Photography & Photoshop

Here are some of my images from photography and photoshop as this was my parallel practise. I had a lot of fun playing with different scenarios.

Incomplete Woodblocks

My next two pieces of wood blocks are currently both a work in progress. My first piece, "Why is it never enough?", will be a one colour block, black, A2 block. It's a self - portrait of me crying with make up running down my face and lipstick smudged across my mouth. I wanted to show the struggle of trying to be beautiful and losing happiness in return.

My next wood block: "Beauty, Eye, Beholder." It is also a one colour block which might also be black. It is of a women's eye looking through a small mirror to see what is looking back at her. It also has a thick black border. This, to me, represents the one major tool being used in beautification, a mirror. Thought to be either  woman's enemy, or her best friend.

Third Woodblock

My third print: "Barbie: Before & After", whicj is of Barbie preparing for surgery and is paired with the second Barbie which is recovering from surgery. This is my third three colour reduction but have strayed away  from the greys as I wanted the colours to in some way relate to Barbie's own hair and skin tone. This piece is still a work in progress, I have two colours done and on;t the black outline of the face is left to be done. It shall be updated with the final colour soon :)

 

Second Woodblock

Here is my second woodblock, "I'm a Barbie Girl...", I did another 3 colour reduction on this one. I used two shades of grey and my final colour was black. I decided to keep within this colour scheme because I didn't want the colours to over power the image itself with the Barbie eyes.

My Visual Methodolgies

For my first print: "I feel nothing", I did a three colour reduction using red, grey and black being my final colour. I added text to bring more to the image than just the obvious.

Vanessa Beecroft

My last artist is Vanessa Beecroft. Summary: She is an ITalian artist who mainly uses photograhy to show her art. In some of her photographs she tries to portray the difference between beauty in high fashion now compared to the beauty in the time of classicism. She also tries to reproduce ancient classics to show how they would look with modern society influencing the. She strips her models naked and arranges them in an art space with rigid placement. They almost look like a factory built army ready for combat in the world of fashion and beauty.

My reflections: I can relate my work to Beecrofts because of how she portrays beauty in her photographs. She has cold, emotionless, stiff bodies standing in rows upon rows without a difference between each. In my project I was looking at how the fashion world of models are taking over women's minds by influencing then to be like them, mindless copies.

Matthieu Bourel

My third artist is Matthieu Bourel. Quick summary, he is originally from France and is famous for using collage but also has the skill of painting, music, sound and illustration. From the design gallery, it is said that 'through the eyes of this artist we are reminded that beauty is only skin deep.' He shows is in an anatomical fashion what he sees beneath the skin of Sophia Loren in his collage, 'Princess / Headcut', He sees himself as a musician that on;y makes collages. Even after some of his collages have been exhibited he will go back and add more layers to re - identify it.

My reflections: MY work relates to Bourel's work because of what he does in his collages that the subjects in mine physically do to their own face. He is simply cutting paper and rearranging faces to make something new. Whereas I am changing the faces in my project using a scalpel or a needle for Botox, something that cannot be reversed. I like how he drastically changes the colours and how they don't match to show that they don't belong and are not meant to be. 

Guy Merrill

My second artist is Guy Merrill, this is a summary of him and his artwork. Merrill is a talented photographer from London, England. He addresses the insecurities of both men and women. Even though women are usually in the spotlight when it comes to these issues Merrill tries to portray the same issues in the life of men. In his photographs he captures the people with average, everyday, normal bodies wanting the bodies of athletes or super models, but usually ends up with depression and wishful thinking. He has them standing in front of a mirror with a magazine in front of the area they want to change visualising what it would be like to have bigger breasts or stronger abs.

Here are some of my reflections on GM: I can relate my work to his simply because of his subject matter, like Helnwein's, his work is about the human body and how people are not happy with the image they see standing in the mirror. In my project my subjects are using various extreme procedures to change how they look but in Merrills photography they are using a simple photo from a magazine to see what they would look like with these different body parts. 

Gottfried Helnwein

The first artist that I'm reflecting on is Gottfried Helnwein. Here is a quick summary of his life in art. He is an Irish - Austrian artist, photographer, painter, installation and performance artist, He is primarily concerned with psychological and sociological anxiety, historical issues and political topics. His work is often considered provocative and controversial. The human condition as his subject matter had emerged and stayed consistent throughout his career. His photographs, 'Self - Portrait' 1987 and 'Ecstasy of Saint Theresa' 1987 are very visual and can be disturbing to some extent with their string colours, strong subject matter and the cold materials used.

Some of my reflections on GH: I relate my work to his a lot because of his subject matter: The Human Condition. I see how his controversial photographs show how raw the human body can be and how easily it can be manipulated and destroyed. It really brings to light how shocking and permanent the effects of plastic surgery can be to the body. Once you go under these procedures there is no going back. The red powder symbolizes blood and the blue symbolizes a cold corpse.

     

Research Photography

I've been looking at different body shapes and these photos are of my friends body.