Chapter 1 Response

Reading Chapter one of my Digital Art textbook I have learned the evolution of the Internet and the digital image. During the cold war the United States developed the Advanced Research Projects Agency. This agency was within the Department of Defense and was created to stay on top as technological leaders of the world. The agency wanted to create a communication network that was safe from nuclear war. During the 1960’s four supercomputers were built, networked together and placed at universities across the country. They called this network ARPANET and this was the beginning of the Internet.

The first creation of digital artwork was also developed in the early 1960’s and was created by a research technician from Bell Laboratories. His name was Michael Knoll and his computer generated images were abstract in form, created out of mathematical algorithms, (like a geometric drawing on a etch a sketch). As computer technology advanced so did the application for digital art forms. Early digital art was not considered art because it did not have a physical presence and was thought that the computer did all the work not the artist.

An artist featured in chapter one that is fascinating to me is the work of a German artist by the name of Jochem Hendricks. He has made organ response art called Augenzeichnungen when translated to English is Eye Drawings during the 1990’s. A subject wears an eyeglass like device which measures eye movements as the eye traces a target like text or an image then digitized this information into a line drawing. He accomplishes this with the use of infrared, video and a computer. He describes his work as, “Eye-drawings are drawings done directly with the eyes, without the slightest interference of the hands - the organ of perception being turned into the organ of expression.” (Hendricks n.d.) Since the 1990’s eye tracking technology has advanced so much and is now a standard features to some digital cameras. This brings me back to the thought of technology doing all the work and what it means to have an eye for photography.



Hands



Desk

Face

Works Cited

Hendricks, Jochem. Jochem Hendricks. http://www.jochem-hendricks.de/englisch/w_augen/non_index.htm (accessed February 22, 2011).

http://www.jochem-hendricks.de/englisch/non_index.htm

http://www.clavius.org/img/whirlwind-computer.jpg

http://noll.uscannenberg.org/

A Parody

Text + Brush Stamp

Project 1: Multiple Personalities

The role of photography has evolved over time and what was once reserved for the wealthy and privileged is now available to anyone. In the past the role of photography was once used to capture and preserve simple memories. In comparison to the role of photography in contemporary society which is now used to inform, document, entertain and create desire. I believe that in today’s American obsession with consumerism photography affects and influences our lives by creating desire.  The reality of a photographic image is subjective, it is a communication between the creator and the viewer but only the viewer can decide if it is the truth.  As the technology of digital manipulation advances the reality of a photograph becomes less accurate. I no longer look at present photography as the truth but I appreciate it as an art form.

My composition is a humorous look into the reality digital photography. The original photographic images are captured expressive moments in the subject’s face. On their own they are just a candid look into the lives of people and an animal but combined together form another meaning. I have titled this piece Multiple Personalities. I came across an image of a drawing that had heads stacked inside one another and thought it would be entertaining to see that type of image using photographs of real people.  It reminds me of the duality of our inner selves. I feel that we each have moments in our lives that we are a; cool headed dude, a crazy chick, a kitty cat and of course a clown.

For the technical aspects of this composition I use pretty basic beginning Photoshop tools. I began by eliminating backgrounds of the photographs by using the quick selection tool. Areas that I could not isolate with the quick selection tool I used the background erasure with a small point to get the fine details around the subjects. I used the elliptical marquee tool to layer ovals on top of the heads to create the illusion of them being open and empty.  I then filled the bottom ovals with the subject’s skin tone color and filled the top ovals black using the paint bucket function. I used a cloudscape for the background and adjusted the opacity to tone down the colors. I copied and pasted each head into a different layer on top of the cloudscape.

I would like to enhance the composition with some highlights and shadows but I could not get them to look right. I enjoyed my first project for Digital Arts class because I was able to find a concept and then fit it within the criteria of the assignment. 

 

 

Source Images:

Man

Image 4464 http://www.knollphotography.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/img_4464.jpg

Girl

http://image10.webshots.com/11/0/51/22/131905122xcoFIB_fs.jpg

Cat

http://www.computerfreewallpapers.com/images/wallpapers/funny-city-cat_1024x768-299389.jpeg

Clown

http://www.props-n-frocks.co.uk/fancy-dress-blog/wp-content/uploads/D12.jpg

Transforming Animals

Perfect day to stay inside and perfect my photoshop skills. I have been using a filter called liquify and I boated some features on a kitten to make a new animal. Very Funny!

Source image: 

http://www.wallpaperweb.org/wallpaper/animals/1280x960/Curious_Tabby_Kitten_1280x960.jpg