Trip to: Tate Modern and Victoria & Albert Museum

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TATE MODERN
On the first stop on the trip, we visitied the Tate Modern Gallery, where we observed many photographs, sculptures and paintings in numerous rooms such as; States of Flux, Poetry and Dreams and Documentary. The aim of this trip was to find external artists to respond to for our assignment of constructed imagery. I found the artist Shikanosuke Yagaki's 'street lamp with shadow' 1930-1939 interesting because of the composition and lighting of the photograph.  
"Shikanosuke Yagaki was an active member of many of the amateur photography clubs flourishing in Japan in the 1930s, including the Sanwa Bank Photo Club, the Karashishi-kai Photo Group, and the Kyoto Leica Club and his work was widely exhibited. Despite a lack of professional training, Yagaki developed a sophisticated style which combined the influence of European modernism with typical Japanese subjects. His work shows a great understanding of the camera’s potential, playing with movement, perspective, light and shadow." 

http://www.tate.org.uk/servlet/ViewWork?cgroupid=999999961&workid=112702&searchid=12545

In the second room we visited was "State's of Flux", where I found a second artist I was interested in. Sanja Ivekovic, born in Croatia in 1949, Ivekovic's work 'Double Life' uses images from a magazine alongside a photograph. Her work depicts the impact of the media on women's lives and how it affects them internally as well as externally.

"In each of these works an image from a women’s fashion magazine is framed alongside a photograph of the artist. Her actions and poses appear to mimic those in the found magazine pages, but the photographs are in fact pictures that existed in Ivekovic’s personal collection, often taken months or even years before the magazines were published. Part of a series called Double Life, originally published as an artist’s book, these works suggest the impact of media imagery on women’s lives while also highlighting the disparity between such images and the everyday."

http://www.tate.org.uk/servlet/ViewWork?cgroupid=999999875&workid=96909&searchid=12681 

VICTORIA & ALBERT MUSEUM

Our second visit was to the Victoria & Albert (V&A) Museum in South Kensington. Unfortunatley, we were not able to visit all of the exhibitions, however, we were able to see the exhibitions on 'Architecture' and some areas of 'Photography'. I noted down the photographer Sarah Jones and her image of 'The Dining Room (Francis place II) 1997'. This photograph is carefully staged to present the relationship between the viewer and the subject. The three teenage girls seem to be in a dining room with unusual postures and expressions, which possibly have a significance with the objects in the room, such as the ceramic dish in the centre of the table, left to interpretation. 
 

Collage of Constructed Imagery

This is my collage demonstrating one way of constructing a photograph. I incorporated real life events into the composition, which in this case was the 2011 riots that spread across the nation. The background image is a photograph of an art piece by the mysterious London graffiti artist 'Banksy' in the collection called 'Outdoors'. I chose to use this artist because his works portray a dark humour and create controversy among many due to his "political and social" commentary. I chose this photograph because it can have various interpretations, for instance, I added some CCTV photographs of people involved in the riots to show that the camera has caught them. Furthermore, the caption on the photograph: "WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING AT?" is a common phrase amongst many teenagers, implying they are saying this into the camera and to the viewer.

Artist Research

Brittany DeWester 

Brittany DeWester is one of the artists that I am going to respond to for my Idea One. I have chosen to use this artist because this collection of her work portrays a metaphorical image of fantasy. The photographer has portrayed the theme of 'Fairytales' in these photographs which is shown through the use of shadows. What Brittany DeWester has done is directed a model (herself) to dress up as a popular fairytale character and then created the shadow of a relating character. For example, the first photograph is of the character Alice in the storybook 'Alice in Wonderland' but the shadow is of the White Rabbit, who is also in the novel but is not the reality. This gives the visual message to the viewer that the girl is not happy with her reality and wants to be in the fantasy, which is predominately shown through the expression on the model's face,which is melanchonic.

Teun Hocks

A second artist that I am going to incorporate is Teun Hocks, an artist from The Netherlands, who, along with Brittany DeWester also uses the concept of shadows. This photograph is considerably older than DeWester's image, so it can be argued that this was her inspiration as a photographer. Hocks' image has a more mature theme than DeWester as both are playful but Teun Hocks has a deeper meaning behind his work. For instance, these two photographs depict the reality of the man via the shadow, which shows that people are not at all what they seem.

  Jennifer Zwick

Finally, I will be responding to Jennifer Zwick, whose photographs represent childhood dreams and fantasies. Her constructed-narratives are meant to symbolise short stories, which focuses on young girls in a troubled world. Jennifer's inspiration was from her own childhood fantasies and memories, which she then constructed into a life-sized environment. She has used the girls as metaphors for not only her own childhood self but for the viewers also. 

Brief

In Unit 3: Constructed Imagery, I am planning on portraying the theme of 'Fantasy vs. Reality'. This being the concept of children, adults etc. in the form of a dream-like state. I will present the theme of 'Constructed Imagery' in many ways such as; shadows, reflections and layering. I will include many artists such as; Teun Hocks, Brittany DeWester and Jennifer Zwick. The photographs that I will be using from Teun Hocks and Brittany DeWester, are images that focus on the concept of shadows, which I will incorporate this into my photographs. Jennifer Zwick, however, uses the idea of childhood dreams and fantasies by constructing them into real photographs. She portrays her models as metaphors of her inner-child and possibly relating them to the inner-child in everyone. I will incorporate and respond to these artists initially and then expand my artists as I develop my ideas.

Definition of 'Constructed Imagery'

The definition of 'Constructed' is to build or form something by putting parts together. It could be an image, idea, or a theory, especially a complex one formed from a number of simpler elements.

'Imagery' is defined as the formation of mental images, figures, the likenesses of things, or of such images collectively: the dim imagery of a dream. It can also be depicted as pictorial images or the use of rhetorical images.

 

I think 'Constructed Imagery' is about building your own world by creating your own photograph which you have constructed. This can sometimes mean focusing on the narrative structure of the photograph to portray the correct visual message to the viewer. 

UNIT 3: CONSTRUCTED IMAGERY

Evaluation of Final Pieces

Overall, I think that my final pieces were successful in relation to my two artists; Bill Brandt and Robert Frank because the consistent theme of the foundations of architecture was portrayed in the form of contemporary and modern. Also, Robert Frank's image uses the rule of thirds, which sections the photograph into the different perspectives. My first image, in response to Robert Frank is successful in terms of ideas, however, I think the composition of the photograph could have been more effective if the rule of thirds was also applied. This photograph shows modern architecture because it uses colour and it is also traditional using aspects of black and white. This photograph emphasises line as an element of composition, which makes the viewer look through the horizontal and vertical lines, as a grid.

My second photograph, a response to Bill Brandt is successful because it emphasises the construction of the building i.e. where it joins together at a vanishing point. It is also a successful image because it represents architecture's foundations. On the other hand, to improve I could have composed the image better and possible created some shadows to create more depth in the image.
In order to improve my overall final pieces, I think that I could have stuck to the idea more, and also created other variations of themes and ideas.