ABSTRACTION
Over the next few months you will develop a personal response to the theme. You must document the development of your ideas on your weeblys and produce an ambitious final piece or series of pieces.
Photographer and Professor of Psychology John Suler, in his essay Photographic Psychology: Image and Psyche, said that "An abstract photograph draws away from that which is realistic or literal. It draws away from natural appearances and recognizable subjects in the actual world. Some people even say it departs from true meaning, existence, and reality itself. It stands apart from the concrete whole with its purpose instead depending on conceptual meaning and intrinsic form....Here’s the acid test: If you look at a photo and there’s a voice inside you that says 'What is it?'….Well, there you go. It’s an abstract photograph."[4]
To create an ‘abstract’ photograph in which the ‘reading’of the image is delayed by the recognition of the subject matter being photographed from unusual angles, framing and differential focus allows for creative ‘abstract’options.
Abstraction from Gary Bird on Vimeo.
Abstract Form - The relationship between photography and abstraction is fascinating. Unlike other visual art forms which begin with a blank space or surface that has to be filled by the artist, photography begins with a world full of information. The conventional job of the photographer is to select and capture a small portion of reality in a relatively faithful manner. However, it could be argued that all art, including photography, is essentially abstract. Photographs are versions of reality. They are flat. They have edges. Photographs are artful selections. They are silent. In the early years of photography, certain artists understood this aspect of the medium and emphasised the abstract qualities of photographs and the disinterested eye of the camera. This tradition of abstraction in photography continues to the present day.
The enemy of photography is the convention, the fixed rules of 'how to do'. The salvation of photography comes from the experiment.
Laszlo Moholy-Nagy
What lives in pictures is very difficult to define... it finally becomes a thing beyond the thing portrayed... some sort of section of the soul of the artist that gets detached and comes out to one from the picture.
Francis Bruguière
TASK 1 - The white paper test
Make twenty four unique, beautiful photographs of one piece of white paper. You may not cut or tear the paper, but you can fold it, roll it, or crumple it. Shoot on a white background in a studio with spotlights and soft light. Use colour filters on the spotlights, if you desire. There should be nothing else in the photographs but one piece of bond paper. Explore lighting and change the lighting for each photograph.
Task 2 - Abstract development
Look at the listed artists and their visual practise, choose two that you wish to respond to.
Create a series of interesting photographs using plain A4 paper and photographic paper.
Use the studio to experiment with a range of lighting to create hard or soft shadows on the surface of the paper and the background.
Brendan Austin
creates imaginary landscapes out of crumpled pieces of paper. He calls them 'Paper Mountains'. Austin examines what we mean by nature and the way humans have impacted upon it. "The isolated desert city running on oil generators, the mars like landscapes of a volcanic environment and the mountains made from paper all attempt to start a conversation concerning the loss of meaning and reality." The resulting images appear both recognisable as landscapes but also suggest a sense of artifice. Humble materials are made to carry an important message. |
Jaroslav Rössler
was a Czech avant-garde photographer who became known for combining different styles of modern photography including cubism, futurism, constructivism, new objectivity, and abstraction. His photographs often reduced images to elementary lines and shapes, exploring the contrast of light and shade. He experimented with a wide range of techniques and processes including photograms and double exposures. |
Tamara Lorenz creates various constructions which she then photographs to exploit their abstract properties. The addition of strong planes of colour provide another source of contrast in addition to those of line, shape, tone and texture.
Rather than photographs of things, each image seems to create its own reality. Consequently, the viewer is unable to recognise a conventional subject and is occupied with the business of looking. |
Francis Bruguière
was an American photographer who moved to London in 1928 where he began to experiment with non representational photography. Of these, the cut paper abstractions are particularly beautiful. The photographer exploits the endlessly subtle. qualities of both paper and light, manipulating both in order to create complex patterns of texture and form |
Ordinary to Extraordinary
Edward Weston (1886-1958) was a 20th century American photographer that has been called one of the most innovative and influential American photographers and a master of photography. His career spanned 40 years and he photographed an expansive set of subjects, including landscapes, still-life, nudes, portraits, and genre scenes.
