How and why have a number of different artists expressed their own vision of a ‘surreal’ reality using a combination of a single protagonist and elements of digital editing? protagonist prəәˈtaɡ(əә)nɪst/ noun noun: protagonist; plural noun: protagonists 1. the leading character or one of the major characters in a play, film, novel, etc. As above the definition of a protagonist is the major character in a play or novel or narrative.Throughout recent decades the development of photos, photography and image itself has been outstanding with new, creative ways of creating art work and photographic imagery. Artists have found a new and expressive way of encapsulating their own vision through their work. The role of a single or leading protagonist in a piece of creative work is very important because the character then develops a time line, a story of what they are like. For example, it allows a reader to use their imagination and create what they think the lead character in a book is like. Throughout the 18th & 19th Centuries, the painted portrait was very popular, an older and definitely richer demographic would have had a portrait painted, specifically royalty. Having a portrait painted and hung in the halls was a very prestigious act and would state family records or remembrance. Over time, however, it became more common for middle-class patrons to have portraits of their families and colleagues painted. The image usually featured a single person or persons in the centre of the frame with a particular background or setting. Where the face and its expression is predominant. The later painted portraits started to focus on displaying the personality, and even the mood of the sitter. Towards the end of the 19th Century, artists such as Vincent Van Gough became experimental, breaking down and deconstructing the established rules of portraiture. Pablo Picasso in particular, pushed portraiture in new and different directions at the beginning of the 20th century, focusing on capturing the different planes and angles of a face. However, due to developing times and technology, after being introduced on software such as Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator, digital editing has been able to open up doors and endless possibility that artists have grasped and used to their full ability creating unique work that sets them aside from conventional artists and their art and work, this can be anything from marketing art to portraits and own creations. Surrealism is a 20th-century movement in art and literature which thought to release the creative potential of the unconscious mind, for example by the irrational juxtaposition of images. Surrealism has allowed creator’s a route into the ability for endless potential, for example, to be able to create a mystical art work with narrative within, this could consist from shapes and backdrops or being able to create strange creatures from everyday objects and developed painting techniques within the hidden image. Brian Oldham was born in 1993 in Los Angeles. Oldham is currently a designer and photographer who focuses on images of landscapes and natural environments. On his website he says: ‘‘I make art to replace the words I cannot fathom; each thread holding a love for all things strange and beautiful. I strive to bring life to the quiet whispers at the back of my mind, to make whole the ghosts of my experiences.’’ (quotation from Oldham’s personal website) . A large majority of his work features a protagonist prominently within the image which seems to holds the viewers’ focus.
During his teenage years, he was always interested in art but he hadn’t found a creative outlet that fitted his interest, then. one day he was searching on-line and came across Rosie Hardy’s Flickr Stream, and it was at that moment that he discovered what fitted for him, he wanted to create work that spoke to people in a way that her work did: “When I began this project, all I really knew about photography was what button to press to take a photo! This project has forced me to improve, and with time I have started to get a feel for my style.” Oldham also said that he was influenced by another ‘creative teen’: “I have no idea how he produces such amazing images day after day, but his work continues to inspire me.’’ It is fair to say that Oldham is able to create detailed narrative in his work through the inclusion of a single protagonist because he has the ability to rule out emotions that aren't clearly expressed, however this can be found when his work is looked at in depth. Oldham stated that he wants his art to replace words that he himself cannot fathom and he wants his work to express emotions and words that people can’t put together, because Oldham’s work portrays a sense of mystery it prevents the viewer from having a clear understanding of what he's trying to tell in the piece of work as there is also no clear beginning or ending to the narrative. Oldham has been able to achieve a surreal reality in his work through his isolated section of images. The image above in particular has achieved this because if raises questions that can’t be answered, Who is the character? why are they there?, how do they feel ? why is it so bleak ? where is the emotion? Fabienne Rivory was born in France and she creates artwork by blending elements of photography and paint and she has been doing this work since 2007. Her paintings in the series ‘Miroir’ ( https://www.ignant.com/2013/10/22/miroir-by-fabienne-rivory/ ) are created with either watercolour or inks that are then digitally combined with her photographs which provide a specific feel and effect. In an interview, Rivory said: “Photography is the beginning of my work; I like the idea that it restores a minuscule, fugitive moment of our life. Intrusion of paint in these frozen memories allows me to shift them in a more subjective and dreamy way. It also brings vibrancy, spontaneity and randomness to raw photographs” Rivory has always had an interest in creating pieces of work that portrays a specific narrative which will encapsulate a specific
