My concept is inspired, in part, by photos of Abstract Expressionist painters from the mid 1900s. Because these painters heavily emphasized the idea of process and the “individual mark” there are many photos documenting them at work, creating colorful and extraordinarily individual paintings. Unlike artists of other periods, many Abstract Expressionists were incredibly famous during their lifetimes, and the movement itself gained a lot of momentum in the States. So, these documentary photos weren’t just some pictures taken by family members or friends for the sake of preserving personal memories, but by giants like LIFE magazine, etc. These images are well known, even iconic.
When considering ideas for Project1, I thought that it would be interesting to take this iconic image of the American artist and subvert it, in a way, by removing the “individual mark” and replacing it with the sterile and pristine. Rather than photograph an artist at work on their painting, I will photograph the process of sealing a canvas with gesso. Gesso is just the preliminary stage of painting. It is not considered art, and it certainly does not contain any information regarding the personal, or even the creative. It is perfect. White. Smooth. The total antithesis of the individuality of the artist and marks signifying the artistic process of painting.
I plan to photograph an individual in the process of applying gesso to a canvas for the shutter image, showing the motion of the individual while keeping the canvas itself in focus. In the aperture image, I will photograph the totally white canvas, making the already large feel GIGANTIC. It will also display a shallow depth of field. I’m excited to play around with lighting and perspective.