October 13, 2015

Similar to the Painting Studies Process gallery this gallery documents the process of working with digitally altered photographic prints to create larger scale wall pieces, which for lack of a better name I have dubbed 'photographic paintings'. Again, like the painting studies, the origins of the imagery, the photographs, in these pieces is culled from the Twinning and the Self Reflective self portrait photo-explorations created as part of my first year project. Therefore the first work shown here was begun post-first year project and pre-Berlin Summer Residency 2015. 

The idea for the larger scale wall pieces incorporating the imagery from these two photo series first entered my thoughts in March 2015 as I was taking the first photos, had begun playing around with manipulating the images using basic word processing programs on my computer, and was debating what to bring with me to Berlin for the Open Frame Exhibit at Somos.

I knew I wanted to bring work that was different than what I had brought to Winter Residency in that the piece should be big and 'public', as opposed to the smaller, intimate nature of those pieces. But I also did not want to transport anything cumbersome, and did not want to deal with anything too costly.

In April while writing the papers and wrapping up the first year project I had the idea to have one of the images I was working with printed on 4 inch x 6 inch photos by an online photo service such as Snapfish or Shutterfly. My options included having the whole image printed at that scale and then playing with the repetition of the image in the layout. I considered enlarging one of the images I had manipulated using the mirror effect, printing it at the 4 x 6 inch scale and further manipulating the layout per hand. And I also thought about working with the images in black and white, eliminating the weird oranges that are part of the original Twinning photos. I considered doing these things with the Self Reflective series too. And I considered having the images printed on canvas or as posters, but decided I did not want to deal with transporting a tube along with my suitcase.

By early June I began to create a budget and scout the different photo-print services. I was able to inquire of a number of artists working with photography which service they preferred for 'snapshots', and they unanimously recommended Shutterfly. 

During a Skype conversation with Andrew Cooks in late June I mentioned what I was thinking of bringing to Berlin, and where some of my indecision concerning the final piece still lay. Two sparks from this conversation which were flung my way were first, to consider altering the dpi so the image became more pixelated so that the viewers' perceptions is forced to shift when viewing from various distances. The second was to consider working with one of the more representational images as opposed to the more abstract images I had been considering to that point; the argument being that super-pixelating the image would abstract it when viewed at a close range, and bring back into the representational zone when viewed from afar. 

By early July I began working with the first image shown here in the gallery. I updated the copy of Acorn on my computer, and being very unfamiliar with the program I slowly worked my way to enlarging the image to approximately 3 feet x 5 feet, reducing the dpi to 72 dpi, and then manually selecting section by section of the image in a 4 inch x 6 inch photo file. I then ordered matte prints from Shutterfly, two sets. I ordered two sets with the intention of playing with the layout, mirroring in some way the image manually. 

The one difficulty in creating this piece was that I would not be able to hang it prior to installing it at Somos. First, I have no wall space in my studio or home on which I could work. Second, I knew I would use double stick tape to hang each photo at Somos, and the tape is costly and does not remove easily. So, once the package arrived I set about laying the piece out on my living room floor. 

The number I had given each file was printed on the back of the photo, and I had drawn out the rectangles on a page in my notebook; but I still had to sort the photos into the rows and correct order. Pretty difficult considering they all pretty much looked alike. 

After sorting I began laying out; trying out a few options before deciding on the one I would do in Berlin. All the while I carefully photographed the image so I could reference it when installing the piece.

The final preparation for Berlin was to put three to four strips of double stick tape on the back of each print.  A time consuming and mindless task requiring eight rolls of tape, but gave me time to watch films online.

It was nice to be able to take a 5 foot x 6 foot work of art to Berlin in a large envelope in my bag. Despite pre-adhereing the tape to the prints it still took almost two hours to hang the piece, standing on a ladder, pulling off the backing paper and letting it drop to the floor; and hoping that I was hanging it correctly. I did end up hanging it in the horizontal position when I had planned to hang it vertically, but I didn't realize this until I was done.

I had hoped to be able to remove the tape from the back of the prints when I de-installed the work, but then decided it was too tedious and I wanted to get it down as quickly as possible. So I stuck two photos together, back to back. The files remain on Shutterfly, so I can re-create the piece by re-ordering the prints, which are not too expensive. The tape costs more. 

Back in my studio I was left with a pile of matte, flesh-toned, pixelated, double-sided photos sitting on my table [can you spot them in the photo?]. I have begun playing with them, sort of like the Journal Pages and Index.

Using whatever materials I have currently in rotation I paint, draw, stamp, collage and stitch on the photos.

Coming back from Germany I wanted to play around some more with these ideas, but the difficulties of a painter with a wall-less studio were becoming more apparent. I have considered trying to find a few others interested in renting a 'clean' studio space, where works can be installed and worked on more conceptually. But that costs money. And I wanted to start sooner rather than later. This past spring I had considered having baffle walls built for the greenhouse space. This idea seems more practical at the moment, so in September I had one wall built. It is 4 foot by 8 foot, double-sided on wheels. I will have a second wall built, hopefully before winter. The cost is material, and a Little Sumpin' for the builder.

With my wall built I was ready to begin work on my next images. 

I have been invited to be in an exhibition in March 2016 at the University of Rhode Island Providence campus gallery. The exhibition theme is loosely organized around women artists working with concepts surrounding feminism today.  The work I have proposed to exhibit will be exhibited under the name of my alter ego, Melusine van der Weyden. The works will be [self] portraits of the artist, Robyn Thomas, by Melusine. 

