Geometric Faces on an Obscure Organic Face

06/02/2014

Blog Entry 34:

When considering what depicts the divine, I considered the work by Quayola (Blog entry 30) and how it combines the geometric with the organic - essentially the man made with the natural. But when thinking of the divine, geometric and organic shapes and the combination of this may be an obscure way of depicting this. I am going to begin with quite simple versions of this.


Geometric faces on an organic face experiments (as labelled in sketchbook):

Initial Sketches:

Geometric Faces on an Organic Face 1 (Hexagonal faces)

This image is a simple sketch using only hexagons to make up an area of the face. At this point I felt that using other geometric shapes to explore this idea before going back to the hexagon shape would be a good way forward to understand this idea better.

Geometric Faces on an Organic Face 2

This sketch uses geometric shapes to map around areas of the face. I have focussed on only making an area of the subject geometric.


Using Photoshop:

Geometric faces on an organic face 3a&b (by myself)

Geometric faces on an organic face 3c

Geometric faces on an organic face 3d

Geometric faces on an organic face 3e

Geometric faces on an organic face 3f

The image labelled (as in sketchbook) Geometric faces on an organic face 3a&b was the intended result for this quick experiment, however, I had a happy accident: When I mapped out the geometric shapes with the line tool on Photoshop, I had not connected the lines properly and this how experiments 3c - 3f and below experiments 4b and 4c have happened. I am particularly fond of images 3e and 3f due to the block colour framing and invading the area of organic imagery.

I am particularly fond of

Geometric faces on an organic face 4a

Geometric faces on an organic face 4b

Geometric faces on an organic face 4c

The colour versions labelled 4a - 4c remind me of stained glass, which is inevitably associated with divinity and religious art. When creating this using photoshop, I realised that every adjoining section would have to be a different flesh tone, many of which are brighter than the original painting: I think this contrast adds to the contrast of geometric and organic forms, however is especially on 4a an obvious digital enhancement, I need to question whether this is what I want to represent in my work.

I find that 4c is my preferred piece out of these three images due to the simplicity of on photoshop shade with the painted flesh tone, and the areas of line which more subtly map out the geometry.

Geometric Faces on an Organic Face 5

This is a quick painting essentially halving the face into the geometric and organic and experimenting with how to merge this at the central paint. I have not done a perfect 50/50 symmetrical split, as this would have not given such a natural progression.

When comparing experiments 5 and 3a, I find that the use of paint instead of digital media has ensured that the black and white tones in both the geometric and organic are more similar.

I intend to show this on Monday in Personal Practice and Methodologies, with a view to considering how to progress. I intend to develop this idea of depicting the divine far further, possibly combining this with my ideological androgyny experiments in blog entry 33.