Joseph Parra was born in South Florida and currently resides in Baltimore, Maryland where he received a BFA at the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) with a major in Painting, a minor in Art History, and a concentration in Printmaking. He has always had an interest in working with aspects of identity in relation to the human figure. His work has come to challenge the traditions of portraiture through acts of concealment and exposure; a reflection of the mind transposed onto a surface.
“Remember, today is the first day of the rest of your life. Don’t be bound by yesterday, just look forward“-Joseph Parra
Examples of his work
Exposure and concealment are Parra’s tools, carried out via printmaking, digital printing, drawing, sculpting and painting. While viewers connect with the figures, they are also silently confronted by the figures’ mindless expressions, illuminating that they aren’t aware of their voyeur.
Joseph Parras work could be an inspiration towards my 3d photo sculptures because of the way he creates the 3d effect. I really like the way he uses crumpled paper to create distorted faces and present them in an effective way. I could use the idea of rolled up paper with my images of rock formations to make a 3d sculpture in a similar way to Joseph.
Mary Ellen Bartley
Mary Ellen Bartley is known for her photographs exploring the tactile and formal qualities of the printed book, and its potential for abstraction. By emphasizing the unique “aura” and materiality of printed matter, Bartley’s work offers a celebration of textural and tactile properties, a particularly potent act in this increasingly digital age.
Examples of her work
Bartley photographs stacked paperback books that take on the identity of minimal sculptures. This is emphasized by the anonymity of the books, whose spines and covers cannot be seen, just the blocks of pages with subtle variations in colour.
Mary Ellen Bartley has a few different styles of work with a topic based on photographing and manipulation of different kinds of books. To create these abnormal books, Mary cuts out strips of the book cover and flips them around in a sequence, then photographs them on a vibrant coloured background. Examples:
Image analysis
In this image, you can see three crumpled pieces of paper displaying a distorted face on wooden shelves. The faces can portray the idea of lost identity due to the same face displaying different emotions through different positions and angles. The shadows being cast from the shelves creates a nice, dark contrast towards the plain grey background. Also, the artist has created relating shapes with the faces to give the idea of different identities through the face positioning. I would like to use a similar style of work when I create my 3d photo sculpture because I like the way the faces are positioned and displayed.