This week, I've been working on this collage of artists for inspiration for my AS topic: 'Remix, Rehash and Edit'. I'm pretty pleased with the way it's turned out. It really isn't my normal style - I like quick things, that don't take a lot of fiddly cutting- but I thought I'd experiment a bit, and I think it's paid off. I love the array of different colours and patterns (thank you, Hobbycraft scrapbooking paper!), something which isn't normally seen in my sketchbook. It really makes a change from the monochrome theme. The complicated collage references the different artists I looked at, most of whom used some form of collage or editing in their pieces. Many of them used similar floral patterns to the ones that I included. So, apart from the visual aspect of it, I also learnt a lot about some amazing -and pretty underrated- modern artists. Some are fashion based, and others are more vintage-collage. These nine people have quite a few similarities (I guess this shows that I have a particular taste) but their differences are what make them all so spectacular...
Miles Aldridge
Miles Aldridge is an esteemed fashion photographer and digital artist. His work has been featured in a range of magazines from Harper's Bazaar to Vogue. His photographs are highly edited, using manual methods like very heavy makeup and digital manipulation using Photoshop tools. Recently I just can.not.stop. looking at his photos. They are so stunning. God. I am trying to focus on writing this description, and I am just getting distracted by scrolling through his webpage. I guess that's the thing about his work. It is so ultra-modern, ultra-polished, and ultra-interesting. You want to know 'what's he trying to say here?' 'what's the story behind this?' 'how did he do that?' Take this photo for instance. With the foreground being a poised, almost statuesque like woman, next to a family that are looking at an exhibition. Simple, right? Well, no. All four people have been modeled on the women in from Aldridge's past photos (bright clothes, and vintage style fashion), and the exhibition showing in the background is Aldridge's own work. So complex, and so intriguing. I could write about his stuff for ages, but I won't, I'll just carry on Googling it
Damien Blottiere
Artist and photographer, Blottiere creates pieces that are super-high fashion and cutting edge (he edits them by cutting edges...get the pun?). The models he uses are very intimidating (as high fashion models are), and almost ethereal. The way that Blottiere edits their features -often facial features- onto their bodies further enhances this transcendence and futuristic feel. I love this effect, particularly the smooth curves of the edited outlines, which add another element to the pieces. It is no wonder that Blottiere's work has been featured in hundreds of different spreads, and his unique work is often seen in the pages of Vogue Paris.
Michelle Caplan
The mixed-media collage artist whose work focuses on a vintage theme. Caplan's pieces have so many layers and have so much depth that there is so much to take in. She says that she likes to apply a 'narration' to photos and wishes to 'share stories'. She does this by combining a large (often vintage, monochrome) photo as the main muse of the piece, and then layering onto it anything from patterns, to text, and from news articles to poetry. This achieves an overall narrative and emotion that can be received from observing the pieces. I love this whole idea. It just makes me want to stand really close to each piece, and read every single line and look at every single layer. It inspires me to try something like this with my grandparents. Maybe I'll get a picture and layer it up with things from their youth.
Guy Catling
A graphic designer from Essex, Guy Catling uses layers of pattern to create a collage which often has a strong narrative, which can sometimes be an almost comedic comment. I love this piece of his, which shows soldiers holding floral guns. It adds a sense of humor to the whole photo, but has a more serious note to it too; making me want to hand soldiers flowers instead of ammunition. This idea is seen in lots of his pieces, which range from a floral hoody on a skateboard, to parachutists landing in a giant flower arrangement. The concept is so simple, and yet so powerful and provocative. I am sure I will be referencing this at some point in the near future.
Loui Jover
The Australian artist Loui Jover uses ink to create beautiful illustrations on top of vintage paper. Although the background seen in this example is from sheet music, Jover also often uses pages from books. The effect is pretty stunning, mainly because of all the different elements incorporated into this idea. The ink paintings alone would be amazing, but add them onto vintage paper, and they seem to have so much more narrative. This may be a personal thing to me, but I always feel a sense of sadness or melancholy when I see tired, fragile looking sheets. I wonder where they came from, who used them last, and they story behind the stories the words tell. But there is also a sense of happiness: a rejuvenation for these tired old pages. These pieces have a depth I just so admire.
Eujenia Loli
Loli describes herself as a 'modern vintage collage artist'. And that does really some up her work. There are the modern art elements, of combining different themes with bright colours to represent a particular narrative, and then there is the vintage part, which can be taken from the actual things Loli uses in her collages. The parts would seem to be from things like 50s magazines or illustrations. I really like the overall effect achieved by combining these different themes and ideas. The narrative is often hard to understand, but perhaps it is the concluding emotion that is important. Personally, I find Loli's work pretty uplifting, the colours are so bright and the juxtaposition of ideas is often humorous and witty.
Merve Ozaslan
Istanbul-based artist, Merve Ozaslan, combines vintage photographs with images of nature to achieve beautiful, intriguing pieces. The vintage photos themselves are nice to look at, as Ozaslan often picks light-hearted, humorous photos taken at the time. Then, when Ozaslan works onto them, the humorous parts of the photos are highlighted and expanded upon in a witty way. The juxtaposition of the colourful nature and the monochrome vintage themes could be commenting on the huge differences between the life in busy cities, and the free, unexplored possibilities of nature. There is not much more to say: the images created are charming, and enjoyable to look at. Some of them don't seem to have a clear narrative, and don't really need one. Art is for observing, and that's just what you do when you see Ozaslan's work, look at it and enjoy.
Lucas Simoes
Brazilian artist, Lucas Simoes, has a background in architecture and design. This can be seen in the pieces he creates, in the geometric editing of portrait photographs. Whilst some of these edits leave most of the face unobstructed, some of them obscure the face completely, rearranging facial features, and adding new shape and dynamics to the face. The heavily distorted, and often layered images are very interesting to observe. It seems like Simoes is asking the viewer to look more closely and think about the narrative. He is blurring the lines between beauty and horror, between clear shapes and distortion, and between people and architecture.
Matt Wisniewski
Last, but by no means least, is photographer and digital artist Matt Wisniweski. His work focuses around monochrome, highly re-touched young models, who have had photos of nature incorporated into their features. The effect is engaging and alluring, combining the beauty of nature and the beauty of young models. In fact, I love his work so much that I am doing some more in depth artist reference pieces at the moment. I hope to post them soon, so stay tuned!
Hx
Whilst researching artists for my current art topic, I came across photoshop artist Michael Oswald. Although he has a vast portfolio, I was mainly interested in his 'cyborg' pieces, because of how they relate to the concept behind my zip series. I came up with the theme because of how society edits what people (particularly women) look like and what they say. Then, to come across these digitalised, robot women was really interesting.
The undercurrent of objectification is particularly apparent when comparing Oswald's many robot women with one of his only robot men. He is clearly a swimmer, so has an excuse for being shirtless...What is the reason that all the women are in their underwear? Or is a reason not necessary?
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