Photo Essay

Week 14



Alexa Meade

 

http://alexameade.com/ 

Twenty-six year old Washington DC born artist, Alexa Meade, graduated from Vassar College in 2009 with a bachelor’s degree in political science. She had never attended art school nor had she ever taken any advanced painting courses. In August of 2008, Alexa began to experiment with painting on non-traditional objects. Nine months later, she had developed a technique for painting on people and unveiled her “Reverse Trompe L’Oeil” in October of 2009. Trompe L’Oiel (French for “deceive the eye”) is an art technique that involves realistic imagery in order to create the optical illusion that the depicted subjects are three dimensional.

The idea for Meade’s work originated from her fascination with how the sun cast moving shadows. She began to experiment with painting shadows onto moving people, and discovered that the visual effect still worked even if people moved from their original light source. Meade once said "I paint representational portraits directly on top of the people I am representing. The models are transformed into embodiments of the artist's interpretation of their essence. When captured on film, the living, breathing people underneath the paint disappear, overshadowed by the masks of themselves.”

Alexa’s technique is certainly innovative. She applies acrylic paint to people, objects and walls in broad brushstrokes that resemble the brushwork of paintings. Then she photographs them…resulting in a picture that resembles an oil painting. Alexa describes this technique as "painting a portrait of somebody on top of him/herself.”

Alexa’s work is rapidly gaining critical acclaim in the portraiture genre – domestically as well as internationally . Christian Furr, a world renowned painter, selected Meade for an exhibit at the Saatchi Gallery in London. Of Meade’s art, Furr says, “People are fascinated by playing with viewpoints, and she's taking it one step further than trompe l'oeil.”

 Meade has a notable online following also. I’d keep an eye on Alexa Meade…she’s bound to become a legend.

http://alexameade.com/

Self Portrait

 

 

 

 

9/11 left an indelible impression on my life. I'll never forget that infamous day. For this picture, after erasing the background I used Black and White on my face...and adjusted the image brightness on the background (Brightness =26 Contrast = 14)

 

 

 

 

 

 

I used different adjustments on each of the six masks here. Starting top right (and moving clockwise): I used drop shadow, dissolve /opacity 93%,  bottom right: drop shadow, inner glow, bevel emboss. Bottom middle: hue = +27, saturation= +39, Lightness= 16, Bottom left: pinlight and contour, top left: fill= 67% , top middle: luminosity, contrast=52, brightness=68.

 

Imagine being able to see through a wall! For the background or "wall" effect, I used filter/texture/sandstone. On the eyes, I used Filter/Distort/Diffuse Glow (Graininess=6,Glow Amount=12, Clear Amount=12).



Website Review

Week 11

 

 

Lincoln

 

http://www.thelincolnmovie.com

 

 

I, like so many others, am eagerly awaiting the release of Steven Spielberg's feature film, Lincoln. The Home page of the website created for the movie sports a black and white picture of a pensive Abraham Lincoln (played by Daniel Day Lewis) leaning into the frame, pulling the audience's focus to the trailer video on the page. Although Lincoln is not really looking at the video, the angle at which he leans emphasizes the point we are expected to look at. The use of black and white instead of color instantly leads us to believe that we are indeed looking at the sixteenth president. Also, we assume that the top of Lincoln's head as well as the rest of his body extend beyond the frame.



The links are situated in a column to the left of Roman numerals. As you click on a link, a picture from the film appears under the corresponding numeral. This gives the audience the impression of moving from one act to another. Most of the pictures move in and out. I am especially impressed with the manner in which the cast of actors is revealed. As one clicks on "cast" in the "About" section, a list of the principal actors appears. As you click on each name, a current picture of the actor moves in and out respectively.


The Gallery contains thumbprints of scenes from the film, which of course become enlarged as they're clicked on. These pictures are, for the most part, closeups cropped in such as way as to suggest that the subjects extend beyond the frame. (This is a re-ocurring theme). Under the Gallery link is a link entitled "Cast and Characters." When you click on this link, a list of principal actors accompanied by their character names appears. Click on each name and now each actor appears in character. The actors are always in black and white; however, the shots from the movie are in color, although somewhat muted.


This site is easy to navigate and very informative...right down to headshots of the crew and production notes. It is also a good example of content driven media.