How and why does photo manipulation and technology help artists show a narrative? In recent years, technology has made a huge advancement in making it easier to photo manipulate image in artwork. This is due to the introduction of computer programs such as Photoshop and Illustrator, as the introduction of technology has changed the way art can be produced forever, as the possibilities are endless. All three of the artists explored within this essay share an ambiguous theme and surreal pieces of work, made possible by the use of photo manipulation and the use of ever advancing technology. Between Smith, Miralles and Oldham, it is evident that technology has made a huge difference in terms of photo manipulation when we look at the difference between Fina Miralles and Paul M Smith. Fina Miralles produced most of her work throughout 1973-1989. This time was not an advanced era for technology as the first computers were only just being developed in the late 1970’s. This meant that the only photo manipulation that Fina Miralles could do was arranging different photos of stages into one image. By the time Paul M Smith began designing in the early 1990s, technology had advanced to the extent that Photoshop had been released ten years prior, enabling a whole new stand on photo manipulation. Through the essay and with the use of the artists, it can be shown that technology has not only had an effect on artwork, but showing a narrative in particular. The first artist looked at is Fina Miralles, a spanish born artist based in Barcelona. She created a much of her work throughout the late 1970s and 1980s. Fina Miralles is relevant to the essay as through her work, we are able to see where photo manipulation had started and how it was undeveloped back on the 1970s.
Fina Miralles cleverly takes photos at various points when doing something to create a continuous look. This was the only way of showing manipulation in that time as there was no technology allowing photo manipulation to happen like there is today, such as photoshop or illustrator. Miralles focuses on nature and the outdoors in her work, as shown in her piece on the left ‘dona arbre’ which directly translates to ‘tree woman’ which was created early in her career. The picture on the right also comes under the ‘dona arbre’ series as it has a similar look and feel to it. It appears that it is the processes of nature that interests her the most as in much of her work is photographed in stages. The photomanipulation here is created by placing images taken from various times and arranged so that there is a type of process going on. There is a simple feel to the work through the use of basic photographs. Miralles once said, “Rather, learn to be humble, to accept and to live according to the truth, harmony and beauty”1. 1
http://www.finamiralles.com/
This quote makes the viewer think that her work work is trying to portray nature, which lives by nothing more than the truth, harmony and beauty. It is said that Fina Miralles went on a pilgrimage, following the death of her parents, to get to Cadaqués, where she has permanently lived since 1999. The progression of nature in her work could be showing the progression in her travels to Cadaqués. It is evident that Fina Miralles’ life experiences have added to her work as she creates situations in her work in which people may often find themselves in or it may be the challenges Miralles herself has faced. All of this is made possible by the use of photo manipulation as it makes the viewer ask questions about the subject and origin of the narrative. Nature is a common theme in Miralles’ work as shown in other examples. Through the use of photo manipulation, it makes it easier for Fina Miralles to show a narrative as she is able to show the progression of something through using multiple images at different stages. The use of the basic camera could be showing her rustic style of art through the not overly clear image, but it also enables us to see how modern technology, including cameras, is helping artists to show a narrative as it is clearer for the viewer to see. Fina Miralles is a huge asset in showing how photo manipulation shows a narrative as she was working pre-technology, making her style of photo manipulation extra special, but is therefore also able to show how much technology has helped the narrative side of at as we have her art without it to compare.