Some of Edward Weston’s most famous work was close-ups of vegetables and fruit, photographed in a way that captured the “essence” of the object by taking them out of context. By creating photographs that transformed his subjects into abstractions of shapes and patterns, he helped to bring photography out of the shadow of painting and stand on its own as a credible art form. Look at how his manipulation of light emphasises shape, texture and form.
Some of Edward Weston’s most famous work was close-ups of vegetables and fruit, photographed in a way that captured the “essence” of the object by taking them out of context. By creating photographs that transformed his subjects into abstractions of shapes and patterns, he helped to bring photography out of the shadow of painting and stand on its own as a credible art form. Look at how his manipulation of light emphasises shape, texture and form.
Task 1
Watch the clip below until 7 mins 25 seconds and complete the tasks in the google slide doc. (Click the button on the right) |
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Use the information you have pulled together and categorised to introduce the work of Weston on your weebly.
Make sure you are discussing the work relevant to this task. Include appropriate examples of his work, titles and dates. Make sure images are Weston's NOT an ex-students...take care when you google image search! Perhaps you could add the information from your C&C page on the f64 group. |
These clips are also interesting in terms of understanding Weston's other work and darkroom practice.
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Task 2
Choose a fruit, vegetable or shell, preferably one with an interesting texture and shape. Place it in front of a neutral background in natural light. See the example on the right.
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The image on the right is the Aperture Selector / Exposure Compensation button.
This is an important control on your camera for bracketing and can be used in two ways. 1) Aperture Selector: to set the aperture (on Manual mode), hold down this button and turn the main dial to the preferred aperture.
2) Exposure Compensation: used to alter the standard exposure set by the camera. You can make the image under or or over exposed with this function, and it can be used in any creative shooting mode (apart from Manual)
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Task 3
Using the same set up, use one or more artificial light sources to enhance the form and texture of your objects.
You should follow the same steps as the natural light images.
Using the same set up, use one or more artificial light sources to enhance the form and texture of your objects.
You should follow the same steps as the natural light images.
- Photograph your object from different angles.
- Try using other white or black pieces of paper as masks or reflectors to highlight your image.
- Pay attention to composition, form & shape, aperture & depth of field, direction of light and where the shadows fall.
- Repeat the bracketing exercise.
- You should take at least 24 shots.
Imogen Cunningham's close-up studies of plants and flowers emphasis the detail and form of the objects. Like Weston, she was another member of the f64 group whose images were characterised by sharp focus and careful framing seen through a particularly Western viewpoint.
They were opposed to the Pictorialist photographic style that had dominated much of the early 20th century. They also wanted to promote a new modernist aesthetic that was based on precisely exposed images of natural forms and found objects. In Cunningham's photograph of an agave plant, a delicately sinuous shoot emerges from the hoodlike frond that protects it. Photographed against a black background, the image is a striking study in abstract form, but at the same time pulses with vitality. |
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Abstract Comparisons: Body and Nature
Alicja Brodowicz
Visual Exercises is a photo project by Polish photographer Alicja Brodowicz, who hunted for similarities between the human body and nature and then created diptychs of her findings.
"I photograph the human body – the microcosm,Its’ fragments: hair, scars, texture of skin, wrinkles. I am interested in individual particularities; I look for distinguishing features and irregularities. Imperfections are my favorites.”
“I photograph nature – the macrocosm,Surface of water, grass, tree bark, dry leaves. I combine the two images, looking for converging lines, textures, similarities in layout and analogies in composition between the microcosm and the macrocosm. I look for unity between the human body and the nature.”
Agnieszka Lepka - Human Vs Nature
In her ongoing series titled "Human Vs Nature", Lepka works with the similarites between the human being and Mother nature. Veins are put into relation with Topographic maps, fingerprints resemble a tree trunk and cacti are compared to scrubby beards.
The Task
Create an artist section on the two artists listed and write an overview of their work along with examples of their photography.
Take a series of images that convey natural structures these could be found in your garden or in local parks that you walk through on your daily walk. When you have taken 24 images choose your four best images and then consider how you could use images taken of the human body to demonstrate the links between Human and Natural forms.
