As for my Photo Diptych assignment, I would like to feature on the painting tools that I used about 5 years ago. I had learned painting when I was a little kid, but I had to give it up in my eighth grade due to the pressure from school. In the years that follow, I have always been missing the Saturday afternoon when I can spend four hours in a row in the studio, creating sketches and gouaches. It is my greatest luck to be able to come to NYUSH and pursue an IMA major, where I can start to create something of my own again. What’s more, I have also cultivated my interest of photography in recent years, and in my opinion the two art forms of photography and painting actually have a lot in common. Both of them aim at recording the objects, either with fidelity or with embellishment. Therefore, when I saw the description of this assignment which requires us to shoot various objects of one theme and manipulate them with Photoshop, the idea of shooting the painting tools that I used jumped into my mind. The process of arranging the positions of each artistic material and collage different photographs together reminds me of my sketch class where I learn to copy a composition of still objects and arrange the gradations of light and shade in a purposeful way. By using this as my content, I am recalling my memories of childhood and relating my previous experiences of drawing with the major that I am pursuing and I love.
When it comes to the conversation between the two pictures, I intend to make the first one a simple photograph I take of the still objects, and the other a collage of my sketches, paintings and the deformation of the drawing tools. I would like to use my own drawing as a substitute for the original materials and use various drawing methods to present the same composition in assorted ways. If things go well, then the second picture will be the painted version of the first one, but the methods of painting vary so that it will look distorted and purposefully processed. The two pictures will also symbolize the two art forms that I love the most: photography and painting, with the first one displaying the former and the second one representing the latter.
In terms of the images that I plan to take photos of, I would like to shoot the composition of the motionless objects from different angles and record my different drawings respectively. At this point I am still not sure whether I should add other things as supplement and decoration of my second picture. Maybe I will include a music score (I had played piano for a couple of years) and some spitballs as well. However, these are all minor elements in my image, and the most important components are no doubt the painting materials and my drawings.
Regarding the photoshop manipulations, I am still in the process of exploring possible tools in the Photoshop that can help me convey my theme better, so at this point I don’t have the exact list of the methods that I want to use. However, one thing for sure is that I plan to collage different pictures I take by a camera together and change their hues. I want to create a feeling of jigsaw puzzle to symbolize the previous art experiences in my life that made me who I am and brought me to where I am today. I will keep learning the photo manipulation methods and keep an eye on what can be used for my own photo diptych.
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