Tranquility.: sierpnia 2014

piątek, 29 sierpnia 2014

1.

Why do I find this picture interesting? Why have I chosen this particular photography as the first one? At this stage of my life, I keep coming back to memories from my childhood. I am scared - I am turning the page, starting a new chapter - I will finally be able to move my art education forward. Therefore I seek the peace deep inside my heart, in a distant feelings of happiness which only a child can expierence.

What makes this image special? It captured the heart of a dying summer. I can almost smell the dried grass, a special scent of a dawn, I hear the whisper of warm wind. I feel like I have been there - the landscape is nearly the same as the one, which I saw every evening of my summer holidays - as a kid I used to spend almost two months on the countryside where my dad comes from. At that time I did not know that it will be turning back to me in every hard moment in my life. The memories are still as bright and colorful as the picture above. Vibrant. Full of emotions.

The brief answer to my first question is very simple, yet extremely important to me - this picture brings me happiness, which is why I find so interesing.

2.

I am a huge fan of Pop Art, therefore as a second picture I decided to choose a work of one of the greatest artists of those times - a 'Brush Stroke' by Roy Lichtenstein. What I like the most in this art piece is that a simple brush stroke, usually a basic element, one of a thousands which are creating the whole painting, is separated, gloryfied, being an artwork on its own. Also, it is a pure Pop Art visual manifesto - a comic style: popular, exciting and cheap estetique, mocked commercialism and materialism (and I reckon it still does), which were growing violently back in the '60s.

I adore the comic interpretation of a brush stroke, its characteristics captured in a fat, black lineart and bold, arogant colour. The simple game of wavy lines gives me a visual joy and even without the substantive background I find this picture delightfully interesting.

3.

My next choice is a fashion photography by Steven Meisel. In his artwork, I am amazed by the organised and well composed chaos, a visual oxymoron. At the first sight, the variety of shades and lines (e.g. hair and the dried branches in the back), accumulation of details (the dirt on her hand and arm, spume bursting from her mouth, the skirt, the zipper) make an impression of a nervous, messy composition but the longer I look, the more I am convinced that all the elements could not exist without each other. For me, Meisel found a harmony in disharmony, playing with beautiful, stark black and white palette.

Moreover, the main idea for the whole photoshoot is beautiful, yet terrifying - artist tried to capture the expression of a dying mermaid, craving for water, for a 'breath'. The model is true and authentic, her pose and face transform the candy, cheaply beautiful idealisation of a mermaid into a creature, being deprived of her beauty and her glory.

To sum up, I find this picture interesting because it broke the stereotype of the fairytale and it is simply beautiful in its chaotic, layered and multiplied composition.

4.

In this picture, what mainly attracted my attention is the colour - a candy-floss shade of pink, as I am highly attracted to it.

Obviously, this is not the only reason - as this photo was supposed to be a promo photo of a band (and the name of this band is probably familiar to everyone - ladies and gentlemen, may I introduce you - Pink Floyd!), it is very unusual. A 'typical' photography of a band would show them in their stage clothes, with a grunge background (and to be even more well-worn - a brick wall perhaps), trying to expose their greatness in an image prepared to look good in magazines. However, artist used a simple twist - he wrapped the band in a pink cloth. How could it be? Such a great band, probably considered as one of the best in music history, tangled in a pink table cloth? In my opinion, it is ironic, showing a special sense of a humour, both of the band and the photographer. What emphasises that, is the serious look on the faces of the band, as it seems that they do not realise the ridiculousness of this situation - apparently being a pink burrito is something which they also do with professionalism.

I like this photo visually as well - as I said before, like a special type of a magpie, I picked that because of the colour, but I also consider the simple, yet sharp contrast between their hair and the flood of a pinkness (if this word does not exist, I will be disappointed) as a good treatment.

However, what I admire this picture most for is that it gives me inspiration - it makes me want to grab a brush, a bucket of a pink paint and cover first flat surface found with the burst of my imagination.

5.

And finally (because as a future student of this subject I should have done this probably sooner), the fifth image on my list is an illustration by Zdzisław Witwicki for a book called Przygody Krasnala Hałabały (your brain probably skipped that part as it is impossible to read if you are not Polish).

I would like not to sound superficial, but well... It is just beautiful. The colours match each other perfectly - there are no half-lights, they are firm, yet muted. Big, furry bear, a bold spill of black ink gives a composition a central character, which I find most attractive, even in my own works. The aesthetics are tender, sensitive, friendly for the eye and the heart. There is a flawless interpration of a winter, although artist used only white planes and cold, bright blue linear sketches of spruces.

Again, one of the factors which helped me to choose the picture for the glorious ten was the fact, that this artwork also reminds me of my childhood. The small school and public libraries in Poland never had and still do not have many funds to buy new books for children, which surprisingly, I consider as a blessing. Even nowadays, you can find 50-years-old books on the shelves; fragile, brown pages smell like the past, and this is what the illustration above makes me think of - a trip to the library, somehow a holy ritual for a child like I used to be.

6.

This time, the choice is even more personal. This photography was made by my friend, Robert Binda - a freelance fashion photographer which I had luck to live with under one roof (which basically gives you an opportunity to have inspirating conversation and fold your laundry at the same time).

