Meta-Painting

In this project you will make a single composite image using bits of imagery from many sources. The sources will be paintings from the National Gallery of Art. You will then separate elements from several paintings and place them in a new, constructed space. While the composite image can be fantastical try to make the setting visually plausible.

Your composite should consist of:
* The collected elements from at least 5 different paintings
* A setting or background shot by you

This project is inspired by the artist Jane Long’s Dancing with Costica series:
http://janelong.photomerchant.net/dancing-with-costica

And

Alexey-Kondakov

https://www.instagram.com/alksko/?hl=en

but there are many other examples of other artists working in similar veins.:

Artists to look at:

Joel Peter Witkin, Jerry Ulesman, Salvador Dali, Rene Magritte, Man Ray,

Skills and steps:
Acquiring high quality media
Introduction to Photoshop
Making selections
Masking
Colorization
Blending modes
Compositing techniques.

-Start by selecting and shooting at least 10 paintings (to give you a variety to experiment with in class).

-Start designing your composite by sketching ideas. Make quick thumbnail sketches that place your subject in different situations. Look for situations that are interesting in combination with your subject!
-Gather elements. Put together an imagery bank. Gather more than you might use, as some things will inevitably work better than others.
-Make selections and re color (if needed) the parts you are going to use.
-Bring elements together and insert your subject.
-Use techniques covered in class and online to unify the elements and make them appear to be part of the same world.
-Print your image.

 

Notes:

As you collect your paintings, think about both how the physics elements will fit together, but also how the historical contexts will intertwine. When you shoot, your images, capture the whole image, but you can also hold the camera closer to capture higher quality elements that you may use.

The works of art you are collecting from have their own meanings and context. You are creating your own new work from these found elements. What is your work about? What do the things you selected speak to when they are put together? Try to bring your own interests and personality to the work.

 

 

Student work