Surrealism Research

I found an article on JSTOR called The Surreal and Surrealism by Philip Dedrick that I found to be helpful. I really liked the conclusion of the article, so I thought I would share it.

     "The surrealist found in these phenomena a key to the expansion of the self, and saw in the yearning and triumphs of the dream state a way of thwarting the destructive and inhuman structures of the logical world. He or she came to delight the senses, to coax them from the high seriousness of their mundane state, and to amplify the self to a greater and more dynamic self-awareness. So I commend you to savor
that other self, half forgotten, that plays chromatic rhapsodies on the organ of the night. For there between the pillow and themind is the other half of thewhole man."

Matt Wisniewski

I found some awesome digital collages by Matt Wisniewski. He acknowledges on his website that most of the work used is not his, but welcomes people to contact him with any questions regarding an image's origin. I love the way the surreal quality fits with the people. The artist was able to unite the surreal image with the person in a way that fits each person. Both aspects of the images work together well and create a sense of unity. I hope to create a similar sense of unity in my collage for Project 1.

Matt Wisniewski's Website

Project 1 Progress

Over the last week I have taken pictures to use for my collage and began experimenting with how I want the collage to look. I wanted the pictures to come from the same time of day and focus on doors and windows. I am using Photoshop to put the collage together. I'm using lots of layers and different opacities to create depth. The collage below is a work in progress. For my final collage I want the layers to come together and look more united. I also would like the individual pictures to have more natural shaped edges, rather than geometric shapes.

Project 1

For my first project I will be making a collage based on my house. I'm paying special attention to how frames occur at home. I would like to add a gif of light changing in a window or something like that. The purpose of this collage is to study how my home frames the world around me and to bring attention to the beauty of everyday things. I think I will learn something about homes and how they construct the world around the people who live in them.

Tony the Cobbler

I made this project Tony the Cobbler in TEL-T430 Digital Storytelling course with Brigid McAuliffe in Spring 2011. I was experimenting with the rotoscope technique. I made this video using Photoshop and a Wacom tablet. I then imported individual images into Premiere to put the video together.

Her Morning Elegance by Oren Lavie

My mind was blown the first time I saw this video and it still inspires me. I like how a dreamlike feeling is created with everyday objects. I think that stop motion is a useful tool when making works that are intended to have a surreal feeling.

Evelyne Leblanc-Roberge

Evelyne Leblanc-Roberge makes animated collages and installations. After reading her info page I learned that she is interested how people interact with their environment. She also explained how she uses objects as doorways and frames as the camera's viewfinder. I found our interests to be similar and I'm glad that this artist was recommended to me. Below are links to three animated collages from her website. I like how the animation of the collage gives the image more feeling and movement than a 2D collage. I also think that projects like this could serve two purposes. The animation is a work of its own and the collage that is produced could also be exhibited by the artist.

Interiors Choreography

Salisbury Street

Hutong

Mixed Media Collage Research

I've decided to do a collage for my first project. I want to present the collage in an unique way. I'm considering printing digital images and turning the project into a mixed media collage. Below are some resources I've found while researching for this project. 

Wikipedia defines a collage as a technique of an art production, primarily used in the visual arts, where the artwork is made from an assemblage of different forms, thus creating a new whole.

Wikipedia Collage Page


This website has information about mixed media art in general and had a section about collages. This is a great resource because it explains the traditional way to make a collage. It also shows different types of collages. 

Create Mixed Media

I will not be making portraits but I found two artists named Derek that had inspirational collage work.

Derek Gores works with collage and mixed media. I like the way his website is designed and its layout.   My favorite image from his website was "Salma and Frida". I like the way different elements come together to make the portrait. It also symbolizes the way people are made of many small parts that come together and work as one. I think we could also look at the world around us in the same way.

Derek Gores

Derek Russell, is a painter that does some mixed media collages. His website is in the link below. I really enjoyed his portrait of Wayne Newton. His paintings also remind me of collages in the way many   brush strokes come together to make one visually cohesive whole.  

Derek Russell

Advice from Ira Glass

Ira Glass on Storytelling by David Shiyang Liu

I came across this video last semester and I found it to be very inspirational. It makes me feel more comfortable being a beginner and gives me hope for the future.

Ideas for Project 1

My goal for the first project is to improve on something from the past so I can use it in my BFA Show. I have two ideas to choose from. The first idea I have is to revisit a project from Fall 2011 that was used in the Equality and Inclusion show at the Civil Rights Heritage Center in Winter of 2011. I'm proud of this work, but I feel that I could improve on this design. This project was made in Photoshop and I used a Wacom tablet.

Another idea I have is to make a series of collages using digital images. This idea also came to me from a past project. My plan for this project is to shoot images of the winter landscape and use Photoshop to make collages similar to the one below.