Image Essay 7: Sally Mann

Sally Mann is an American photographer who was born in 1951. She takes photographs of landscapes and other things but she is most known for her works with her children. When her children were growing up they were always walking around naked so she just took photographs of them. She says that it was not because she was interested in children but just because they were there. These photographs by Sally Mann of her children really display what innocence in a child should look like. These photographs show a child’s innocence and curiosity. In the first image Naptime, the girl almost looks angelic. She looks like a perfect doll just lying there; like she has no care in the world and that she has the perfect life. The second photograph of the girl in the water really displays the idea of what is unknown. She is crouched in the water completely oblivious that she is naked just staring at the water and she seems to be wondering what lies beneath the surface. I absolutely love that all of Sally Mann’s photographs are in black and white. I think that they give them more depth that way. It gives it a more classical old style feel to them that adds character.

Image Essay 6: value

Value is determined by the relative lightness and darkness of a surface. When the complete scale of value is used shapes start to look three-dimensional. The use of value also helps one perceive that there is more space than is actually there. Many artists use value in their paintings to give their piece more definition and tension. With the use of value it increases the space perceived in a composition or it can help accentuate an object even more. In Thomas Moran’s piece “Noon day rest in Marble Canyon” he utilizes the full range of value. In this landscape piece Moran depicts the boat in the foreground with his darker use of value. The rocks in the extreme foreground are in an even darker shade of black than the boat. Along with the cliff in the middle ground to give it the impression that it is in the middle to foreground, it is as depicted in a much darker shade than the other items in the piece. How Moran gives the illusion hat the water, cliffs, and rocks seem to be going back in space is by using a whiter value on the value scale. With the use of a lighter gray the images look as if they are blurry and thus receding in space. In this composition Moran does an excellent job at utilizing the entire value scale.

Image essay 5: Principles of Gestalt

During week 5 we were researching the principles of gestalt to incorporate into our art pieces dealing with texture and symmetry. Gestalt is a complete configuration that is perceived through psychological closure, which is perceived to be larger than the sum of its parts. In a composition, each element must be related to each other in some kind of way or the viewer will see the composition as incomplete. The principle of gestalt that was just described is known as unity or grouping. The other principles of gestalt are containment, repetition, proximity, continuity and closure. This piece Rheo by Nancy Graves does an excellent job in demonstrating proximity. Proximity is the distance between objects. With the use of proximity opposite objects can be grouped together. In this piece the large yellow square in the middle is what brings all the objects together to create a complete composition. Without the large yellow square the other squares would look as though they don’t belong and thus make the piece incomplete. Also with the use of proximity it can create energy within a piece. The energy is created when the little squares within the piece almost touch and the energy is then contained between the two objects. Separate, the objects retain their own shapes creating tension but when the objects touch and overlap as shown at the bottom the energy is broken creating a completely new shape out of common shapes. As shown in this piece just by using one principle of gestalt it unifies the objects creating a complete composition.

Image Essay 4: Meaning

During week 4 we were researching the idea of meaning. Meaning is not just a dictionary definition. Objects do not have meaning on their own, but people create meaning for objects. Meaning takes into account language, Iconography, Audience, immediacy, stereotypes, clichés, and surprise. This piece by Shepard Fairy relies on psychological meaning. He uses Andre the Giant with an obey sign to influence people’s mind and emotions. This piece uses the idea of phenomenology which is the process of letting things manifest themselves. This piece mainly plays on people’s emotions and reactions. At first I thought this piece was supposed to make people fear that they are in a society with all of these rules and one must obey. But I also think this piece is just supposed to make people think and question their surroundings. Shepard Fairey started making this icon a first only as a sketch that was for fun and then it caught on and he started to put them everywhere. He stuck them on street poles, billboards, and he would even spray paint them on the sides of walls. Fairey has even gotten arrested fro putting these icons up but that has not seemed to stop him. He is relentless to get the message out there for people to see.

Image Essay 3: Synesthesia

During week 3 we were working on the project 3 shapes 3 times. In this project we were working with the idea of synesthesia. Synesthesia is a neurological condition in which two or more bodily senses are coupled. In this piece by Beth Gilmore it clearly demonstrates the idea of synesthesia. When looking at this woman you can almost hear what she is playing. She is so focused on the keys that it looks as if she knows the piece by heart. This piece triggers a distant memory of mine from when I was little. When I was little my cousin was learning how to play the piano. So at any family get together he would play the piece that he was learning at the time. After a while it would get annoying and he would stop but now looking back he was actually quite good. When looking at this piece it reminds me of my cousin and the pieces that he used to play for us while at my Aunts house. This piece mainly focuses on the woman and how she is sitting rather than the fact that she is playing the piano. Bu I think that the fact that she is playing the piano plays a very significant role because it is what makes the piece a complete composition.

Image Essay 2: Juxtapostion

For week 2 we were researching how meaning changes when one juxtaposes an object near something else. In this piece by Filippo Ioco he decides to put 2 of the same images next to each other but change their composition slightly to obtain a different effect. He wanted to show their comparison and contrast. When looking at just the left side it seems very dark except for the very center of the flower. But when he puts the same exact flower next to it only surrounding it in white it creates a whole new meaning for the piece. One then starts to contrast the 2 and see how they are different and also the same. For our project we were required to juxtapose a circle, line and rectangle. The project seemed easy when there were only three elements spread far apart on a page but when more elements were added and they had to be placed right next to each other it was a little more difficult. When placing a black circle next to a black rectangle you could not just look at the shapes you are laying down in black but once they were glued down one also had to look at the shape the white negative space made as well. The same is also with this piece. When one looks at all the black they also have to consider the shape that is being made by the white and when you interchange the colors the piece brings on a whole new meaning just by juxtaposition.

Image Essay #1: dominant, subordinate, accentual

This piece created by Rik clearly does an excellent job at demonstrating a clear dominant, subordinate, and accentual object. This piece shows a very clear foreground, middle ground, and background. To further strengthen the hierarchy of the dominant object the artist put the dominant object in the foreground. What also makes the boots the most dominant structure is the use of colors he used. When it is printed off into black and white the boots are the darkest object in the piece. And in color they are still the darkest colors used in the piece. Keeping true to the idea of hierarchy the next darkest object that resembles a light gray so happens to be the subordinate object, which is the body of the man. And in color the body of the man is also in earth tones but they are lighter than the boots. And to complete the hierarchy the whitest object that happens to be on this piece is also the accentual object, which is the bird on top of the man’s head. All of those objects of this piece are the positive objects. In this piece the artist shows that there is a fight for dominance between the negative and positive objects. The negative object seems to be just as big as the boots are and seem to draw the viewer in just as well. But what I think makes the boots the most dominant is that they are in the foreground right in your face and the fact that they are the darkest object on this piece. This artist seems to show a clear knowledge of how to juxtapose objects to show a dominant structure and get his point across to the viewer.