Reflection on movement experimentation

Reflection

I am going to be reflecting upon some of the experiments that I have been working on overtime which can be found in the mini sketchbook, I will be commenting on the work I have created whilst stating why I made the choices that I did. 

For this experiment I have used an image of a train line that was taken on google images but i did in fact photoshop it at first, I photoshopped the image at first because I wanted the brightness of the image to increase whilst exaggerating shadow on the bottom of the metal part of the track. I used a train track as the image to use in this experiment because the research I did regarding what people had nightmares about where they felt like they had a near death experience, it led me to noticing a common occurrence about being hit by a train or drowning. After originally photoshopping the image I began to lose a focus on ways I could add to the image I had photoshopped so I did more research around artists who focus on surrealism, This is when i came across artists such as Sammy Slabbinck and Djuno Tomsni- artists who incorporate surrealism into collage based pieces. I was very inspired by the idea of space relating to afterlife and the questions around the unknown such as 'Do you think that when we die we re-enter another world?' and so I wanted to create this theory using surrealism. I gathered images from pinterest and Tate that showed real life or photoshopped images of galaxies and space related ideologies, I then used one of the images which looked the most realistic to begin the collage; I wanted to still show the viewer the shape of the train track so they are able to recognise what it is. I eventually decided to cut the image from the galaxy into the background of the composition to make it look like the train track is floating- also creating the effect of distortion as if the train track appears to be a small object within a huge out of space dimension. 

I then researched images of women in the 20th century as I am very fascinated with the idea of the way photographs were taken in that era, I like the effect of vintage photos and portrayal of black and white contracting with colour, creating a link of juxtaposition between past and present society. I like how the image of the characters are in disproportion with the background of the galaxy because it almost gives the effect of showing how big this theory of living out of space really is! Overall I am really impressed with this experiment of collage but to improve i would begin to layer different kinds of materials such as having a cardboard material as the background, I could then work on top with coloured pencils to give a 3D textured effect.

   

Similar to the experiments when i had just started to focus on AO2 I decided to include the ripping technique because to me it gave a sense of exploring the past and the hidden treasures behind a blank canvas, As i said in the previous reflection when analysing the ripping technique in other experiments, I wanted to incorporate it in this surrealistic way by including space and vintage photographic memories form the past.  I printed this background spacious galaxy theme onto white cartridge paper so it was easier to rip into it by not making the lines of the ripping to appear forced or cut by scissors, i wanted it to look like somebody has ripped the image in the spur of the moment as if they have found a treasure they have been looking for. I wanted t portray the feelings of excitement when looking at the ripping of the background and in which in my opinion, I believe it has.
I experimented with acrylic paint by creating a turquoise colour over the background as I wanted to exaggerate the colour to make it more noticeable to the human eye, however, the experiment regarding paint did not create a thick enough coat and has shown through to the actual image behind, which I do not like about it. Just like the analysis above, I have chosen an image from the internet to include within this experiment but for future reference i would like to use my own images from my childhood, I love how this image does not have a colour involvement as it makes me feel like we are looking back in time to someones life before they died, this is the aim that I have been wanting to capture but was not sure how i would be able to show it in art form. The image itself is a positive photo of a group of people having fun and enjoying human activity, healing the negative effect of being sad when thinking about death and afterlife and instead, puts into perspective of enjoying what we do in life and making sure we are happy with the people we associate ourselves with. As you can see i have added the material 'white string' to signify the stars in the galaxy, I actually added this piece of string after researching into movement and blur from shoot 2, I wanted the string to symbolise the effect of the stars having a visual fast pace of movement.
To improve, i would like to add my own photograph into the experiments to see if the effect n the viewer changes as it gives a more personal detail into the work.

For this experiment I was to explore with finding different ways to layer materials and mediums, However, I wanted to experiment with each material i used separately without adding it all into one collage.
I was very inspired by the movement captured in the second shoot that i did and so i wanted to produce an experiment resembling the speed of line by shadowing them. For this experiment i have used acrylic paint to re create the images seen from the galaxy and space them, i was inspired to re create similar colours to the images by mixing reds and tonal blues together; I used a medium sized paint brush to create mark making dashes onto the cartridge paper. I then waited until each layer has dried individually as i did not want to ruin the texture of the lines created from the brush strokes. If i had used a hairdryer or heat gun the paint would've smoothened or squished the lines, I liked the effect of the texture created from when the brush gets lifted from the paper and leaves some form of residue of excess colour. The same mixture of colour got thicker and the paints height had risen due to the texture becoming layered, To improve, I would add a different material on top such as thin newspaper and then do another layer of acrylic paint just to see if the 3D appearance would still hold its same effect. I would also like to add this as a background to a collage, replacing the photograph of galaxy.

For this experiment I was aiming to create a collage which incorporated texture, photographs which add humour to the piece and layering, whilst using wet and dry mediums to see if it would create a story like imagery, but also including surrealist aspects. The surrealist aspects that I wanted to include was the distortion of size such as placing a character or image of a person to look bigger usual, maybe filling half a page of the piece. I wanted to change the size of the cut out photograph because I wanted to make the viewer think about why I have purposely done it, I want them to question and begin to make links between the distortion of cut outs to theories of afterlife or the presence of life on another planet. However, I did not want to use cartoon characters such as an alien as it would make the viewer automatically assume the concept, but I still wanted to add a humour to it so the viewer does not appeal their thoughts towards death and becoming scared of it.

I decided to cello tape transfer an image of Donald trump who is the president of the United States of America because he creates such ha controversial society, gaining a love-hate relationship with the public. Taking recent inspiration from an artist called Rhed Fawell, I was amazed by the story telling side of her images as had an impact on me, Her work made me create different imagery like stories in my head- this is similar to what I want to do to the people who view my work as I want them to relate my work to theories of afterlife, I want to make them begin a thought process such as 'what if when we die we enter a different universe where we re live our Deja Vu's?'
Evidently, I wanted to create an experiment which entailed Donald Trump as a bad person because in my opinion that is what he is, I decided to create a story which shows Donald Trump living alone in his own world after life where he is abandoned, for me to portray this I needed to think about the colours I am going to use and the materials which would make him look deserted.