David Hockney is one of British well-known artists that I have found very inspirational with one of my finals (collage). I really like his photo collage art works, (called ‘joiners’), which are a series of individual photographed details that create a complete image. Hockney’s photographic collage examines the relationship between image/reality and space/perspective. “I’m interested in all kinds of pictures, however they are made, with cameras, with paint brushes, with computers, with anything,” said Hockney. “All of them are artifice—technology alters the way you make pictures.”

Place Furstenberg, 1985, Photographic collage, 35 x 31 1/2 inches

Pearblossom Highway, 1986, photographic collage, 77x112 1/2 inches

 Paint Trolley,1985, photographic collage, 41 x 61 inches

Reference List:

David Hockney’s Biography. Retrieved 18^th May 2011:

http://facweb.cs.depaul.edu/sgrais/collage.htm

David Hockney’s artwork. Retrieved 18^th May 2011:

http://www.hockneypictures.com/works_photos.php

I found some awesome images from the internet that have been created using Photoshop. I really like the way they all have some sort of 'supernatural' look to them, through the manipulations of colour, movement and scale.

 

Week 10

A Brainstorm of different and innovating ways to present Digital Art:

-  Take a photo of your artwork and display it on Facebook

- Share it to all of the viewers, by e-mailing or sending your art work via phone

- Getting it professionally printed off on a canvas or on a large scaled board

- Printing your Digital Art work and creating a folio, in a form of a book 

- Printing the Digital Art work onto fabric or a piece of clothing that you can wear and show to the viewers

- Projecting the art work directly on the viewers, take a photo of that and then show them, through the computer.

 Below are a few innovative ways to present Digital Art:

I was very intrigued in how Digital Artists make use of the Projector.  There are so many various ways that you could present your work using a projector:

- Using a series of different sized projectors, collaborate

- Using a creative surface to project our work on. For example, using your own body, tree, cabinets      (depending on the overall theme of your artworks), etc.

A Brainstorm of different and innovating ways to present Digital Art:

"No where else does the architecture of an entire community become a canvas for digital art,” said Florida’s Governor Charlie Crist. “Digital Graffiti embodies the innovation and originality that Florida prides itself on supporting." Digital Graffiti is the world’s first outdoor projection art festival, with artists using the latest technologies to project original video art onto the town’s iconic white walls and rooftops."

Reference List: 

Digital Art. Retrieved 17th May, 2011:

http://www.openaircinema.us/blog/2009/alys-beach-florida-worlds-projection-art-festival-features-video-art-outdoors/

Week 5

Thewelcome, Jose Luise Serzo

The task for this week was a little difficult for me.  Many artists demonstrate an amazing amount of creativity and in-depth knowledge and underlining meanings behind their work, however it was hard to find a 'video art,' that was based on my topic, "Nature v.s. Man-made." 

In saying that, I was able to find an artist who shares one aspect of my theme that I plan to achieve, through the use of video art, "the beauty of nature." "Thewelcome" created by Jose Luise Serzo is an animation  that "defines a stage in humanity, in the life of a human being where balance, beauty, harmony, spiritual evolution and earthly wisdom prevails."

Even though my video art will not be an animation, Serzo has inspired me to not 'try so hard' to find what I am looking for, but to just open my eyes and embrace the beauty that is found in the most simplest and obvious places.

1. Enter this url address: http://videoartworld.org/

2. Enter the following into the search field: Thewelcome 

3. Click on  'search' button

4. Click on  Thewelcome video

5. Enjoy

Week 4

ASSESSMENT 1: PROPOSAL

ISSUE/TOPIC

The theme that I have decided to base my folio on is, “Nature vs. Man- Made” because of the subject’s complexity. Both natural and man-made objects have the potential to show beauty and destruction. This subject directly affects us as a society because of its negative and positive impacts that it inflicts upon our lives (Longstreth, R, B, Calafate S, 2008, P23) e.g. deforestation is effecting the natural order of our ecosystems and animal diversity, we use natural components of the environment to create man-made objects, demonstrating man’s  greatness and capabilities. Thus, I am very curious to explore this theme in depth and present my personal outlook, on how the relationship between Nature and Man-Made environments can work harmoniously sometimes or cause conflict and disaster other times.

ARTWORK

Digital Photography (Editing), Digital Collage, Video, Stop. Motion, Animation and Digital Drawing and Painting are the different styles that I will utilize to create my five finals. In most of the finals I intend to show one side overpowering the other and vise versa e.g. presenting the viewers with a man-made object such as a house being engulfed by the strong forces of water, symbolizing the incredible power that nature holds over man kind. Trees, rocks, natural landscapes, skies, mountains, lakes, architecture, houses, furniture etc. are things that I will be photographing and using within my works. I aim to use digital art as a medium to evoke interest and to convey the beauty, as well as the sublime aspects of the overall theme, by portraying the conflict and the unsteadiness of the composition. Thus, I hope to achieve a sense of randomness, extreme exaggeration and manipulation within my work.

