Fractured Space

In Launching the Imagination by Mary Stuart, there is a definition of fractured space. According to Stuart, "[f]ractured space can be created when multiple viewpoints are combined in a single image" (96). This definition interests me because the view points may change to create fractured space, however the subject may move. The moving subject may also create fractured space, thus the view point, say where the artist with the camera takes the picture, is not changing but the viewer obtains the fractured space idea anyway.

Photomontage "Of Light and Bon"

This photomontage is called, “Of Light and Bon”.

I chose to use a set of photos all taken within approximately 5-10 seconds of each other. Scott Bunter, a local professional photographer, took the photos.  The photos are of my dog. Well, actually she was my dog, and that is precisely why I chose these pictures to represent her. She passed away on August 21, 2014. The photos were taken for my nineteenth birthday as a gift from my parents in October of 2013. My parents knew how much she was my dog, and how much I loved to see her enjoying life in her yard. It was her natural habitat.

The composition of this piece is not an accident. I decided to make the start in the top left of the canvas. Bonnie is facing to the left and turning to walk toward the photographer. For the purposes of this piece, I wanted to have Bonnie notice her family and walk toward them. Then I wanted her to walk forward as she always did. I placed the pictures at a diagonal cascading toward the bottom right of the canvas to show the pattern in which she walked. In her old age she rarely walked in a straight line.

Most importantly, and the most obvious element of this work is the opacity of the pictures. Because each picture was so flooded with natural light and a bright green background, it was easy to carry the opacity throughout each picture and capture Bonnie’s movement. She also stood out because she was a German shepherd mix, and her black back in contrast with her tan tail, belly, and face, stood out wonderfully. The first pictures are opaque at a level that makes Bonnie seem like she is just coming into the photo and traveling directly out of the light. Then she gets closer to being reunited with her family, is easier to see, and looks more realistic. As she moves closer and closer however, she remains out of reach because she is in fact, no loner in this world. This fact is represented with the opacity of the last pictures of her becoming lighter and lighter in opacity.

There is an abundance of negative space that I left white as a representation of Bonnie’s purity. She only knew how to love and never lied or caused trouble on purpose, unlike humans. Dogs in general are this way; dogs are pure and only mistaken as hateful when they are scared. Therefore, there is white space to depict her innocence. She had also passed when I made this photomontage, so in representation of the beautiful and pure place that I hope she resides within now, I left rich amounts of white space on either side of the photos.    

Photo Collage

The photo collage created by Kevin Sprague, displayed and analyzed by Mary Stuart in her book, Launching the Imagination, was used to demonstrate patterns and grids in art and is the topic of this post (p. 73). I'd mainly like the point out that the flow of the piece is steady, and that it is a great example of a source incase anyone is having a harder time developing their very own photo collage. I read Stuart's passage and studied the example. Both elements helped me to understand how to correctly compose my own collage with strong use of backgrounds, patterns, lines, etc.

Proximity Based Upon Perception

I really enjoy the fact that art is all simply about perception. There are manipulations done by the artist in order to make direct points however, art is what we make of it. I noticed when I was reading Mary Stuart's, Launching the Imagination, a topic she addressed was proximity. She used the painting of Creation of Adam by Michaelangelo to make her point that "[c]areful use of proximity can create tension" (Stewart 70). Then she indicates that less than 6 inches of space separate the men's hands in the painting (Stewart 70). The perception that there is tension felt between the viewer and the subjects within the particular art is arbitrary. After all, one may understand the close proximity as a simple gesture of light and kind enlightenment or help that may not be strong or tension filled at all. If Michaelangelo wanted to really created tension with proximity, he may have had the hands in the painting touch to create a tension between the senses for the subjects as well as trigger emotion from the individuals viewing the painting.

Temperature and Color

We've all heard it!

• "Oh don't buy a black car, it will be too hot in the summer!"
• "You're going to be hot if you wear that black shirt today!"
• "My car has a black interior, it will be hot to get into!"