Below are some examples I created at home. The two images have then been put together and have the contrast pushed up in Photoshop.
Create an artist section on the two artists listed and write an overview of their work along with examples of their photography.
Take a series of images that convey natural structures these could be found in your garden or in local parks that you walk through on your daily walk. When you have taken 24 images choose your four best images and then consider how you could use images taken of the human body to demonstrate the links between Human and Natural forms.
Below are some examples I created at home. The two images have then been put together and have the contrast pushed up in Photoshop.
Abstract Portraits
Bill Jacobson Bill Jacobson (b.1955, Norwich, Connecticut) is widely known for his out of focus photographs of both the figure and the landscape. Jacobson began his signature, indistinct images in 1989. These early works, titled Interim Portraits, feature shadowy, pale figures that evoke the loss experienced by many during the height of the AIDS epidemic. The blurred subjects underline the futility of capturing a true human likeness in both portraiture and memory. Task 1 Use the document linked here to outline Jacobson's intentions and technique on your weebly. |
Jacobson’s subsequent Song of Sentient Beings continued this interest in the defocused figure. In contrast to the bleached luminosity of his earlier work, this series depicts deep-black backgrounds enveloping ghostly figures, which bend, sleep, stretch and howl. Towards the mid-1990s, he completed the Thought Series, an almost monochromatic evocation of the flow of life. These depict a broad spectrum of subjects, from tightly cropped faces and articles of clothing, to fields of grass and surfaces of water. |
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Erwin Blumenfeld
Erwin Blumenfeld is regarded as one of the most influential photographers of the twentieth century. An experimenter and innovator, he produced an extensive body of work throughout his thirty-five year career including black and white portraits and nudes, celebrity portraiture, advertising campaigns and his renowned fashion photography.
Born in Berlin in 1897, Blumenfeld drew early inspiration from the Dadaists, incorporating experimental techniques like solarization, multiple exposures, and photomontage into his darkroom practice
Erwin Blumenfeld is regarded as one of the most influential photographers of the twentieth century. An experimenter and innovator, he produced an extensive body of work throughout his thirty-five year career including black and white portraits and nudes, celebrity portraiture, advertising campaigns and his renowned fashion photography.
Born in Berlin in 1897, Blumenfeld drew early inspiration from the Dadaists, incorporating experimental techniques like solarization, multiple exposures, and photomontage into his darkroom practice
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Task 2
Watch the clip (above left) and record information regarding Blumenfeld's context, intentions and technique. If you are struggling, click here to link to a document with simple sentence starters that will help you discuss any photographer.
Watch the clip (above left) and record information regarding Blumenfeld's context, intentions and technique. If you are struggling, click here to link to a document with simple sentence starters that will help you discuss any photographer.
Task 3: Practical Using the work of Bill Jacobson and Erwin Blumenfeld as inspiration, create a number of different abstract portraits. Use panes of glass (see image on the right) and translucent materials to create a number of digital portraits. As well as still images try capturing a moving portrait in the style of Blumenfeld clip, Beauty in Motion. The slideshow of images on the left are by previous students. |
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Tips for creating abstract portraits at home
Place a semi transparent material over the lens of your phone or camera.
Light your model by shining a seperate light through a colour object or bottle
Take your images and if needs be you could edit them further in photoshop or on your phone in edit mode
Another Photographer Link: Jack Davison
Explore back lighting and emphasising the silhouette.
Another technique is to use greese proof paper and put it up agaisnt your shower screen at home get your model to place thier face agaisnt the screen and then take your pictures.
Another Photographer Link: Eliana Marinari
Another Photographer Link: James Watkins
Johnny Kerr - Ambiguity
Ambiguity is a sustained investigation of Antoine Predock's Nelson Fine Arts Center in Tempe, Arizona. Kerr spent hours photographing, waiting and observing how the lines, shapes and forms changed as the sun moved from morning to late afternoon, revealing new relationships of harmony or tension.
The ambiguous forms, shapes and textures of the almost featureless stucco exterior intrigued Kerr as a designer.
