Rachel's Art Blog: 2010

Monday, November 15, 2010

Self Design Proposal

For my self design project I want to explore the idea of our daily lives being cyclical and how that causes them to lose meaning or intrigue. I want to work with the idea of people going through the motions waiting for something new and exciting to happen, but how often does it? Or do we just miss it when it does? My ideas for how this will translate into photographs are still somewhat vague but I want to try to use photographic language to try to convey such "boredom" (for lack of a better word) and to potentially set up a contrast with the idea of being content. Is there a way to use photography to find the things that are changing, to create a setting that incites excitement? I think color will play a major role in expressing such emotions and moods. Currently I'm thinking I want to shoot mainly landscapes and cityscapes but with a clear sense of human presence/influence.

Non-photographic influences:

Music:

"Dangling Conversation" by Simon and Garfunkel.

"It's a still life water color, Of a now late afternoon, As the sun shines through the curtained lace, And shadows wash the room. And we sit and drink our coffee. Couched in our indifference, Like shells upon the shore, You can hear the ocean roar, In the dangling conversation, And the superficial sighs, The borders of our lives." etc etc

"Circle Game" Joni Mitchell. "We're captured in a carousel of time."

"Older Chests" Damien Rice

"Be Here Now" Ray LaMontagne.

Painting by Margritte

Above: Portrait of Sebastià Junyer i Vidal by Picasso, In a Café (L'Absinthe) by Degas

Other Ideas:

I've been thinking about the light temperature blog theme we did early in this class and how I could incorporate such ideas of color into this project to help convey my meaning.

A friend mentioned an article at dinner recently that said subconsciously artists are further in understanding human expression than neurologists. Who knows if that's true but i've been thinking about that ever since and the expressive quality of art. That's something i don't feel like i've gotten to explore much yet this semester, but is very important to me.

The historical period of disillusionment present during the interwar years. The idea of waiting for something….the calm before the storm….

Contentment vs. anticipation vs. frustration vs. boredom

Water Cycle, Sleep Cycles, Schedules, Sunrise/Sunset

The idea of conformity...not only is every day basically the same, but everyone's supposed to be the same.

I don't want this to be a downer kind of project...the idea would be to touch on something I think a lot of people can relate to and use photos to explore the potential for something new/exciting....

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Time

5. Clarisse D'Arcimoles focused on the passage of time in her series Un-Possible retour. She recreated photos she found in family albums, using the same subjects many years later. I found the way the artist set up these photos using the same clothing, gestures, etc to be particularly powerful in calling attention to the aging of the people in the photos. http://www.clarisse-darcimoles.com/index.php?/projects/un-possible-retour/

6. This photo was taken by Michael Weseley using a 3 year long exposure. This extremely long exposure allows the photo to literally show the passage of time through traces of the transformation of the city over that period of time.

10. "Night Park" by Susan Bein. The streaks across the composition represent movement that took place over time, due to the long exposure used. This creates a dreamlike, ethereal quality that seems to fit the idea of the passage of time.