I have this idea in my head that "real" artists don't have to use things like photos to come up with images. I don't actually mentally believe that this is the case. But sometimes my gut and my head don't listen to one another. I'm starting to feel better about using photos, especially when they're my own. That, at least, seems slightly more legit to me.
I was digging through old photos the other day. I recently switched to a new computer, and so some of my old photos aren't yet switched over. (I thought they were, but the transition didn't go smoothly, and some of them are as-of-yet inaccessible on the new computer). Nonetheless, I found a few that, when put into high contrast, which is necessary for most kinds of printmaking, look pretty awesome and appropriate for various processes.
Case in point: This picture was taken on our honeymoon at our B&B in Montreal. The lighting is less than perfect:
But when put into high-contrast...Totally interesting.
I think I have a new picture for my upcoming silkscreening lesson. Because the other ones I have are copyrighted images of Martha Graham and Norman Bates. Which are amazing and awesome and may still be made, but probably technically aren't legal.
My next linocut inspiration:
And my next-next linocut...for when I get brave:
I feel that using photos for your prints is perfectly legitimate - especially when they are your own photographs.
ReplyDeleteMy work occasionally begins with a photographic image, but that's just the beginning; I then put the image through various processes, working to transform it into something more emotionally expressive. I'm always trying to get to something--an image, a color, a feeling--that seems honest and real to me. What is consistent is that I'm always looking for that point when what is photographically real remains in the image only as a memory, and the image finds a new life and vitality--a new reality--through the lines, colors, gestures, scrapes, and textures that are layered over that memory. What matters to me in the prints is what that subject matter is trying to express.
I love the high contrast chair picture. It looks to me that it switches the focus from the light to the empty, now lit, chair. It actually seems pretty creepy, although I was reading down the page, so I started with Norman Bates, which may have put me in the creepy mood. Whatever is behind the chair (a door in the hall?) really seems to help it look creepy. It looks like building blocks from a temple or something. The circle of light looks to me like an eye.
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