For my final major project I want to create something very
abstract and dream like. I want it to both confuse and intrigue the viewer. To
do this I want to look at a variety of styles and artists to inform the end
product.
I want my final major project to be a dream like sequence,
either presented as an animation, or a sequence of images but I ultimately want
it to convey a narrative. I want to use imagery and symbolism to communicate ideas
about philosophy and psychology. I would also like to experiment with multiple
endings, to further interest and involve the viewer. I want to make use of optical
illusions to engage the audience and create a sense of wonder. I want to use a
combination of different visual languages to express my work. I want to incorporate
elements from different artistic fields including films, comics, novels and
paintings to help achieve this goal.
For my research project, I want to focus more on the optical
illusion aspect, especially anamorphic illusions and forced perspective as this
is an area that really interests me, and I think it creates excellent art that
confuses and entices the viewer. I would like to create a sequence of images,
possibly that could intertwine with my major research project.
Artists like Salvador Dalí and MC Escher are 2 of my
favourite surreal artists. Dali’s work is full of rich symbolism and is heavily
inspired by dreams. He takes real life objects and morphs them to give them a
more significant meaning. The image below called ‘Dream caused by the Flight of
a Bee around a Pomegranate a second before awakening’ contains plenty of
subjective imagery. The two tigers represent the body of the bee (yellow with
black stripes) and the bayonet its stinger. The elephant is a distorted version
of the "Pulcino della Minerva" sculpture by Gian Lorenzo Bernini
facing the church of Santa Maria sopra Minerva in Rome. It has also been
suggested that the painting is "a surrealist interpretation of the Theory
of Evolution." It’s full of so much imagery it could mean anything to
anyone, I like that kind of art where the meaning is necessarily always heavily
inferred, the audience is left to make up their own mind, just like a dream.
[2]
MC Escher is another great example of the surreal and
abstract in art. The great thing about Escher is you are always trying to work
out and decipher his images. He plays of the rules of perspective, line and
shape to create something that our brains struggle to understand. His works are
like optical illusions and are just a lot of fun to look at. It links back to
the ideas of dreams, most of the time they make no sense to you. It’s great
though, it’s like trying to solve a puzzle, and you feel engaged.
[3]
Another great area of art I’m fascinated with is 3D and
optical illusions. They are designed to confuse your brain, and you end up
staring at them for way to long trying to uncover what is actually going on.
There is a great 3D illusionist and illustrator called Ramon
Bruin, a self-taught artist from the Netherlands. I find his work really
awesome, and just enjoy looking at them and trying to uncover how he has made a
particular piece.
He often uses anamorphic illusions to great effect, and it’s
something I really want to try and replicate, in my research project. I think it’s
such a great way to engage the audience as they have to move around the piece and
view from different angles to see how the illusion works.
Ramon even puts familiar props in some of his works to
engage the view further, and strengthen the illusion. (See below)
[8]
I want to focus on film, especially since I’m considering
creating an animation, even if I choose to use sequential images instead, film
contains lots of useful elements that I want to incorporate into my own work. I want to focus on cinematography, mise-en-scene,
iconography, and lighting, particularly Chiaroscuro.
Also films contain some great subject matter concerning dreams;
some of my favourite scenes from films are dream sequences. They are a great opportunity
for a director to use more interesting stylistic choices then they normal
would.
There is a great film called ‘Take Shelter’ directed by Jeff
Nichols and this film is filled with dream sequences, none are particularly
abstract, but are very unsettling, with some great cinematography and some
great use of point of view shots. The film is an excellent metaphor for a man that is losing
his sanity as he prepares for a coming storm, and the audience is constantly
questioning what is real or a dream.
[7]
another dream sequence from 'Take Shelter':
Another film that heavily revolves around dreams is
Inception, directed by Christopher Nolan. This film also blends elements of MC Escher’s
work into the visual style.
[4]
It’s such a great camera trick and really intrigues the
viewer. Inception is full of interesting shots and in camera special effect
tricks that had audiences asking how they achieved it, and leaving them amazed
and entertained. I find these sorts of illusion really inspiring and intriguing,
and would love to include something similar into my work.