By observing how the structural lines intersected from various vantage points, Kerr was often able to confuse the visual perception of foreground and background. The pastel colour palette is inspired by the building’s southwest geography and was a challenging visual departure from my previous monochromatic approach to abstract architecture.
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Ambiguity is a sustained investigation of Antoine Predock's Nelson Fine Arts Center in Tempe, Arizona. Kerr spent hours photographing, waiting and observing how the lines, shapes and forms changed as the sun moved from morning to late afternoon, revealing new relationships of harmony or tension.
The ambiguous forms, shapes and textures of the almost featureless stucco exterior intrigued Kerr as a designer.
By observing how the structural lines intersected from various vantage points, Kerr was often able to confuse the visual perception of foreground and background. The pastel colour palette is inspired by the building’s southwest geography and was a challenging visual departure from my previous monochromatic approach to abstract architecture.
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Examples of abstract images focusing on line shape and form taken in Mr Holden's house
The Task
Create an artist section on the work of Johnny Kerr showing examples of his work and a discussion about his technique
Look closely your home environment look at the form/shape and lines that you find in the different parts of your home. Consider how the shadows change as the day progresses and how the move from natural light to man made light changes the shape and structures within the different rooms in your house.
Take a series of 24 images that capture close up abstract forms around the different parts of your house. Use Kerr work as inspiration and make sure to consider the key words that are LINE/FORM/SHAPE/SHADOW.
Once you have photographed inside go outside either on your daily walk or in your garden and look for more abstract shapes that show contrast of line and shape.
Create an artist section on the work of Johnny Kerr showing examples of his work and a discussion about his technique
Look closely your home environment look at the form/shape and lines that you find in the different parts of your home. Consider how the shadows change as the day progresses and how the move from natural light to man made light changes the shape and structures within the different rooms in your house.
Take a series of 24 images that capture close up abstract forms around the different parts of your house. Use Kerr work as inspiration and make sure to consider the key words that are LINE/FORM/SHAPE/SHADOW.
Once you have photographed inside go outside either on your daily walk or in your garden and look for more abstract shapes that show contrast of line and shape.
Matthieu Venot started out with a strong desire to rediscover his town of origin, Brest in Brittany and captures it from his perspective.
Focusing his lens on architectural details and adopting fairly constructivist angles, the artist succeeds in creating abstract geometric images. He only photographs when the weather is incredibly good and thus Matthieu uses the immaculate sky like the background in a studio. This, he maintains, is his way of not disturbing the composition of his pictures : simple and graphic. Lines cross over and overlap. shapes stand out from this blue background and have us forgetting what we are observing : a roof, a wall, a railing, a balcony. The blue sky background also enhances the colours. Colour is, in fact, of the utmost importance in Matthieu Venot's photography. Excluding the Breton greyness, the photographer transforms the town and has us thinking more of California or Florida. According to the artist, the choice of pastel colours is a way of transmitting, through his photos, his own personal optimism. |
The Task
Create an artist section on the work of Matthieu Venot showing examples of his work and a discussion about his technique
Choose four of your images taken in response to the work of Johnny Kerr and using photoshop simply them into digital images that take inspiration form the work of Matthieu Venot . Your images should contain geometric shapes and have interesting line intersection within the picture. You choice of colours should be vibrant and enhance the mood and atmosphere of the pictures.
When you have created your images upload them to your weebly alongside the original photograph
Create an artist section on the work of Matthieu Venot showing examples of his work and a discussion about his technique
Choose four of your images taken in response to the work of Johnny Kerr and using photoshop simply them into digital images that take inspiration form the work of Matthieu Venot . Your images should contain geometric shapes and have interesting line intersection within the picture. You choice of colours should be vibrant and enhance the mood and atmosphere of the pictures.
