2017 America
Artist Hero: Jimi Hendrix
The artist I chose is Jimi Hendrix He was a guitarist and singer during the 60's and 70's his songs were centered around political reform and psychedelic ideas and concepts. I chose Hendrix because Although he doesn't work within a physical or visible media his music has influenced my art over the summer and made me realize that experimenting with art and not to play it safe all the time. His music taught me that while it's not all technically "the way it's supposed to be played" his passion and voice shows through his music cementing him as one of the greatest and most unique musicians ever. His psychedelia also influenced me a bit along with the whole hippy era to take chances and create a concentration through the lens of a kaleidoscope. the Middle picture Perfectly captures this psychedelic motif. With its strong use of contrasting colors and its symmetry throughout the photo while also maintaining asymmetry because there is an equal number of figures on each side that have similar mass within the picture but the are all slightly different from one another. this idea of semi-symmetry has also heavily influenced how i want to approach my teliedescope photography by striving to make an image be symmetrical while also allowing for natural inconsistencies that will appear in the photos. the use of figure and ground in this picture allows for both the figure and the background to pop and be bold within themselves while also contrasting and playing off one another. creating constant movement and shifting of the eyes from one spot to the next instead of the figure overshadowing the background and keeping focus on itself or vise versa. through this the artist is also able to create unity through the color and shape of the figures and the background while also creating variety by changing small details like the faces or noses to create a more dynamic and interesting image. and truly capturing the style and message of the music of Jimi Hendrix.
Mushrooms
A Tiny Concentration
Why did I make this concentration a series of photos based off of small inanimate objects, made to be just that, to be mainly place holders for people in models of hotels and parks. and give them each their own stories and personalities. Each given a life and journey of their own. I guess it stems back to childhood. when I would play with toys and not others i would always feel bad for the ones that i left. I can remember thinking how sad they must be to nto be played with. I remember seeing each toy with its own life outside of just playing with me. I wanted to capture that feeling, that wanderlust and pure imagination. I wanted to create a story and a life for each of these figurines, a small world within our own where lions stand tall upon small stones and where men journey on mushrooms and convene inside books. I wanted to create a story and make each of these mass produced toys have their own personality their own inner struggle and their own separate unique life. That's what I set out to do, at first I almost haphazardly set up scenes and created photos using the figurines as more of a prop than a subject. But after a while i hit a wall and was forced to stop, I needed to create