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Chapter 3 |
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Reading: Read the section The Idea of the Beautiful, which describes the manner in which art can represent other truths and realities than those that seem immediately evident.
Premise: To create a self-portrait that describes your outward appearance, and transforms itself to reveal your "inner self." This self-portrait could executed using one of several techniques—digital imaging, color photocopy, or even collage. The final product might take the form of a greeting card, a mini-altar-to-yourself, or just a basic transformation self-portrait. Ultimately, you may learn something about yourself doing it! Matthias Grünewald's depiction of Christ on the cross (Isenheim Altarpiece,) is horrifying. It seems a very real depiction of death, arrived at in part from Grünewald's studies of the terminally ill. In the transformation image (not shown in your book), revealed after the altarpiece doors are opened, Christ stands in a triumphant glory, His body has been transformed into a "pure unblemished white, His hair and beard are gold, and His wounds are rubies." To view both images, visit the essay on Grünewald's Crucifixion at the WebMuseum in Paris
The idea of transformation is an element within many cultures. In our own culture, we admire the fundamental notion of transformation from bad to good, from poor to rich, etc.. Cinderella seems a classic example, but we have many such stories throughout our history. Sylvester Stallone's Rocky is an example! All cultures have their phoenix rising from the ashes.
Native Americans of the Northwest Coast, among them the Nuxalt, were masters of representing transformation through ceremonial masks. These "transformation masks," which, in closed position, often depicted an animal image, physically opened up to reveal the mask wearer's "human spirit." In this project, you are going to create a very simple, yet amazingly revealing "transformation self-portrait!"
Time required to do this project: Allow two to four hours, not including time to acquire the self-portrait photo. It will take about the same amount of time regardless if you work digitally or with the traditional mechanical or "cut-and-paste" process. You can speed this part up with a digital camera. Using a scanner and a graphics program may allow for a more complex product, but there are some excellent examples that have been created just using magazine photos and photocopies. Because there is so much variance between graphics programs, scanners, and computers, the directions to this project will focus on the mechanical approach.
*Materials: A photograph of yourself; rubber cement, scissors, and access to a photocopier.
How to start : Begin with an original photograph of you. It should be a close-up of your face. You will either need to scan it on a flatbed scanner (most colleges or universities have a computer graphics lab) or, if you choose not to work with the computer, take it to a photocopy shop and enlarge it on a copy machine. Color is fine, just more expensive. Enlarge the photo so that it is at least 7 inches wide, and make two copies. Trim the images on a paper cutter to exactly 7 inches wide by 8 1/2 inches high (Ted Marshall's portrait was taken with a digital camera and downloaded directly to the computer).
Center the image directly in the middle of an 8 1/2" by 14" (legal size) paper. Make at least two copies.
Place the first two legal copies with the face in the center back into the copy machine paper tray. You want to copy the split images on the other side of the centered image, so that when folded, like the image above, the split images will cover the inside center image. This is where I usually call for a copy machine "technician."
The inside face is the face that you will modify by adding a number of personal elements or icons. These elements might be elements that you've cut from other photographs, or found in magazines. You may have to adjust the size of them using the copy machine in order for them to fit. They can be glued directly onto the inside face. I can't tell you where to place them, you'll have to use your imagination.
The transformation should be readily apparent. When you close the two outer folds over the inside portrait, you should see your original copy with just a seam down the center. When you open it up, you should see your "inner" self.
I am always looking for work to add to this site. If you develop a series of abstractions that you think are exceptional, I would like to see them. Send them to John Maul as GIF file attachments. Dr. Sayre and I will review them, and select one or two for inclusion in this site. Permissions to publish are requested for one year, and there is no monetary or other compensation offered to student artists who submit.
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