WEEK2 | Digital Media Produc

Gyo

Week 2

Photography Post Production

(2024 MOD009753 TRI2 F01CAM)

Beyond Representation - Experimental Imaging

Unfortuantely I wasn't in week 2 lesson as I couldn't make it but after asking classmates about any notes they have written and also reading Week 2 canvas page, I somewhat understood what the lesson was on and what the tasks we were given was.

I have started by looking through and researching all the artists given and their abstract works.

Artist #1:

Mark Rothko

As written on wikipedia, "Mark Rothko was a Russian-American abstract painter. He is best known for his color field paintings that depicted irregular and painterly rectangular regions of color, which he produced from 1949 to 1970. "

Personally after looking at multiple paintings of his, the one that very much made me feel an emotion or some sort of feeling is No. 10 from 1958.

The artwork makes me feel a sense of comfort yet uncertainty. The Different hues of brownish-orange make it seem as if we are looking at the bottom of a wall where the bright orange wall meets the darker floor. The vignette around the piece also give it a tight feeling. Personally it resonated with me a lot.

Artist #2:

Alma Thomas

As per wikipedia she was "an African-American artist and Art teacher who lived and worked in Washington, D.C., and is now recognized as a major American painter of the 20th century."

Personally I found her artwork extremely interesting and vibey. Giving a feeling of happiness I would say.

My favorite artwork of hers is Untitled (Abstract Comp.),1971.

To me the red shape in the dark blue background reminds me of how the sun breaks the dark sky when it rises. It's very calming with a sense of hope, although red is a color used to symbolize blood, pain and war; here it seems more of another hope for a better day in the dark blue background surrounding it, like a light in the dark. This artwork is something I would love to one day own in my own home.

The last artist that I will showcase from the list given is none other than...

Artist #3

Julie Mehretu

She is an Ethiopian-American artist, that creates a lot of her works in multiple layers (as per wikipedia).

My favorite work of hers which is honestly so just impressive, is Stadia II from 2004

An amazing piece of art that's so astonishingly mind-blowing; using multiple dimensions (2D,3D) to showcase what seems like to be a spiral. To the untrained eye it seems like a bunch of dirty scribles but looking more into it, it actually looks like the untextured part of a map in a videogame(usually looks like this from underneath the ground)

An example of what I mean from the game Grand Theft Auto V (2013)

The artwork is amazing and just so impressive with the multi-angles it uses and the use of both shades and colors to showcase and create a sort of direction/ grid.

After looking into these artists I decided to do my own research into some more modern abstract artistical movements, out of which I have found one.

Neo-Expressionism Revival:

As per wikipedia this movement "dominated the art market until the mid-1980s. The style emerged internationally and was viewed by many critics, such as Achille Bonito Oliva and Donald Kuspit, as a revival of traditional themes of self-expression in European art after decades of American dominance."

This movement includes amazing artist such as my favorite artist ever Jean-Michel Basquiat and Eric Fischl.

Untitled (1982, skull painting)

Glenn (1984)

The paintings above were created by Basquiat, those are one of my favorite paintings ever created including "Riding with Death" and "Crown".

Looking back a few years ago I actually studied Basquiat for my Arts course in Sixth Form College, where I learned a lot about the artist, his history and passion for painting and creation.

His creativity often drew from daily life, experiences and the way he grew up.

Using his ideas I decided to take my own abstract photos, which I have showcased below.

I unfortunately didn't know how abstract to take them so I just took some photos of myself to use as a character/silouette and the rest of them are just photos I have thought look interesting or something liminal like the corridor picture.

Here I have used the photo of the banner I have taken as a background

I have then used the photo of the corridor erased most of it and kept the lights on the cieling

I have then searched through the layer blend mode until I found one that looks good with the background

I have then added the photo of me, chaning the blend mode on it aswell and putting it to Lighten.

I have continued to play with settings adding different filters and adjustments, using the brush tool to create shapes, add color and make it pop a lot more

Finally I have made the background black , and added the word Pop underlined by a snake, thus giving the idea this is modern " Pop" art when in reality it was heavily inspired by the Neo-Expressionism Revival.

Pop - by Gyo (2025) //

Personally I feel quite content with the outcome of the piece, I think it's very colorful and fun yet the photo of me looks quite scary making it a combination of feelings and emotions. Very satisfied with it.