When you have created your images upload them to your weebly alongside the original photograph
Abstraction of Personal Truth and Temporality
Sarker Protick has developed a practice that combines the roles of an image-maker, a teacher and infrequently a curator. His works revolve around the subjects of temporality, materiality of time and the metaphysical prospects of Light and Space. Working with Photography, Video and Sound, Protick has created a series of works that are built on long-term surveys rooted in Bangladesh, while simultaneously exploring ideas that blurs the notion of geopolitical boundaries. Incorporating detailed observations and subtle gestures, his works propose a subjective space, often minimal, vast and atmospheric. |
Glossary:
Temporality: the state of existing within or having some relationship with time
Materiality: the quality or character of being material or composed of matter (how would this relate to 'time')
Metaphysical: transcending physical matter or the laws of nature
Geopolitical: relating to politics, especially international relations, as influenced by geographical factors
Subjective: based on or influenced by personal feelings, tastes, or opinions
Temporality: the state of existing within or having some relationship with time
Materiality: the quality or character of being material or composed of matter (how would this relate to 'time')
Metaphysical: transcending physical matter or the laws of nature
Geopolitical: relating to politics, especially international relations, as influenced by geographical factors
Subjective: based on or influenced by personal feelings, tastes, or opinions
Protick is interested in themes such as alteration of land and border, colonial relics and modern ecological emergencies. His landscapes, portraits and photographic series engage philosophically with the specificities of personal and regional histories.
Raśmi (a ray of light in Bengali) is an arrangement of images and soundscapes, presented as a video projection. Ingrained in an experience of loss and grief, the work explores the ideas of personal truth and fiction, with its pretext being non-geographical, a non-place and yet universal in its stimulation. Intertwined with the images, the immersive soundscape works almost as a narration of the sequence.
This light which is almost omnipotent throughout Sarker’s depiction of the objects – as those of the cosmos – creates situations as lucid as it can get in its meaning. Anchoring it further in its universality, is the recurring presence of the circular form photographed from varying vantage points, empty or hollow and at times illuminated at a distance. In between this intricately carved pattern of imagery and sound, one could find oneself hoping for a hope, to breathe – inhale-exhale and to let go.
Raśmi (a ray of light in Bengali) is an arrangement of images and soundscapes, presented as a video projection. Ingrained in an experience of loss and grief, the work explores the ideas of personal truth and fiction, with its pretext being non-geographical, a non-place and yet universal in its stimulation. Intertwined with the images, the immersive soundscape works almost as a narration of the sequence.
This light which is almost omnipotent throughout Sarker’s depiction of the objects – as those of the cosmos – creates situations as lucid as it can get in its meaning. Anchoring it further in its universality, is the recurring presence of the circular form photographed from varying vantage points, empty or hollow and at times illuminated at a distance. In between this intricately carved pattern of imagery and sound, one could find oneself hoping for a hope, to breathe – inhale-exhale and to let go.
Click on the image above to watch the film, Raśmi.
In the first 8mins 30 secs of this interview, Protick talks about how he came to create Raśmi
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Task 1
Watch Raśmi (Ray) and take notes on the attached Google Sheets about the different objects / locations /images that you see.
Watch Raśmi (Ray) and take notes on the attached Google Sheets about the different objects / locations /images that you see.
Task 2: Taking the Photos
Consider the work of Protick and take a series of individual images that will then be placed together in a sequence. In his work, Protick focuses on temporality, personal truth and fiction. What is your personal truth in this temporary time of lockdown and how could you turn an everyday image into an item of fiction?
Use the headings below as a guide to explore the ideas of personal truth and fiction and take a series of abstract images that you feel represent your experience. Remember, your images can be subjective and ambiguous so do not be afraid to be experimental. Consider the things we have already looked at this term.
Themes to consider
Nature
Home environment
Items specific to the lockdown
Portraits
Isolation
Routine
Focus
We expect images to be in focus. However, how do we respond to an image or a place when it is out of focus? Does it suggest something else other than the object/subject being photographed?
Composition
We expect there to be a subject to a photograph. What happens when the focal point is out of shot? Do we feel hard done by? Does it open other possibilities in terms of interpreting the image?
Compose images that allude to a subject ie. we might just catch a glimpse of something on the edge of a frame. Alternatively, brutally crop the subject out of the shot.
