hackneyed
Medium: digital manipulation
Size: 91.44cm x 60.96CM
COmpleted: October 2015
Exhibition TextHackneyed is a digital collage piece that focuses on the theme of personal and cultural experience. Inspired by the works of Andy Warhol and Rene Magritte, this digital collage focuses on the concept of originality and the desire to acquire this trait. Using Adobe Photoshop CS6 to manipulate the images, I wanted to portray how I view my current self as constantly "hackneying" ideas from others and having the desire to break free from this habit and openly express myself as an individual. This piece is intended to not only express these concepts and desires, but also to show the personal conflicts that I have within myself of wanting to be seen as an individual with original ideas rather than a "hackney" of already seen ideas.
|
Artistic Inspiration
With ‘Hackneyed’ I was inspired by the works of Andy Warhol and Rene Magritte. Andy Warhol portrays the ideas of originality that is hard to come by with modern advertising and artworks. He shows this in his works by duplicating well known images that tend to challenge originality that is found in pop culture. Rene Magritte often expresses desire in his pieces. He portrays desire in his works through surreal images, usually of people, who seem to have desires that they cannot reach or obtain. I was influenced by both Warhol’s and Magritte’s ideas, wanting to mash both the concept of originality and desire together. With the duplicated images and color patterns of the collage, I wanted to show Warhol as an obvious influence portraying how my piece is hackneyed and lacking originality. By doing this, I wanted to show how I struggle with expressing myself as an individual and how I struggle to openly demonstrate my own original ideas. With the main image of an inferior version of myself looking upon a deemed superior version of myself, I wanted to express Magritte’s ideas of desire. I wanted this image to represent how the inferior version of myself desires individuality and looks for guidance towards the superior version of myself who acquires individuality and confidently expresses this.
|
|
Research
|
Since this was the first time I've ever used Adobe Photoshop CS6 to manipulate images, I had to do some research on the program to figure out which tools I'd need to use to get the look I was going for and how to use them. The tools I used most frequently included:
|
Planning/Process
Planning:
At the beginning of the creating process, I had a completely different idea in mind. I wanted to more so portray desire in my final collage with Magritte being a main influence. I then thought it would be cool to combine two different artists and two different ideas into one piece. I decided to combine the concepts of originality and desire with both Warhol and Magritte as influences. |
|
Process:
- Create a new file on Adobe Photoshop CS6 with the dimensions of 24in by 36in (60.96cm by 91.44cm), a resolution of 300, and a white background
- Create 9 symmetrical white rectangles with black borders that evenly fit the canvas
- Open the images being used in a new file and use the Lasso and Marquee Tool to cut out the part of the images needed
- Click on the filter tab and add the stamp filter using the colors black and white onto the unedited photos
- Copy, paste, and create 3 duplicates of the new filtered black and white images onto the original canvas and place them accordingly into the rectangles created in step 2
- Duplicate the black and white filtered images again and change the colors of the stamp filter such as red and white, blue and white, and yellow and white (these colors should have 2 duplicates)
- Place all new duplicated layers of the photos into the rectangles created in step 2 and the final piece is complete!
|
|
|
Reflection
Based on the theme of this project on personal and cultural expression, I think my final collage piece overall portrays who I am and the internal conflicts I have. While I am satisfied with my final piece, there was a few things that I have personally struggled with and would have wanted to improve. My biggest struggle with creating this digital collage was definitely making the squares and images as symmetrical in size and placement as possible. In order to get the look I was going for, I had to create several layers of the same image, making it difficult to move the pictures in the placement I was most satisfied with. I also struggled with coming up with the idea for my final piece. As stated above, I originally had a completely different idea but went against it since I wasn't happy with how it turned out. Changing my idea last minute was a huge setback for me, and caused me to finish this project late. But even with these setbacks, I still managed to complete a digital collage that I'm proud of.
Works Cited
https://www.moma.org/learn/moma_learning/andy-warhol-campbells-soup-cans-1962
http://www.moma.org/learn/moma_learning/rene-magritte-the-lovers-le-perreux-sur-marne-1928
http://www.photoshoplab.com/photoshop-tool-basics.html
https://www.adobeknowhow.com/courselanding/beginners-adobe-photoshop
http://www.photoshopessentials.com/basics/
http://www.vandelaydesign.com/learn-photoshop-basics/
http://imagebasket.net/1461-logo-photoshop-cs6-vector.php?pics=true
http://www.fotodovana.com/2013/03/penjelasan-fungsi-toolbox-pada.html
http://www.moma.org/learn/moma_learning/rene-magritte-the-lovers-le-perreux-sur-marne-1928
http://www.photoshoplab.com/photoshop-tool-basics.html
https://www.adobeknowhow.com/courselanding/beginners-adobe-photoshop
http://www.photoshopessentials.com/basics/
http://www.vandelaydesign.com/learn-photoshop-basics/
http://imagebasket.net/1461-logo-photoshop-cs6-vector.php?pics=true
http://www.fotodovana.com/2013/03/penjelasan-fungsi-toolbox-pada.html