Why do I find this picture interesting? First of all, I am still amazed that Robert, at the age of 21, has achieved the awareness, the sense of composition, colour and aesthetics of a photographer which has much more expierence. He is my number one among our merry group of pseudo-artists who I believe will attain a success soon.

The choice of a model was followed by the great attempt to find his psychological portrait, captured in the expression of his face. As we all know, photograph is just the frozen mirror of the right moment and only few of us have a talent to catch them - apparently Robert not only managed to do that, but also kidnapped the light violently and told it exactly what to do. What emphasises this fact, is that the photograph is not produced in a studio where you can adjust the light as you wish to, but an outside photoshoot. What draws my attention most is the special reflection, playing on the irises of the man. It gives the model a cold, dominative look.

I adore the contrast between the lightened face and the blurry, vibrant background. The black and white palette is wide, although the are spills of bold colours which contrast firmly.

The truth is, that the professionalism of this photo is probably on the same level as the other photographs which I posted on this blog as well. I do not have much interest in a fashion photography but I believe in my art sensitvity and I would not be able to tell the difference if this photo is made by an amateur, a man on a doorstep of his career or a professional, knowing his field thoroughly, which makes this photo one of the ten most interesting photos I decided to choose.

7.

The number seven is a painting called Bed, by Henri Toulouse-Lautrec. I would probably sound boring, but again, the main factor which is responsible for my choice is the colour - square by square, I am separating the spills and lines delightfully, searching for new shades - there are thousands of them. The artist had an amazing ability to see the World in molecules, he knew exactly how light changes our perception of a colour. In the painting we can see many different types of expression - there are spills, dots and also the drawing - lines are defying the space and the character of the objects and the people.

Moreover, artist captured an extraordinary, intimate scene and it is hard to believe that his presence did not spoil the genuineness of the moment. There are small details which makes my heart smile - woman's tousled hair, the unintentional smile on man's face, the creases on the beddings.

8.

Once again, I have chosen a photography by Anton Corbijn - nevertheless, I think I can say without any doubt that he became my favourite long time ago. This take comes from the set of Depeche Mode music video, called Barrel of a Gun - which is also one of my favourite music videos of all times.

Starting from the background - although it is blurry and unrecognisable I still can read the time the picture was made - I beleive it is a dawn, which gives the photography a special atmosphere and light. At that moment it is bright enough to enlighten the face (what gives it a stunning chiaroscuro) but dark enough to let the bulbs on the coat glow - and they keep enchaining my eyes. The coat and the gloves are very unusual choice themselves - although you could find them in many people's wardrobes, they seem surrealistic for the scene and the man. However, my cherished part of the picture are the eyes. As we can see they are closed tight, but make-up, faking the eyeballs, the iris and the pupil gives the illusion of a focused and interrogative look. Without that, the man would look cogitative, a bit hurtful, looking for a tranquility - the painting on his eyelids makes me think about a situation in which he cannot do that, he is not able to find the peace and forced to look, to see. This simple trick is very metaphorical itself and I think this is what I admire this picture most for.

9.

The ninth (almost there!) picture is a piece from fashion photosession made by Paolo Roversi - and if you remember my friend from picture number six, he is the one who made me a favour and introduced to Roversi's masterpieces.

I genuinely believe, that this photography is P.E.R.F.E.C.T. The model, scenography, the costumes - everything matches each other perfectly. However, that would be not the best (and definitely very short) explanation.

Firstly, what made me stop browsing the Internet and start breathing heavily when I saw this photography, was a stunning pallette, which are dusty, pastel, fairytale colours. Artist was clearly inspirated by the French culture from 18th century, but his interpretation is far more sensual and mysterious. The Model is not wearing clothes, it is more an instalation itself, a construction, a sculpture. Only few fragments on this photo are sharp, therefore artist was able to emphasise fragments which he considered as the most important.

Briefly speaking, I find this photo interesting because of the mood, the magic atmosphere, carefully chosen composition, scenography, make-up and the pose of the model. It is thoroughly crafted, studied and polished to the smallest detail artwork, which just gives me visual pleasure and inspiration to become a professionalist like Paolo Roversi.

10.

And this is how we get to the end - I gave the privilege of being the closing entry to a great modernist, Man Ray and one of his surrealist photographies.

Why this particular photography is so interesting to me? It is simply disturbing. It moves this parts of a human soul, which fears instinctively the unknown and supernatural. It was made back in the times when photography was a craft, and such a blurry, moved picture like Man Ray's, was considered as a mistake, a wasted film, but this is exactly what I find most attrarctive in it. This simple disobeying of the rules caused eyes appearing on photography twice - and they have different kind of expression, which could remind of a people, having two faces or a revealing someone's long worn mask.

What amazes me most is that this photography which is just a moved take, has a massive power of expression, because the artists choose it not to be a detailed, normal portrait - he just simply wrenched the camera, knowingly stepping out of the schematic thinking.

środa, 27 sierpnia 2014

Artist No. 1 - Michał Smandek

Source: http://michalsmandek.blogspot.com/

Starting from the upper, left corner:
- Untitled from the Modernists: tourists, Teleport Process - 2013 [x]
- Napinacz/ Tensor - 2014 [x]
- Prognostyk/ Prognostic - 2013 [x]
- Unnatural 2 - 2012 [x]