Exposure
We are taught to pay attention to the light meter and adjust our exposure accordingly. What happens if we manipulate the exposure to over and under expose our photographs? Recap how to manipulate the ISO in Manual mode and alter exposure using the Aperture/Exposure Compensation Button.
Sound
As well as producing visual images, take a series of sound recordings on your phone. Your recording could be of anything; from the sound of traffic when out on your daily walk or nature and bird song when out in the woods.
You could capture sounds of items rubbing against each other of simple abstract sounds. These recordings will either be embedded with the visuals in a final piece of just put on your weebly to be played alongside the images.
Consider the work of Protick and take a series of individual images that will then be placed together in a sequence. In his work, Protick focuses on temporality, personal truth and fiction. What is your personal truth in this temporary time of lockdown and how could you turn an everyday image into an item of fiction?
Use the headings below as a guide to explore the ideas of personal truth and fiction and take a series of abstract images that you feel represent your experience. Remember, your images can be subjective and ambiguous so do not be afraid to be experimental. Consider the things we have already looked at this term.
Themes to consider
Nature
Home environment
Items specific to the lockdown
Portraits
Isolation
Routine
Focus
We expect images to be in focus. However, how do we respond to an image or a place when it is out of focus? Does it suggest something else other than the object/subject being photographed?
Composition
We expect there to be a subject to a photograph. What happens when the focal point is out of shot? Do we feel hard done by? Does it open other possibilities in terms of interpreting the image?
Compose images that allude to a subject ie. we might just catch a glimpse of something on the edge of a frame. Alternatively, brutally crop the subject out of the shot.
Exposure
We are taught to pay attention to the light meter and adjust our exposure accordingly. What happens if we manipulate the exposure to over and under expose our photographs? Recap how to manipulate the ISO in Manual mode and alter exposure using the Aperture/Exposure Compensation Button.
Sound
As well as producing visual images, take a series of sound recordings on your phone. Your recording could be of anything; from the sound of traffic when out on your daily walk or nature and bird song when out in the woods.
You could capture sounds of items rubbing against each other of simple abstract sounds. These recordings will either be embedded with the visuals in a final piece of just put on your weebly to be played alongside the images.
Task 3: Post-production
When you have taken your images work into them in photoshop. Many of the images in Protick's work are high contrast and often have had the mid tones taken out of them. All of the expectations can be challenged in post production- contrast, brightness, cropping etc. Look at the work below and alter your images so that the contrast is pushed to an extreme and much of the information is lost.
Keld Helmer-Peterson was a Danish photographer who was inspired by Albert Renger-Patzsch, the experiments at The Bauhaus in Germany and by Harry Callahan and Aaron Siskind at the Art Institute of Chicago. He achieved fame for his colour photographs but he also published several books of black and white images that explore dramatic contrasts of tone.
In some, we are only presented with images that are black and white. All mid tones have been removed. He created and found these images, using both cameras and flat bed scanners to achieve the effects he was looking for. The books encourage us to consider the space around the image and the accompanying text as integral to the meaning of the work. |
Finally when you are happy with the images you have created load them into a film, slide show, or giff and upload this to your weebly.
Add your sound files to the final presentation either over the top of the images or alongside them on your weebly.
How to edit and save your Sarker Protick Gif. in Photoshop. If you don't have sound you can upload your Gif to your weebly by using an Image building block. If you have sound and need to render your video as an mp4 you will have to use the HD video building block on weebly instead. |
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How to edit and save your Sarker Protick Gif. in PIXLR E and GifMaker.me. |
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Abstract Images of the home enviorment created by Past student Beatrice Piesold. Her final video created was inspred by Herman Kolgen Dust.
