Divertissement
18'' x 22''
Photography
Mar. 2023
Photography
Mar. 2023
This piece is a continuation of my theme of American capitalism, focusing on the commodification of art under capitalism. A young girl is seen staring at a blue lit screen, 9 damaged DVDs looking back. From her side, an additional red light shines on her skin, applying light to the ridges in the DVDs.
Inspiration
Drew Struzan
Drew Struzan is a contemporary artist, known for his poster work. He has created prolific posters for series such as Star Wars. Indians Jones, and for my inspiration, the 1982 horror film The Thing, directed by John Carpenter. While he was always interested in the arts, He began his career as a starving artist, selling his work just to buy food he would only eat twice a week. The artist became a musical album artist, creating pieces for musical bands such as Black Sabbath, Alice Cooper, and more. eventually becoming a freelance artist, using his talents at an advertising agency where his work became extremely popular. Drew Struzan's career has been vast, the man having amassed an extremely impressive portfolio of his artwork. However, despite the many popular franchises Struzan has created artwork for, my favorite of his work has always been his illustration for 1982's The Thing. The Thing is already a favorite movie of mine, and it's illustration is my favorite poster ever. I think it's a magnificently crafted artwork; it's extremely captivating and that's due to Struzan's use of color and form. The contrast in this piece is beautiful, the blacked out human body becomes extremely striking when paired with the inhuman bright light shooting from the Thing's face. The sharp angles Struzan uses to create the body and background a defiant, scary scene. Additionally, his use of simple figures to get across the idea of the scene always intrigued me. With just a couple of simple dots and swooping lines at the bottom of his illustration, Struzan is able to give the viewer the idea of a blizzard even though he is not direct with the final structure of the snow. I believe that Struzan is an extremely talented artist, and while our methods of carrying out this project is entirely different, his being an illustration and mine being a photographic piece, I still found value in using his work for this project, in fact I was extremely excited to do so. I was interested to see how using an illustrated work would affect the way that my final looks when compared to my classmates who used other pieces of photography as inspiration. Additionally, with my theme of the commodification of film and the hypocrisy that comes with me discussing this topic while still indulging in this system, I thought it was only fitting I used a piece of art tied to a movie that was so personal to me and my interests.
Process
The initial sketch started as a shot of a DVD, smudged with chalk fingerprints around the device. After choosing Drew Struzan as an artist inspiration, I incorporated more elements of The Thing (1982) illistration, leaning into the colors of the scene and deciding I should aim to use the bright blues as a light source. I also changed the blue fingerprints on the DVD to scratches along the movie, highlighting this loss of identity of the films with the artwork. |
From there, I took an empty TOTES shoe box and deconstructed it, pulling the flaps away from the side of the box and extending them. Then, I took my Windows laptop and opened the screen up to a bright blue picture. I placed the electronics in the box, and applied parchment paper on the top of the structure. I chose parchment paper specifically as it hid the cardboard from view, and gave the light a fuzzy, television-like effect I was looking for. I then took 9 DVDs, all unused and empty of footage, and rubbed the side of the DVD which would hold the videos information on a wood surface. This gave the damage a realistic effect as compared to scratching it with a knife or cutting into it with scissors. With super glue, I attached the DVD's to the parchment in an overlapping manner over the screen.
For this project, I had my little sister pose for the picture. I took the photo at night to get the natural, deep blacks of the room, and changed her into a black shirt for the final image to make the room look all encompassing in the shot. I placed the box on a small table, and had her bend down to look at the mock television screen. For an additional light source, I used a Killer Klowns from Outer Space (1988) "Rudy" statue; the base of this figure has a multi-color light up system, and using this very item, a piece of merchandise from a film, furthers this idea of entertainment, even into the production of the photo.
I took many photos during this process, but I quickly found red was the color I wanted to work with, creating a visual juxtaposition with the bright blue of the screen. Angle and timing was key; the statues light was constantly changing and shifting, and so it was important I took many different photos at many different angles. In total, 80 different photos were captures, all with different perspectives and color.
Experimentation
While taking photos, I experimented with multiple angles and subtle pose changes. I had my sister lean down at different times, and adjusted her hand many times, I also took photos at multiple perspectives, like from a higher or lower angle, closer or further. With this I found that taking the photo from the upper angle gave the flat box a seemingly curved screen to the viewer. Additionally, some poses and camera placements made my sisters pose come off as awkward, almost looking as if I, the person taking the picture, was putting my hand up to the screen.
Because I was using the figures constantly changing lights as a light source, I was not able to choose which colors I wanted to apply to this shoot. While that was an inherent downside, it wasn't all negative. It gave me many possibilities for colors and the shifting presented endless opportunities for the hues to shine through, not bound by any sort of confusion I may have had if I had to manually apply colors. While this changing motion did mean my timing was crucial, it kept the shoot fluid with the final products it gave me. Many alternative photos are basked in greens, purples, or blues, but in the end I decided that red would be the best hue to have as the alternative, contrasing light source for the portrait.
