Faculty of Education and Arts School of Drama, Fine Art and Music ARTC 1101 Creative Arts: Digital

Imaging & New Media A

Student Name: Luke Thomas Student Number: c 3046426

Semester 1 2010
Course Co-ordinator: Dr. Sean Lowry Lecturer (Weeks 1-7): Colin Rosewell

ESSAY COMPONENT

The avant-gardes were artists that pushed the boundaries of social norms through the creation of their different artworks. They are considered the creators of modernism. Pioneers of the avant-gardes era include Man Ray and Max Ernst. These two artists were heavily involved in the Dada movement, which was the radical rejection of Traditional Art. Wikipedia talks about the Dada movement as Dada is the groundwork to abstract art and sound poetry, a starting point for performance art, a prelude to postmodernism, an influence on pop art, a celebration of anti-art to be later embraced for anarcho-political uses in the 1960s and the movement that lay the foundation for Surrealism. Techniques created by these two artists of the Dada era can be seen today in digital imaging programs such as ADOBE Photoshop. Techniques such as Solarisation, Frottage and Decalcomania shall be discussed and how those effects are recreated using contemporary digital imaging software. Mann Ray, a Dada and surrealist artist revolutionised the art of photography. He invented photographic techniques such as solarisation and rayographs. Solarisation, as defined by www.yourdictionary.com, is to overexpose a photographic film or plate deliberately during

developing to create special effects. What this does is reverse the tone on a photographic negative. This makes light areas appear dark and dark areas appear light. The technique was discovered by his assistant in the dark room when unnecessary light was exposed to the negative. However, Man Ray was the one responsible for perfecting the technique and utilizing it deliberately in his art works.

This effect, which was coined by Mann Ray can be utilised today very easily through digital imaging software, such as ADOBE Photoshop. Digital Images can have the solarised effect applied to them in a matter of seconds. To apply this effect within ADOBE Photoshop, one simply opens the image they wish to apply the effect to, click on filter, then stylize, and then solarise. The image will then have this effect applied to it. Another technique heavily explored and developed by Man Ray was the photogram, which he re-named the rayograph. According to Wikipedia, A photogram is a photographic image made without a camera by placing objects directly onto the surface of a photo-sensitive material such as photographic paper and then exposing it to light. The result is a negative shadow image varying in tone, depending on the transparency of the objects used. Areas of the paper that have received no light appear white; those exposed through transparent or semi-transparent objects appear grey. This technique can be acquired using digital imaging technology by manipulating the digital image through aspects such as: exposure, brightness\contrast, hue\saturation, and the colour balance. By adjusting these aspects of the digital image, you can acquire the same affect that Man Ray got when he produced his rayographs. This is just another example of how the art-making strategies of Dadaists from the avantgardes era have made their way into the digital media. Max Ernst was a German painter, sculptor, graphic artist and poet. He was also a pioneer of Dada and Surrealism. He was also a friend of Man Ray.

Ernst invented the graphic art technique known as frottage. He developed this technique in 1925, it is said that he was inspired by old wooden flooring, where years of scrubbing had left the grain of the floor accentuated. He reproduced the pattern of the grain by laying paper on the floor and rubbing it with pencil. Wikipedia describes the frottage as when artist takes a pencil or other drawing tool and makes a "rubbing" over a textured surface. The drawing can be left as is or used as the basis for further refinement. While superficially similar to brass rubbing and other forms of rubbing intended to reproduce an existing subject, and in fact sometimes being used as an alternate term for it, frottage differs in being aleatoric and random in nature. This effect can be replicated through digital imaging software in the form of embossing an image. The image would have the effect of a rubbing. The outcome depends on the degree that the digital effect is used and other adjustments such as colour, etc. However, you can see how Ernsts frottage technique can be replicated and is living on through the age of new media. Another technique from the avant-gardes era practised my Ernst was decalcomania, which is a decorative technique by which engravings and prints may be transferred to pottery or other materials. This allowed a print to have three dimensional characteristics by being applied to a three dimensional object. Such techniques can be done very easily with Adobe Photoshop. You simply open the image up within the program and then

select the 3D shape, such as a cylinder or sphere, which you wish to have the image put across. As we have discussed, Artists from the avant-garde period have influenced the development of effects and digital image manipulation techniques available on digital software such as ADOBE Photoshop. Two main Artists from this era were, Man Ray and Max Ernst who were pioneers in the Dada and surrealist scene at the time. They developed such techniques as solarisation and frottage which is evident in images that are produced today through digital imaging software.

Bibliography:
www.wikipedia.org yourdictionary.com www.manraytrust.com