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Abstraction with out a camera - Photograms
László Moholy-Nagy,
László Moholy-Nagy was one of the Bauhaus’ most influential teachers; his photographic skills, as well as his writing on the subject, helped to secure the medium’s integral place in modern art. One of Moholy-Nagy’s most notable contributions was his extensive exploration–from 1922 through 1943–of the aesthetic possibilities of the photogram (he coined the term). These ghostly traces of objects placed on photographic paper during exposure are part of a prolific legacy that included painting, sculpture and stage design. Moholy-Nagy tried to make light visible and create an abstract spatial impression using abstract light shapes. He created more than 400 light images between 1922 and 1943, |
Lotte jacobi photogenics
Her “photogenics” are camera-less photographs, in which pieces of glass or twisted cellophane were used to interrupt the beams from a flashlight positioned above a piece of photographic paper. She had taken the quality of light and movement she had perfected in her portraits and applied it to abstract forms derived from nature. Eventually she dedicated the remainder of her career to producing “photogenics.” While photography is most often used to document the external world, Jacobi’s abstractions are a vehicle for imagination. |
Photograms are images made without a camera. These photograms or ‘rayographs’ are created by laying objects directly on to photosensitive paper. Identifiable items are mixed with mysterious forms to create strange abstractions that look unlike anything we might find in the world around us.
TASK 1
Using the photocopies of your white paper test create a series of abstract photograms that use shape, light , movement. Create the photograms and also use these to create positive sandwich prints.
Using the photocopies of your white paper test create a series of abstract photograms that use shape, light , movement. Create the photograms and also use these to create positive sandwich prints.
Abstract experiment
The idea that a photograph can become more than just a representation of a moment in time is something that both Artists and scientist have experimented with. The task for today is to create an artistic image that has gone through different processes and is there for a one off.
The Task
Using the film that you have taken experiment with different techniques with the aim of producing a one off individual outcome. develop a picture in the dark room that you want to work with
Possible experiment you could use.
Develop a picture in the dark room that you want to work with scan it into photoshop work on it and then print it out onto acetate take the acetate return to the darkroom and use this as your negative.
Print out one of your digital pictures and then photocopy it on to accetate and then take this into the darkroom to be used as a negative
Use different developing techniques painting on splashing
Bleach your prints or your negatives
scratch, break , burn the neg and then use it to print with
Distort the image as it is projected through the enlarger
Photograph the image through a magnifying glass and then reprint it.
The idea that a photograph can become more than just a representation of a moment in time is something that both Artists and scientist have experimented with. The task for today is to create an artistic image that has gone through different processes and is there for a one off.
The Task
Using the film that you have taken experiment with different techniques with the aim of producing a one off individual outcome. develop a picture in the dark room that you want to work with
Possible experiment you could use.
Develop a picture in the dark room that you want to work with scan it into photoshop work on it and then print it out onto acetate take the acetate return to the darkroom and use this as your negative.
Print out one of your digital pictures and then photocopy it on to accetate and then take this into the darkroom to be used as a negative
Use different developing techniques painting on splashing
Bleach your prints or your negatives
scratch, break , burn the neg and then use it to print with
Distort the image as it is projected through the enlarger
Photograph the image through a magnifying glass and then reprint it.
Chemigrams
In his series Kosmos, Joris Jansen approaches an analogue photo from an encyclopaedic perspective. Jansen describes and photographs the picture in microscopic detail: from the literal image in the photo, to the physical elements with which it is made.
In his series Toransupearento Daisuke Yokoto uses multiple layers and exposures to create beautiful texture and vibrancy in his work. He works in a methodical way starting on film developing and printing the image and then re photographs the images and if necessary repeats the process. He finally prints onto acetate and layers his images ontop of colour and other images.
In her series Bleached Maddie Moughton Small photographed natural landscapes and then after developing her negs dipped them in bleach. She then made prints from the bleached negatives. The result being a beautiful mix of vibrant colour and destruction.
Seung-Hwan Oh
For his series ‘Impermanence’, photographer and microbiologist Seung-Hwan Oh cultivates fungus that he applies to his film before he puts it into his camera. Through this process, the microorganisms slowly devour the film and the resulting image is a blur of abstract lines and colors.
For his series ‘Impermanence’, photographer and microbiologist Seung-Hwan Oh cultivates fungus that he applies to his film before he puts it into his camera. Through this process, the microorganisms slowly devour the film and the resulting image is a blur of abstract lines and colors.
Janus Miralles
Philippine artist Janus Miralles makes very beautiful abstract portraits by mixing photography and paint as a way to create her artwork. Often in black and white, faces are erased with a certain darkness, as if they were burnt.
