1/17/07: Source Photographs

I've never taken a good photo in my life, so you're stuck with these.

Project 1 Research

So I thought that I'd start off this project with a fairly standard style self portrait, supposedly, done by Man ray. The composition is the standard slightly off center, eyes to the left self portrait that pretty much every art student is at some time required to do of themselves, while the use of muted golds and greens of the face are for the most part the only outstanding focal points in the entire piece.
The process and execution of the self portrait is a time old tradition for the artist. Why you may ask? It's very simple, it's done mostly because it's a cheap and readily available model that never complains and does exactly as it's told. But on a more complex level it is proof that an artist existed as an artist. Considering that most famous artists never lived to see the peeks of their careers, the self
portrait is often times seen as homage to oneself that allows that artist to identify himself and his work with every stroke of their brush.






This image By an unknown artist, found on a quick Google search on the subject "self portraits", produces an eerie sentiment with its use of sickly yellows and twisting features. The concept for this derived from the writings of H.P. Lovecraft's 'the Yellow Sign' further raises the questions of identification and identity within the realm of cyberspace.
The concept of identity is an ever changing notion in today's world, and never more so than in today's cyber world. As addressed in the article, 'Body and Identity', the world of cyberspace allows one to constantly change and recreate ones self image with a few clicks from a mouse. In cyber space ones identity is not limited to what you have, but instead with what you choose to represent yourself with. As such when a person chooses an image or symbol to represent them, they allow others to see more deeply into their personal psyche and further extrapolate the identity of the user, while still keeping a distance. For what ever reason this person chooses to represent them self with this "Yellow Sign", mental identity was clearly at the forefront of this person's mind.








Georgia Totto O'Keeffe was born in a farmhouse on a large dairy farm outside of Sun Prairie, Wisconsin on November 15, 1887. Her use of abstract and color is known far and wide so I'll refrane from juevinile observations on the formal qualities of her work.


"... If I could paint the flower exactly as I see it no one would see what I see..."

The peception of the world around you let's you acknowlege the identity of yourself and others and inturn allows you communcate that identity and perception. O'Keefe's painting allowed the world to see, not only what but how, she saw things and thus allowed us to
further our understanding of her identity.










Refrances:
http://www.manraytrust.com/
http://www.manray-photo.com/
http://www.ellensplace.net/okeeffe1.html
http://www.artcyclopedia.com/artists/okeeffe_georgia.html
http://www.google.com/

...And Done.

Yippy, the first post.