Larry Smith is a great English cinematographer, one of his
best known works is only god forgives, another film rich imagery and symbolism.
Although I didn’t particularly enjoy the film as a whole, it looks absolutely
gorgeous, the cinematography especially.
[5]
The use of parallel lines in the above shot is great, very reminiscent
of some of Stanley Kubrick’s films. The way the character is framed in the shot
is great also; he is turned slightly to the side, so you can’t tell if the path
lies ahead of him or behind him. And the reddish glow contrasts the grey blue.
I want to use very carefully planned shots, and storyboards, to help the
audience infer meaning.
[1]
Double indemnity is a classic piece of film making and makes
heavy use of chiaroscuro lighting. Being a film noir it contains the classic venetian
blinds (see below), a great trick that symbolises entrapment, and or a lack of
foresight. This is the kind of imagery I want to use in my work to help me
infer meaning into my work, using subtle imagery and iconography to hint at the
view what I’m trying to achieve or what the message is I’m trying to convey. I
find film-noir very interesting, I especially like how it implies emotion without
the use of strong colour, I find using strong contrasting colours against each
other detracts from the views experience, I find this especially evident with Pedro
Almodóvar’s work. His work is too obvious and very in your face. I much prefer
muted colours, or the use of one strong colour. This is the type of colour
scheme I want to use for my final projects, a film-noir palette.
Books are another great source of inspiration for me. Philip
K. Dick’s great novel ‘Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?’ It’s a book that
uses the sci-fi genre to explore the issue of what it is to be human. The protagonist
probes the existence of defining qualities that separate humans from robots.
Its full of surreal ideas, and poses some excellent questions that make the
reader pause and think.
I want to try and use narrative, interwoven with imagery and
symbolism to pose interesting philosophical ideas and questions. Sigmund Freud’s
‘The Interpretation of Dreams’ is an interesting read, and contains lots of
interesting ideas on the meaning of dreams and why we have them. Freud concludes
that dreams are an arena in which the unconscious mind expresses itself, and
that they are primarily concocted to represent the fulfilment of a wish, Freud wondered,
why is the wish so poorly articulated, so wrapped up in strange symbols and
images? It’s an interesting question and one that has inspired me to address
the theme of dreams as the subject for my final project.
Unknown. (2011) Don’t
make a Scene: Double Indemnity. Available at: http://letsnottalkaboutmovies.blogspot.co.uk/2011/02/dont-make-scene-double-indemnity.html
(Accessed on: 28th March 2014)
Dali Gallery. (Unknown)
Dali Gallery. Available at: http://www.dali-gallery.com/html/galleries/painting16.htm (Accessed on: 28th March 2014)
Unknown. (2014) MC
Escher. Available at: http://www.mcescher.com/gallery/most-popular/up-and-down/
(Accessed on 29th March 2014)
Unknown. (2011) Paradoxical
Architecture. Available at: http://wenhanarch.blogspot.co.uk/2011/05/penrose-stairs-illustration-of-paradox.html
(Accessed on: 30th March 2014)
Popcorn Taxi. (2013) Review.
Available at: http://www.popcorntaxi.com.au/2013/06/events/only-god-forgives-special-event-screening-qa-live-with-nicolas-winding-refn/
(Accessed on 30th March 2014)
Rogoff. S. (Unknown) Take
Shelter, Fifth Dream. Available at: http://www.criticalcommons.org/Members/ptryzelaar/clips/take_shelter-5th-dream-desktop.m4v/view
(Accessed on: 30th March 2014)
B7Johnston. (2011) Take
Shelter: Bad Dream. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wKT48NyipI
(Accessed on: 30th March 2014)
Daily News Dig Admin. (2013) Awesome 3D Pencil Drawing Pictures That Will Amaze You. Available at: http://dailynewsdig.com/3d-pencil-drawing-pictures-will-amaze-you/ (Accessed on 30th March 2014)
Vsauce. (2013) Moving
Illusions. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iw8idyw_N6Q
(Accessed on: 31st March 2014)
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