scenery. Rivory also tries to include and enlighten a brief emotion that some people might experience in front of a natural environment: “Through my images I try to recreate a momentary emotion that anyone can feel in front of nature’s beauty: a particular architectural shape, a landscape passing by, or the silhouette of a beloved one.” Rivory always includes a strong contrasting colour which compliments the monochrome photograph and achieves an aesthetically pleasing result. As well as this, the watercolours seems to create a sense of unity to the set of images within this series of work, which presents the work together as one frozen image in life and creates a dreamy, yet vibrant expressive sense to her images. Rivory has been able to achieve a surreal reality within her work through the use of the single protagonist’s within her work because of the setting in which they are set. The emptiness of the backdrops develop a narrative and surreal reality in which divides the image completely. The use of the bright water colours in her work separates the image and creates a separated reality. For example, in her ‘Miroir’ series the bottom half of the image is the sky and the top half is an image of a beach with the protagonist in it, and this creates a narrative and allows the viewer to tell a story through Rivory’s achieved surreal reality. Kyle Thompson was born in 1992 in Chicago. He began taking photographs at the age of nineteen after becoming interested in nearby abandoned houses. A large percentage of his work is situated in empty forests and desolate houses. It can be argued that Thompson’s work goes beyond a typical narrative themes, transporting viewers into a personal moment in a natural environment. He wants to create ‘surreal moments’ that produces an image with no beginning or end. Thompson was self-taught and began taking self-portraits on his own so he wouldn't have to ask any favours of people when he wasn't sure how the images would turn out. Thompson quotes ‘’there’s definitely an inherent beauty in emptiness”. Thompson has a prominent interest in the beauty of a natural environment, all of his work is featured in an abandoned forest or location with no defined beginning or ending which allows the viewer to create their own stories in his work. Due to how Thompson uses blank environments and backgrounds in his work he is able to create the ‘ surreal moments ‘ that he aimed to achieve. As he keeps the focus of the image in the foreground in easy sight he is able to add effects and objects to create the surrealism within the piece. In the example above, narrative and surrealism is apparent because its views different perspectives with to how the character may be feeling and allows the viewer to create their own narrative and offers questions to what might be going on in the image. It reveals several questions such as, why is the character there ? are they hurting because of the colour splat across the protagonists face? Because the piece offers questions its able to encapsulate the surreal moment in time that couldn't be offered in any other piece.
Conclusion Question: Has the availability of digital editing software now diluted the once special qualities that hand-produced surreal images had by simply ‘swamping the market’ with too many images of this nature? As editing software is so easily accessible in today’s world, everyone from all age demographics are able to create artistic work with their own twist through Photoshop. Where only a special select few had the skills to be able to create their own art work with extended surreal realities within them its now simple for other people to do so with simple instruction. Due to the overwhelming change that everyone has the ability to do this, it has somewhat removed the special qualities found in hand produced work as its now so commonly found. In my opinion, although that it is now so frequent to find surreal images, I believe that it has allowed more artists to embrace what they love to create as it opens up doors to young artists as digital editing software allows endless possibilities. ‘Swamping the market‘ may be considered an exaggeration, however I believe that this term is true in some instances. In the professional editing world, there are so many pieces that may all feature the same qualities and this doesn't separate one artist form the other, for example many artists are using the same techniques to develop a similar outcome to one another or to encapsulate the same effect. Despite the fact that in some cases the market has been swamped by work of this nature, I think that it still embraces and shows each individual perspective on different work. Although pieces in rare cases look similar, select artists will have a different twist or narrative setting to a piece of work. This then changes the fact that work may look similar due to the difference in the interpretation of the piece and each artist will have different inspiration to how they created their work. Not only is digital editing common with artists, but recently has become popular with non artists, specifically with social media creators and Youtubers. Photographers on Instagram for example have been able to edit their own photos to be able to create a surreal reality. This Social Media Creator and Photographer ‘ Taylor Cut Films’ takes photos on outings and then edits them together to create a surreal reality, this example on the left hand side has created a land and space that can’t seem to be put together, something that is magical and mystical. Despite having contrasting themes to my 3 selected artists Taylor is able to encapsulate a surreal reality through the use of digital editing and in my opinion its amazing and incredibly gripping as its something that hasn't been seen before, this shows the different and creative abilities of different artists and how that digital softwares are used in today’s age and it is forever developing and allowing artists to create. The three chosen artists that I selected inspired me in different individual ways, for example Oldham inspired me through the use of subdued colours, his Horizon piece looks soft and dark, something in which would make the protagonist feel lonely. In the piece there is empty space and perspective in the background as it looks like its getting further away. I wanted to be able to emulate the lonely, abandoned emotion within my own piece, similar to this Thompson inspired me to create an abandoned surreal reality because of his similar ability to create an empty background and scene in which the protagonist is just like Oldham. This then develops a story to why the character is where he is and in my opinion a surreal reality is a place that cant be fathomed, somewhere that doesn't seem real. In conclusion, despite the fact that digital editing software is now more prevalent reducing the quality of specific areas in art and design it has resulted in the dilution of once special qualities that hand produced work featured. However a greater number of people are able to access digital editing software and use their imagination to express their feelings through their own work, where in the past this wouldn't have been possible.