First things first: Photoshop tutorials
Deke McClelland's Photoshop CS5 (one-on-one) video lesson tutorials:
+++++
So, here are few things to think about when taking images from the web (or anywhere for that matter) when making art:
Copying and Changing the Source Image
Reproducibility is a central trait of digital media. Unlike older "analogue"
mediums of mass production such as print-making (lithographs, silk
screen, etching, etc), vinyl records, cassette tapes, videotapes,
printing and publishing books, or even photographic prints, digital
technologies allow us to make an exact replica of something, or at least an exact replica of it's appearance. If the original is a one-of-a-kind object, like a painting,
then the replica is merely a "reproduction". But with certain media,
such as photography and music, it is difficult or nearly impossible to
discern the difference between a "copy" and an "original" - in other
words, there can be multiple copies, each of which is equally an
instance of the work.
This is true for digital photograph
files, CDs, MP3s, DVDs, and all web media. From sampling to mashups,
collage to subvertisements, contemporary artists, designers and content
creators use and re-purpose pre-existing works as source material for the creation of new works, using digital technologies. If these works truly transform their source material, which often includes parts of copyrighted works,
they are considered new and "original". In the digital age, new works
are often created when more than one existing work is recombined in a
new way, providing new visual relationships and new ideas.
Copyrighted content can be used in a new work of art because such creative use falls into the category of "fair use".
Under the fair use portion of copyright law, limited copyrighted
material can be used for transformative purposes (creating a new work of
art) as well as for closely commenting upon, criticizing, or parodying
the source material.
 |
| Andy Warhol |
Appropriation is a word that is used by media artists to describe the visual or rhetorical action of taking over the meaning of something that already exists and
is already known, by way of visual reference.
For example, Andy Warhol
famously appropriated the Campbell’s soup can's appearance to make large,
iconic silkscreen prints. Warhol’s soup cans are an interpretation of
the physical object. The visual reference to the original soup can
is important, as the viewer needs this information in order to
understand what meanings the new work might convey (this could range from a feeling associated with a popular American icon of comfort food, to repulsion at
the commodification of domestic life). By transforming the size
and graphic palette of the soup cans, as well as the context in which the viewer will encounter them (an art gallery as opposed to a
grocery store), an advertizing logo and its significance as a cultural artifact become are called into question.
In art as well as design, the interpretation of the viewer is what "completes" the work.
A few images and artists to consider:
 |
John Heartfield (1891-1968) Front Cover, photo montage.
John Heartfield
originally produced photomontages for Arbeiter Illustreite Zeitung
(AIZ) in Germany. Heartfield (born Helmut Herzfeld; 19 June 1891 – 26
April 1968) was a pioneer in the use of art as a political weapon. His
photomontages were anti-Nazi anti-Fascist statements. Heartfield also
created book jackets for authors such as Upton Sinclair, as well as stage sets for such noted playwrights as Bertolt Brecht and Erwin Piscator. |
|
 |
'L'Egypte de Mlle
Cleo de Merode cours elementaire d'histoire naturelle' by Joseph
Cornell (1940).
Joseph Cornell (December 24, 1903 – December 29, 1972)
worked almost exclusively in the art of assemblage. He called his works
boxes, and they contained found objects, which Cornell usually found in
used bookstores and junk shops. |
 |
RAUSCHENBERG,
Robert: Retroactive I, 1964, Oil and silkscreen ink on canvas. 84 x 60
in. (213.4 x 152.4 cm). Wadsworth Athenuem, Hartford, Connecticut.
Robert Rauschenberg (October 22, 1925 – May 12, 2008) was an American
artist who came to prominence in the 1950s transition from Abstract
Expressionism to Pop Art. Rauschenberg is well-known for his "Combines"
of the 1950s, in which non-traditional materials and objects were
employed in innovative combinations. |
|
|
 |
James Rosenquist
(born November 29, 1933), I Love You with My Ford, 1961. Oil on canvas, 6
feet 10 3/4 inches x 7 feet 9 1/2 inches. Moderna Museet, Stockholm. ©
James Rosenquist/Licensed by VAGA, New York.
Rosenquist has said the
following about his involvement in the Pop Art movement: "They(art
critics) called me a Pop artist because I used recognizable imagery. The
critics like to group people together. I didn't meet Andy Warhol until
1964. I did not really know Andy or Roy Lichtenstein that well. We all
emerged separately."
His specialty is taking fragmented, oddly disproportionate images and
combining, overlapping, and putting them on canvases to create visual
stories. This can leave some viewers breathless yet others confused,
making them consider even the most familiar objects (a U-Haul trailer,
or a box of Oxydol detergent, etc.) in more abstract and provocative
ways. |
|
 |
Title:
You Are Not Yourself
Medium: Photo collage
Size: 182.9 x 121.9 cm
|
Kruger is a conceptual artist and film critic. She received her
education from Syracuse University, Parsons School of Design, and the
School of Visual Arts in New York. Early in her art career, she was a
graphic designer, art director, and picture editor in the art
departments at Mademoiselle, House and Garden, and other
publications. This greatly influenced her later work as an artist. Her
highly recognized style combines images and text addressing cultural
representations of power, identity, and sexuality while challenging
stereotypes and clichés.