As a result of the conversation I had with the curator of that gallery/exhibition in regards to instances of censorship surrounding the depiction of female body parts by members of the community, I decided the first of the Twinning images I would play around with depicts a nipple/breast. I don't know if I will use this image, abstracted, but it was the impetus to start with it. I like the idea of a subtle attack with what some people might find offensive; I do this with playlists of songs some times, harmless in hearing, but read the list of titles together and you have a bit of risqué poetry. Why not try the same thing with an image, I thought.

I took the same approach with this image as with the first, using Acorn to manipulate. This one I reduced the dpi to 24 dpi. The original image I altered using mirror effects before chopping up into 4 inch x 6 inch photos. I ordered two sets from Shutterfly.

And I took one of the photos that was a section of nipple and made it my Facebook profile picture to spite Facebook's ban on nude photos/women's nipples and breasts. And I took the mirrored breast image and made it my Facebook cover photo. Despite labeling what the images are in the comments sections, Facebook has not caught on and taken the images down.

I also played around with one of the Self Reflective images and ordered a couple of sets from Shutterfly as well.

The box of 610 photos arrived the other day. More to come next month...

October 23, 2015

"Good things come in orange packages."

The next batch of images I've posted as fodder for feedback from my Crit Group. I've begun the next steps in the process of working with the 4 inch x 6 inch matte photos I ordered from Shutterfly which were the final images posted in this gallery on October 13.

The first step in working with these images was to sort them out. I ordered two sets of the Twinning and the Self Reflective image I had selected to work with. On the back of each photo Shutterfly prints the file name I had given each image...but they do not package them in any particular order which I have been able to decipher! So, when in the throws of a migraine the creative juices refuse to flow...there is always busy work to be done, such as sorting photos in bed.

As the sumatriptan began to do its job, I sorted and studied the prints. I noticed the variety of colors that was much greater in the printed version than on my computer screen. I also noticed how some prints had much more precise pixelation than others. Were the blurred pixels due to the original photos, or the manipulation of the image in Acron? Or was it something that was happening in the sections of the body reflected in the mirror? Or, gasp, was it something on my skin? Should I head to the dermatologist soon for a closer examination of any potential pre-cancerous cells?

What I did find was I responded more to the slightly blurred pixelation more than to the hard, precise pixelation...those seemed too 'vogue'; and they reminded me more of the cult of 'Minecraft' my kids have joined, which is not a direction I want to go. I think following this pixelation would lead in that direction of association for too many at this particular time, so I'll need to poke my nose down other paths for now.

I ordered double prints with the intention of working with the dual image, similar to the piece I made for Berlin. But as I sorted the photos I started to look at them in pairs, noticing the relationships and images that developed. This isn't mirroring. I did consider mirroring the image in Acorn and ordering another set. I still might do that, eventually. 

For now I will start with hanging the pairs on the 'new wall' and photographing various configurations...and I'll go from there.

But first, back in the studio I played with a third image I sent off to Shutterfly for printing. This image I did not post on October 13. I have been photographing my eyes and mouth, playing with the act of expression in each photo. In Acorn I merged different eyes and mouths, eliminating the nose and other facial features. Creepy. I also enlarged and played a bit with the pixelation, but I did not want to abstract the image to the point of becoming non-representational. Instead I wanted a slight blurring. I ordered 100 4 inch x 6 inch matte prints of this single image with the intention to play with the formal configuration of the painting at 40 x 60 inches.

And that is what I did first when I got to the wall.

This was one, straight three hour studio session. More of quick sketching with the photos rather than a careful deliberation. I photographed each step along the way, at varying distances. I did it all under natural light, therefore the light changes as the image is hung in one configuration, slightly altered [can you find it?] and taken apart again.

The next day I tackled the first row of prints from the Twinning derived image. Again, I worked straight through, in natural light, and photographed each step along the way.  I studied the relationships created by the various types and colors of the pixelation while contemplating how this might develop, both as a work that is a photo-paintings, and as it might inform painting in other media [see http://www.robynthomas-explorations.com/m505-m506-painting-studies-process].

At this point I have worked my way through the first two rows of the image. I have not tried putting together the image in its entirety; nor have I began working with the Self Reflective image. More to come in a couple of weeks....

November 14, 2015

Breast is best.

Although I did play around some more with pairing and photographing the individual pixelated photo-paintings as sources for inspiration, I decided to post no more of these here. They are very repetitive when looked at on the screen, and really more interesting in the moment they are combined.

Instead I finally got around to laying out all the 4 inch x 6 inch photos to form the image I had created using Acorn on my laptop.

When I first hung half of the image [I doubled the order of prints to combine manually the larger image] I found that the labeling on the photos was off, the tape would not hold the photos to the wall, and it was hard to visualize the piece with only half of it present. So I took the photos to a space where I could lay them out on the floor.

The resulting piece has an overall size of 40 inches x 126 inches, or 1 meter by 3 meters 15 cm. My intention is to include it in the exhibition I've been asked to contribute to at the University of Rhode Island Providence Campus gallery in March 2016.

I am still debating mounting options both technically and conceptually. Possibilities abound.

I would like to do a 'full scale' mock up using this trial set of prints, possibly mounted onto sheets of foam core. This mock up I would like to bring to Winter Residency in January.