I think you get the point! So now, after reading Mary Stuart's, Launching the Imagination, I am utterly confused about the cooling and warming effect of colors. In reference to the term temperature in chapter 2 Stuart states, "Try leaving six colored squares of equal value on fresh snow on a sunny day. By the end of the day, the warm-colored oranges, reds, and violets will sink into the melting snow, while the blue and green squares will remain closer to the surface" (p. 44). My confusion pertains to black's ability to absorb heat while blue' and green have an inability to absorb heat in comparison to the warmer colors (orange, red, and violet) that do absorb heat. I know that was a mouthful. However, how can black (due to my experiences) and orange (from the statement in the book) both have the same effect of absorbing heat? If a black square was placed on the snow, would the black shade absorb the heat like our cars and clothes do? Or would the black only absorb the heat without letting the heat transfer to the snow below? Is black a warm color or a cool color? I think I will test my questions in comparison to the warm colors in December when I have fresh snow available to me.

Responses to Color

Color. Color has many functions in this world. To me, one of color's main functions is to evoke a response from the viewer. I don't mean a feeling, but rather a different kind of response. For example, in American culture light blue evokes a calm feeling, but a light blue label on a bottle of disinfectant spray with bright blue letters that read "Warning" evokes a response to be cautious of the product. Sometimes we learn from the words rather than the color however, the response to the bright blue warning portion on that bottle of disinfectant spray may be providing the reader with such an intriguing package that they are impressed with its overall "look". Moreover, the bright blue hue color causes the reader to not over expose themselves to the spray, but the bottle's inviting aesthetic inspires the reader to enjoy the product's uses. All in all, the reader has an ultimate response to the label, which is an array of feelings and actions.

According to Mary Stuart in her textbook, Launching the Imagination, she explains the difference in value and intensity (p.44-47). This imaginary bottle that I am basing this entire post on, has to have a hue that catches the consumer's eye on the shelf, but is still light enough to draw the reader's attention to the bright blue warning on the label. In other words, the hue of the bottle would be tinted with white, while the important lettering would be the regular hue of blue (Stuart p. 45). This way, the warning stands out while not over powering the aesthetic of the bottle's label.

Self Portrait

This is a blatant representation of my hobbies, as well as a subtle representation of who I am. There is a rigidity to my movements when I exercise, as well as to my mind and actions in other activities. The reason for the entire piece being black and white is to demonstrate this rigidity in its rawest form for the viewer. I inverted the color of the main image to make the white area, and changed the brightness and contrast of both pictures incorporated, to really portray my statement. I really enjoy weight lifting and number of other types of exercise. This is depicted by the white image with a girl to the left doing a bicep curl. Note that there is only half of myself showing, as this is a representation of only half of who I am. I also enjoy feminine activities which I represent in the bottom right of the image where I am shown in a black dress. Again, I presented half of myself to the right, because my other half is on the other side of the image.

Using Shape Analysis

In chapter one of Mary Stewart's textbook, Launching The Imagination, she discusses the topic of using shape. She uses an example that is not only an artistic creation, but it follows the "play on words" notion very well. The example is Figure 1.48 and is an ad that discourages cocaine abuse called, "The average high induced by cocaine lasts thirty minutes. The average death induced by cocaine lasts slightly longer"(p.20). The figure contains a small vertical white space that has small black letters that read, "The average high induced by cocaine lasts thirty minutes." Immediately to the right the rest of the ad it is black. The blackness contains the white words, "The average death induced by cocaine lasts slightly longer." The contrast between light and dark could symbolically create the idea of light in life, and darkness in death. The darker portion is also a longer rectangle that seems to make the ad play more on its dark shading and less on the title of the chapter's section, which is "Using Shape" (p. 20).

Figure/Ground Reversal Analysis

According to Mary Stuart in her textbook, Launching The Imagination, she states, "Figure/Ground reversal occurs when first the positive then the negative shapes command our attention"(p. 13). Then Stuart uses Figure 1.33 in the book to exemplify this type of figure and ground. Figure 1.33 in the book is titled, "M. C. Escher, part of Metamorphosis II, 1939-40" (p. 13). In this book, the figure is a photo of wood that has black and white lizards morphing into hexagons on a grey background. In the text the reader is prompted to interpret the picture from left to right. However, when I analyzed this picture I thought that the movement was from right to left, rather than left to right. I interpreted the photo in this particular way because the movement of the lizards seemed to morph from the hexagons, as if they were walking away from them, as they developed rather than turning into them. I think I interpreted the photo from right to left because I tend to see things that move away from simplicity (the uniform geometric shapes) and toward a more complex creation (the crawling lizards).