The second artist analysed is Paul M Smith, a photographer and graphic designer from London. Smith first started creating art in the early 1990s and achieved a degree from the Royal College of Art. Paul M Smith is relevant to this essay as he is well known for using photo manipulation in his work. He famously uses multiple pictures of the same person and collages them together. He has created photo albums for clients such as Robbie Williams where he is portraying different players of a football team. This image was created for Robbie Williams’ album ‘sing when you're winning’ in 2005. Robbie Williams is known for being a huge fan of football and asked Paul Smith if he would create a few different images involving him for his new album. This is very typical of the Paul Smith’s work as he uses photo manipulation in all his work. The majority of Paul M Smith’s work has a light
http://plannoh.tumblr.com/post/79549808522/fina-miralles-1950-sabadellspain-concept
hearted feel to it as it mainly focuses on the funny side of everyday occurrences. For instance, Smith’s portfolio says “In a light-hearted take on Paul's previous work, Robbie was to be his own fantasy football team; plus opposition, management, fans, touts and policemen”2. Oldham said that this type of design, using multiple pictures of Robbie, made it easier for him to get the cover exactly how he wanted it, as he knew what he wanted all the characters to look like, making it a better narrative. This is evidently created on a digital program such as Adobe Photoshop, showing just how far technology is able to take a narrative Both Fina Miralles and Paul M Smith use photographs in their work that are of a professional quality. Paul Smith uses photoshop to create various characters whereas Fina Miralles arranged multiple pictures to create the stages of her narrative. By doing this they are both showing elements of photo manipulation. Both artists obviously have the aim of showing some kind of story narrative in the aim of the viewer asking lots of questions about what is happening and what the artists is trying to portray. Fina Miralles uses multiple pictures in her work whereas Paul Smith uses a mono-scenic image in his narrative. They both have a main focus in their work, usually the characters in the piece, which shows a dominance feature. The viewer is automatically drawn to a specific part of the image intentionally highlighted by the artists. The third artists looked at is Brian Oldham. He is a fine art designer living and working in Los Angeles. He uses a photograph of a landscape and place characters into the image to create the narrative. He uses photographs at dusk or on a cloudy day with a very dark silhouette of a person to tell the story. His work is relevant to the essay as he also uses photo manipulation to create a narrative. This being said, it can be seen not to be the best one in terms of showing a narrative as it is very ambiguous and does not appear to lead anywhere. This is shown in the image ‘Horizons’. The setting is a very dark, dusk lake where a person is standing alone on a small mound. Looking at the images, words that come to min include: ambiguous, strange, exclusion, secluded, loneliness, sadness, depression, trapped. The image is a very clear and crisp photograph that could be professionally taken. The image is very realistic in the way that the emotions are shown. The characters can’t be identified by any sex, gender, age, ethnicity, sexual orientation which could be Brian Oldham’s plan as all people can be affected by depression. I like the way that the dark silhouette makes the image ambiguous and draws your attention to the surroundings. I plan on creating a piece in this style for my narrative. This style of work would be created in an online program such as photoshop, similar to paul Smith's work, 2
http://www.paulmsmith.co.uk/portfolio/robbie-williams/robbie-williams.html
which obviously helps create the surealism. He shows his in his own words when he says “I have taught myself how to create freely- using a variety of mediums to bring my visions to life”3. The downfall of this image is that it doesn’t tell us much about a narrative. It can be guessed that the image is about loneliness or depression as the character is secluded from life with no path back. This ambiguous theme is very common throughout his work. It appears that he focuses on things that cannot be explained or answered. This is achieved through photo manipulation. I used various artists to influence my work, as shown when I used Paul M Smith who commonly uses multi-photographic images. This was used in Smith’s work when he created multiple images of Robbie williams for his album covers. I recreated this design for my pickpocket film poster where there are multiple photographs of myself playing playing different characters within the same piece. Similar to Smith’s work, my work has a light hearted theme, which still tells a serious and developed narrative. Fina Miralles is another artist that I gained influence from due to her use of different stages in photographs and putting them together to create a sense of continuation. This is a very useful theme in a narrative design as it enables me to show the process of the pickpocket's life. Like Miralles, My work leads the viewer from one place to another, showing the direction of the narrative. There is a sense of mild, calm feeling to Miralles’ work which I tried to recreate in my work through the use of the warm, mellow backdrop of Barcelona. Brian Oldham is the final artist I took inspiration from, due to the sense of surrealism create in his work. Once again the use of multiple images of myself creates a surreal feel to my work, as it is a strange style of photo-manipulation. The themes do not really link to my own work as it more of a dark, serious theme.
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https://www.saatchiart.com/brianoldham
All three of my artists, similar to my own work, have some form of photo-manipulation within their work. Like oldham and Smith i have edited my photos in order to create a surreal look to my characters, and like Miralles I used multiple images to show the continuation of the narrative. Through this photo-manipulation the viewer is able to understand the characters more, and multiple image shows the process of the narrative, making it clearer where the story is going. In conclusion it is clear that the development of technology has enabled artists to create photo manipulation with the aim of showing a narrative. The use of photo manipulation is a massive aid in allowing artists to show progression in their work, whether it be through multiple images or edited singular images. This is created through the use of online editing programs such as photoshop and illustrator, making them one of the forefront reasons for the emergence of photo manipulation. These programs enable artists to create a surreal piece with ambiguous connotations, much like Paul Smith and Brian Oldham. The development of technology has enabled them to develop a story for the characters and their surroundings, with a realistic and believable finish. It is without a doubt that photo-manipulation and technology have added tremendously to the narrative side of graphic design. This has enabled me to create my own narrative with the inspiration f photo manipulation to add another dimension to the work. It ha also showed me how precisely placed photos and the background creates the atmosphere of the narrative. The overall feel of my narrative has followed a light hearted theme, as the overall film posters are for a potentially comedy film.
Bibliography: https://www.saatchiart.com/brianoldham http://www.paulmsmith.co.uk/portfolio/robbie-williams/robbie-williams.html http://www.finamiralles.com/ http://plannoh.tumblr.com/post/79549808522/fina-miralles-1950-sabadellspain-concept