MANIPULATING THE SURFACE

 DISTORTING THE VISUAL FIELD  WHILST KEEPING THE IMAGE INTACT.

I have been preoccupied for a while with the idea that an image can withstand visual interference and still be read, or clearly seen.  In fact, I believed that this visual interference  ( in the form of physical objects -see my large painting with hardwood cubes applied to the surface in my earlier post) would actually create an additional 'supporting' element and afford the viewer another challenge and perhaps another layer of enjoyment. I have pursued this between commissions and other work which has been very enjoyable...but somehow  I felt that this particular set of experiments had to happen; in fact I became completely preoccupied with getting this right.  So here are my attempts at translating several of my images using surface dissonance.  I am happy with the way things are progressing at the moment.

It all started with a large portrait based on a Picasso portrait, to which I added hardwood cubes.

It developed into a more 'literal positioning of the shapes in the next one, a large, quickly painted realistic black and white image.  The results were not as good, but improved hugely in the next interpretation of the same image, where warm colours and larger shapes allowed for more interesting distortion and better light and dark interaction. The latter, however, did not happen immediately. Many variations of the experiment, card construction and more wooden cubic shape arrangements ensued.  These experiments were necessary, but whilst in the middle of doing this work, I really wanted to give up and return to more orthodox painting. I am really glad I did not.

Using a contrasting surface to organise an image. 

Sketch of a scene from 'Psycho' and final outcome.

Experiment using hard wood cubes.

Experiment using numbered card squares.

More experiments...

I started to feel much happier with these images, and the photographs are objects in themselves. This is the final piece based on Obama, with a strong light source. This is the final outcome of the process, and will appear as Giclee prints.  The same with the image below, again, photographed in the optimum position to create an image which has the fixed viewpoint I wanted for these objects. Other views are also good, but I want several of these to exist as fixed views, whilst I work on the lighting for manipulating the appearance of the assemblages.

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