Critique
Compare
These projects are very similar in multiple ways. For example, the use of bright blue hues create extremely vibrant images, our final pieces of artwork being extremely striking visually because of this. Additionally, the theme of people and their identity is a through line between our works. The main subject of these pieces is a person, or at the very least a person shaped form. The visual of a human body in our pieces leads to similar ideas of ones identity and how they interact with those around them.
Contrast
Despite their similarities, these two projects differ in many ways. For example, my use of an additional, contrasting light source is different from Struzan's use of a contrasting, neutral color of white. Additionally, Struzan makes use of movement in his painting, immediately catching the viewers eye with the white of the Thing's face, and leading their eyes with the beams that extend out of it. While my piece catches the viewer's eye with the blue, there is no explicit leading of the eye after that. Finally, the compositions of our pieces are the exact opposite, his being a front, full view of the Thing's body, mine being an up close portrait, the girls face visible in the side of the picture looking forward.
Reflection
At the end of this project, I can confidently say that I really enjoyed this work. From the start I had an interest in experimenting with photography and so I'm really happy that I was given the opportunity to do so. Experimenting with colors was something I found surprisingly enjoyable, despite the prospect of taking "blink and you'll miss it" shots initially sounding extremely tedious. This process of simple sketches in my sketchbook turning to seeing my vision materialize in front of me is something that has left me feeling extremely rewarded. The hardest part of completing this piece was definitely the posing and perspective of taking the photo. Just the slightest shift in my sisters pose could give off a completely different feeling to the viewer and change the meaning of the piece for them. That left me with a lot of worry and taking as many photos as I could over and over again, however in the end I believe it was worth it, and ultimately still an aspect of this work I appreciated. I am overjoyed that I was able to pay homage to my favorite movie and poster with this work, and really love the final product.
ACT
Clearly explain how you are able to identify the cause effect relationship between your inspiration and its effect on your artwork?
The use of color is the most clear relationship between our works. The use of bright blues to create a visually striking scene is clear by just looking at the works.
What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
I believe Struzan would be happy that people are still appreciative of his work; unfortunately with film right now, the use of illustrative posters is an older concept and not used as much today, Struzan having now turned to comic work to adapt to this change.
What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, culture, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
From hearing Struzan's struggle with his art and his persistence through that struggle was extremely inspiring. Struzan was a literal starving artist, and hearing how he refused to give up on his passions led me to believe he is extremely heartfelt towards his work and art as a whole.
What is the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
Persistence and passion was the most central idea I would pull out of my research.
What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
My inferences lead me to the conclusion that art as a career is extremely grueling work. While I already knew this fact,k Struzan's life truly put this fact in perspective, and it depresses me. It makes me wonder how many great artists are lost to uncreative routes in their life simply because they cannot afford to be so leisurely in their life, and that thought is extremely disheartening to imagine.
The use of color is the most clear relationship between our works. The use of bright blues to create a visually striking scene is clear by just looking at the works.
What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
I believe Struzan would be happy that people are still appreciative of his work; unfortunately with film right now, the use of illustrative posters is an older concept and not used as much today, Struzan having now turned to comic work to adapt to this change.
What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, culture, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
From hearing Struzan's struggle with his art and his persistence through that struggle was extremely inspiring. Struzan was a literal starving artist, and hearing how he refused to give up on his passions led me to believe he is extremely heartfelt towards his work and art as a whole.
What is the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
Persistence and passion was the most central idea I would pull out of my research.
What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
My inferences lead me to the conclusion that art as a career is extremely grueling work. While I already knew this fact,k Struzan's life truly put this fact in perspective, and it depresses me. It makes me wonder how many great artists are lost to uncreative routes in their life simply because they cannot afford to be so leisurely in their life, and that thought is extremely disheartening to imagine.
Bibliography
Struzan, Drew, et al. The Art of Drew Struzan. Titan, 2010.
Sharkey, Erik, director. Drew: The Man Behind the Poster. Kino Lorbor, 2013, Accessed 2024.
Collector, Poster. “Drew Struzan: The Man behind the Posters " The Poster Collector.” The Poster Collector, 16 May 2020, postercollector.co.uk/blog/drew-struzan-the-man-behind-the-posters/.
Sharkey, Erik, director. Drew: The Man Behind the Poster. Kino Lorbor, 2013, Accessed 2024.
Collector, Poster. “Drew Struzan: The Man behind the Posters " The Poster Collector.” The Poster Collector, 16 May 2020, postercollector.co.uk/blog/drew-struzan-the-man-behind-the-posters/.