More research…
I have also been researching on the 19th century artist Georges-Pierre Seurat whose technique of “Pointillism” is visually related to Lichtenstein’s dots. In his technique, small distinct dots of colour create the impression of a wide selection of other colors and blending. The technique relies on the perceptive ability of the eye and mind of the viewer to mix the color spots into a fuller range of tones. Again i am very interested in his work and influenced by his ability to construct a image from coloured dots, Seurat was influened by 19th century colour theorist Michel-Eugene Chevreul. Chevreul discovered that two colors juxtaposed, slightly overlapping or very close together, would have the effect of another color when seen from a distance. The discovery of this phenomenon became the basis for the Pointillist technique of the Neoimpressionist painters. His great contribution was producing the color wheel of primary and intermediary hues.
I have also been researching on 20th century media, in the way how a television screen, computer moniter and digital camera all work. It is easy to see that they all use a Pointillism technique to represent images.
You can see a difference between Seurat and Lichtenstein with their final pieces of work and how Lichtenstein wanted to make is work look as mechanically made as possible.
The new idea
As you can see from my last few posts i have been doing tests on creating images by using different techniques. The idea on what i would like to produce for my finished products is based on influences and inspiration from a mixture of 19th century artists, 20th century artists and 20th century media. Before i explain more i will show you the research in which i have been doing. First i will talk about Roy Lichtenstein;
Roy Lichtenstein is an american artist whose work is classed in the area of pop art. He is an artist i have studied before and i enjoy the work in which he has produced. It is the techniques of using Benday dots, thick outlines and bold colours that really inspires me. He used a printing process named after the U.S. illustrator and printer Benjamin Day. 1950s and 1960s pulp comic books used Benday dots in the four process colors to inexpensively create shading and secondary colors such as green, purple, orange and flesh tones. In most of his comic strip paintings, Lichtenstein uses the Benday process in a completely unscientific way not at all befitting Ben Day’s mechanical precision. Although this does not apply to all of his paintings, such as the 1969 painting - Cathedral #5 where he overlapped layers of Benday dots mechanically to recreate the blur of the impressionist brushstrokes originally done by Claude Monet.
This painting is cathedral #5 where you can see he has overlapped the Benday dots to creat the blur effect.
In this picture you can see he has blown up the Benday dots to make his work look as machine made as possible and create a flesh tone to his characters. He also uses them to create a reflection effect.
picture testing
the first picture i looked at re-creating it with the square pixels blown up giving it a mosiac effect and the other picture was done with pixels and half tone colour.
the next picture was done with a gradual pixel effect, with the picture startin of clean and ending up blown up with big pixels at the top of the photo.
pixel test on photo
i am creating a photo with squares shaded to make up my face, here is a first test! metest2
Photography
I believe a picture can say a thousand words, they can tell a story, make a point and influence others. Some of the main reasons why it is one of my hobbies and why i would like to include it with my project. Last week i came across a small exhibition in London which was put on by a Photographer called Robin Hammond, it was a great example of how pictures can make a strong point and a great story about our world. Here is a link to a website with more of his beautiful photography work supported by text, by reporter Dan McDougall;
http://www.witnessreportage.com
Another person i came across in London in the Tate Britain was Gillian Wearing, she is an english conceptual artist who’s first major work i found inspiring – Signs that say what you want them to say and not Signs that say what someone else wants you to say (1992-93). In this work she looks at relationships between public image and private identity.
This consists of a series of photographs, each showing a member of the public who Wearing had stopped on the street and gotten to spontaneously write something down on a piece of paper. Wearing then photographed the people holding the paper. Some of the results are a little surprising: a smart young man dressed in a business suit holds a sign which reads “I’m desperate”, while a police officer has written the single word “Help!”.
Wearing is always trying to find ways of discovering new things about people, and in the process discover more about herself. An area that i will try and get across in my work is about discovering yourself to realise your identity.
Pandoras Box
A very nice piece of work that involves projection and interaction, this could be used with personal identity and has given me a few ideas.
Progression
I have been thinking that it will be nice to include questions with parts of my work that will make a viewer reflect on their on identity and engage them with my work. There are a few artists i have been looking at who deal with identity and use intimate details from their lifes to engage the viewer with their expressions of universal emotions. These are:
Image test 1
How my image could look as if it would divide into a grid a break away into everything that makes up my identity.
