudly show me during their propaganda tour. But seeing these scenes with my own eyes, I gradually discover that behind everything they present to me, a different reality is hidden. While I listen to my guides talking about what invaluable contributions the greatly admired leaders made to their country, I drive through a landscape that looks haggard and desolate. During my journey I collect propaganda material and take photographs of the reality I encounter. This material is the basis for my multimedia project ‘North Korea, a Life between Propaganda and Reality’. With the found propaganda images and my own photographs I compose a story that deconstructs the North Korean propaganda.
As Bush’s article talks about, this specific series of Wielinga’s work is executed using a combination of photographs from her visit to North Korea and North Korean propaganda. The combination of these two visual matters creates a brilliant juxtaposition which is very effective at putting across her political points.
Here is a section of Lewis Bush’s article, covering how Wielinga produced this project, including a couple of quotes from the photographer herself…
‘ When Dutch photographer Wielinga traveled to North Korea, she found her ability to photograph in the secretive state severely curtailed. “I felt that, with mere documenting, I wasn’t able to tell the story as I was experiencing it,” she says of the stage-managed excursions to which journalist-visitors are subjected. Her response was to digitally merge her photographs of official North Korea propaganda with her own images of workers and decaying factories. “I see propaganda and reality as two sides of the same coin,” she says. “Propaganda is an essential part of everyday life in North Korea, and because of that a reality in itself.” ‘
Aside of the work that was looked at in Bush’s article, Wielinga has produced many photo-montages which I think are a lot more experimental and chaotic, relating to my initial ideas for this project. Here are some of those photo-montages which I am referencing…
A GIF (Graphics Interchange Format) is a bitmap image format that was developed by a team at the online services provider CompuServe on June 15, 1987. Since then it has been a commonly used image format, usually as an animated loop, on the internet due to its support and portability. This is an appropriate way of creating imagery for this variation and similarity project, as it is a way of displaying typologies (similar objects/frames)
Robert Rauschenberg, Peter Blake, Damien Hirst, Richard Hamilton, Dexter Navy, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Alice Wielinga, Dan Baldwin, Logo Graphic Designers
