Wallpaper Portrait #1
(Portrait taken with wallpaper printed onto wallpaper.)
I bought a roll of flowery twee vinyl wallpaper from a charity shop a few months ago, I had no idea really what I would do with it. I also found a roll of woodchip (mmm…nice) and the material possibilities were exciting, it fired up my imagination.
I wondered if I could print a close up photo of the wallpaper onto a piece of wallpaper, how it would come out. Not that exciting as it happens.
Still, I got to mess around with the wallpaper a bit, and took some photos. Thinking on the subject of portraits, I asked my man to pose with a strip of this wallpaper, to wrap it around him. I printed it onto a strip of the wallpaper.
My home printer is an ancient Lexmark that’s in need of replacing. Initially I was disappointed with the print, the ink had coagulated and separated in some areas due to the vinyl. The photo is soft and smudgy but I think that makes it more intriguing; it was an unexpected result. It’s like when you look at something through squinted eyes.
If I took a wet cloth to it I could wipe the image off clean, so it’s existence itself is a bit shaky.
The Meeting: continued….
This project just goes on and on….
I can’t stop messing around with everything! I’ve printed off the series of original photos in black and white, (16) and I’m about to get on with applying the fluorescent strip on top. It will cover the participant’s eyes. I have yet to work out how to display these images, I’m thinking along the lines of staggering the photos so the fluoro lines connect.
Am I sucking the life out of this idea? Hmmmm… not sure… possibly. Time to wrap it up.
The photos here show some doodling with the flouro strips, trying to work out connections between the people, almost annotations.
It’s been kind of useful to look over some previous posts (2 and 3) because I can see the work from a different angle, I get to see what works and doesn’t.
Is there a point when a project gets too caught up in itself? Must be when it gets stale. I’m aiming to find what it was the excited me initially about The Meeting to get it back on track.
Work Out – A series of close up photographic portraits taken whilst subjects are working out:
Uncomfortable photographs fascinate me, especially when the dynamics between the photographer and subject are tense.
This is one of five images taken just at the point of physical strain, just as he was lifting some super heavy weights. He knew I was taking photos and had to shut his eyes against the flash. The camera was at an annoying proximity which may have added to his irritation. I wonder how to photograph someone to the edge of anger, what kind of photos they would be?
This is one of those ongoing projects, with no real boundaries; I want to see where it goes. Best to keep snapping away and see what happens.
Come to think about it, I have an assortment of projects. Some are really focused with a set conclusion but some are like this, meandering and open to exploration. I think it’s healthy to to have both kinds.
I’ve realised that I dip in and out of projects I never stick to one and see it through til it’s finished. It must be in my nature to flit, surely it’s too constricting to stay with one idea for too long. You suck all the life out of it. Each time I go back to an idea or project it’s with fresh eyes, a new perspective.
Stephen Fry with Care Bear Head: Re-enactment
I this great image from Heat magazine (it wasn’t mine). Since I work with second hand and used materials I get given lots of things from friends and a bundle of celeb magazines came my way.
Pages and pages of celebrities, the most boring trash imaginable. But well worth investigating and messing around with, working out possibilities. It’s handy to have an abundance, I can be free to make mistakes.
Re-enactments are a concept that I’ve been interested in for a long time now. Clarisse d’Arcimoles work was a treat in the Saatchi exhibition New Speak: British Art Now. She had re-enacted family photos from her childhood with as much accuracy as possible. Check this image out of her brother:
http://cameraobscura.busdraghi.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/07Clarisse_dArcimoles_petitroi.jpg
I will attempt a re-enactment for the Stephen Fry image, although I’m not concerned with accuracy. Trying to get the model to catch the right stance is difficult enough let alone getting the camera angle right. I’m aiming for low-key obviousness.
Sewn Soldiers
At the time when I bought a big box of toy soldiers from a local charity shop I had no idea what to do with them. It’s often the way, the materials come first and the idea develops through ‘play’.
I’ve used men’s shirts in my work before, so reverted back to what I know: I also tend to bring two objects together.
Invisible thread is great (I love it), I used it to sew each soldier on in a random way, I thought it kind of worked. There are plenty more soldiers left so I could go the whole hog and stitch them all.
I stitched a few into the inside collar so it was a bit uncomfortable for Tom (model) but he survived.
I’m interested in the shirt being worn. But the way a shirt is packaged is an avenue I may investigate further.