This is where contemporary digital art can be used as an essential part in bringing to life the creative process of my ideas, through this particular medium. The more traditional methods of art, such as painting, drawing and photography can be used with modern day technology such as Photoshop CS3 and Illustrator to completely transform the art piece via editing the digital image, in terms of manipulating, enhancing, transforming and applying effects and filters, creating a whole new dimension to the artwork, which would not have otherwise been possible to do without the use of digital art programs. E.g. I will be able to “combine images, inorder to create effects not possible in a single image, including creating panoramas, replacing skies, creating extended depth of field, creating extended exposure latitude and combining parts of various pictures into a single image” (Anon, E J, Lepp, G 2010, pxx).

PRESENTATION:

I will be presenting my finals on a projectors and A2 photo paper because I would like them to be shown clearly on a large scale, in order for the class to be able to see the detail of all my works. Therefore, I will need to prepare a projector and a stand before the final presentation.

INFLUENCE:



Habitat,  for Humanity, 2007 



The Contemporary Digital Artists that I found very inspirational is George Grie. Grie is one of the first digital surrealist artists and is known for his 3D, 2D and matte painting images. I really admire the way his art works are a visual recording of his conceptual thoughts, philosophic views and dreams. His artworks e.g. Ice Age Premonition and Panic Attack, are so mesmerizing to look at because he merges “real world images with subconscious emotions and philosophical thoughts” (Grie, 2003). Take for example, his art work Habitat, for Humanity. It is of a unique shaped architecture surrounded by trees, situated on the shores of a beach. His use of limited palette of colours (monochrome), the variation of tones and the uneven composition creates the mood. The stillness of his themes convey a magical, dream-like gothic world, full of contemplative moments, which  I am hopping to also be able to achieve, within my own art work, by using photo manipulation. Grie’s Ice Age Premonition is a “greatly exaggeration theory of global warming and its consequences” (Grie). Thus, I am also aiming to create art work that look unique, detailed and present meaning, like Grie was able to do successfully, in his own art work.   

Ice Age Premonition, 2007



Reference List:

Anon, E, Anon, J, Lepp, G 2010, Photoshop CS5 for Nature Photographers, Wiley Publishing Inc, Canada.

Longstreth, R, B, Calafate S 2008, Cultural Landscapes : Balancing Nature and Heritage in Preservation Practice, University of Minnesota Press.

Websites:

George Grie. Retrieved 17^th March 2011:

http://neosurrealismart.com/modern-art-prints/?biography/

Pictures:

George Grie, Habitat of Humanity,Digital Art (3D Artist Surrealism Picture). Retrieved 19^th March 2011:

http://neosurrealismart.com/modern-art-prints/?artworks/habitat-for-humanity.html&fullsize

George Grie, Ice Age Premonition, Digital Art (3D Artist Surrealism Picture). Retrieved 19^th March 2011:

 http://fineartamerica.com/featured/ice-age-premonition-george-grie.html

Other References:

Duerksen, C, Syder C 2005, Nature-friendly communities, Island Press, United States of America.

Fuhrmann, M 2009, Nature art and structure, Ullmann Publishing, China.

Mason, A 2006, World issues nature vs. man a look at the way the world is today, Franklin Watts, London.

Week 3

Paul Caponigro, is one of the most famous American landscape photographers, who I find very inspirational. Caponigro “approaches his subjects in a straight forward way, and he renders with great care the substance of the visual world in the service of poetic and emotional ends” (Bunnell,  1968, p166). His overall theme and the meaning behind his photography are some what how I would like to approach the basis of my digital art work.  

Through his photographs he reveals not geography or architecture, but the everlasting contest between man and nature, which I believe successfully, reveals to us “man’s first gesture of life – the taking of space.”   I admire the way his work is personal and intense and how he sees photography as a medium, a language that can allow you to experience the interaction between yourself and nature.

 

Little River, Redding, Connecticut,
1968

I really like Caponigro’s Little River, Redding, Connecticut which was created in 1968. The black and white photograph expresses the beautiful stillness of the natural environment and the water’s reflection of the trees and sky reveals the true beauty of nature.

Reference:

Paul Caponigro, Little River,Redding,Connecticut,1968, Photograph,
35.1 x 47 cm: http://www.artnet.com/artwork/425388618/357/paul-caponigro-little-river-redding-connecticut.html

Bunnell, P 1968, The museum of modern art, Modernart, New York, No.96:

http://www.moma.org/docs/press_archives/4118/releases/MOMA_1968_July-December_0050_96.pdf?2010