Philippine artist Janus Miralles makes very beautiful abstract portraits by mixing photography and paint as a way to create her artwork. Often in black and white, faces are erased with a certain darkness, as if they were burnt.
Half Term Homework: Abstracting the Environment
Saul Leiter
Since he first arrived in New York, Leiter has been documenting street life in black and white, intriguing the eye with his use of obstructions, blurred movement and half-concealed details. In 1992, his work came to the attention of the curator Jane Livingston, who included him in her “New York School”: a group of noteworthy midcentury photographers, including Robert Frank and Diane Arbus, with a film noir vision of the city.
Leiter was also a pioneer of colour photography: He developed a distinctive, dreamy style that played with shallow depths of field and a vibrant palette. Erb argues that these images are closely related to his love of painting. “You can see influences of abstract expressionism in his colour work,” |
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Task 1
Take a series of photographs in the style of Saul Leiter. Use the city as a means of creating abstract portraits by shooting portraits through doors, car windows, shop windows, scuffed up phone boxes etc. the images can be set up or of people that you don't know.
Other photographers to look at
Take a series of photographs in the style of Saul Leiter. Use the city as a means of creating abstract portraits by shooting portraits through doors, car windows, shop windows, scuffed up phone boxes etc. the images can be set up or of people that you don't know.
Other photographers to look at
Stephen Calcutt
Stephens unique form of street photography is a consequence of frequenting bus stops and shelters around the City of Birmingham. Graffiti can be great art, however he feels the graffiti scratched into the plexiglass windows of the bus stop feels like a violation. He has yet to see any of these etchings that look great in their own right. The graffiti etched and scrawled in the bus stop windows seem to be expressions of frustration, anger, love or hate. However, unlike its cousin the more colourful graffiti that is emblazoned across the walls of buildings and is often seen as art, it is very mundane. He feels a windows full potential as a clear barrier between yourself and the elements are compromised when the view beyond is obscured, distorted and blurred by the scratches. Stephen uses the graffiti etched windows as a lens. he merges the graffiti and the view beyond, focusing his camera on the etched lines putting the view beyond out of focus. The graffiti and view to merge into a single plane. He creates a new perspective that retains and emphasises the energy of the graffiti. Its swirls, zigzags, lines and curves, slash across the
Stephens unique form of street photography is a consequence of frequenting bus stops and shelters around the City of Birmingham. Graffiti can be great art, however he feels the graffiti scratched into the plexiglass windows of the bus stop feels like a violation. He has yet to see any of these etchings that look great in their own right. The graffiti etched and scrawled in the bus stop windows seem to be expressions of frustration, anger, love or hate. However, unlike its cousin the more colourful graffiti that is emblazoned across the walls of buildings and is often seen as art, it is very mundane. He feels a windows full potential as a clear barrier between yourself and the elements are compromised when the view beyond is obscured, distorted and blurred by the scratches. Stephen uses the graffiti etched windows as a lens. he merges the graffiti and the view beyond, focusing his camera on the etched lines putting the view beyond out of focus. The graffiti and view to merge into a single plane. He creates a new perspective that retains and emphasises the energy of the graffiti. Its swirls, zigzags, lines and curves, slash across the
Nick Turpin
Task 2
Find a Photography Exhibition that either links to Abstraction or interests you on a personal level. Use the file (on the right) to help you analyse your visit on your weebly.
Use the links below to help you find an exhibition. Don't forget to download the App, Art Rabbit, to find exhibitions wherever you are, even abroad! |
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What next
Once you have completed all the set tasks you need to consider three starting points for your own response to the theme.
Each idea must be supported by a link to an artist
Look through the Pinterest board, and the previous tasks to help you.
Having said this, you can choose to build on any of the processes and themes visited during the set tasks above.
Once you have completed all the set tasks you need to consider three starting points for your own response to the theme.
Each idea must be supported by a link to an artist
Look through the Pinterest board, and the previous tasks to help you.
Having said this, you can choose to build on any of the processes and themes visited during the set tasks above.