Throughout the semester, we have learned various skills about new materials and tools through Material Inquiries leading up to our final assignment, The Impossible Project, a project meant to combine the skills we've gained through our experiences in this class and something we had yet to learn in order to make something that seemed impossible. This is my journey of making the impossible, possible.
When I first began this venture, I decided to create a mosaic made of prints from a photo I had taken of a rose with the skills I gained during the Scan/Print/Hack Material Inquiry, as well as skills I had yet to learn in Photoshop.
I started this endeavor by opening the picture in Photoshop and dividing it into 36 even squares with the square-marquee tool, followed by copying and pasting the squares into separate files, thus creating the "tiles" of the mosaic. I then eagerly set up the printer settings for Pro Luster paper, one of high photographic quality, and made my first print. It was at this point that I hit the first snag of my project.
It was too small. The tile was only about 2" x 2", and to print 36 of those would be a huge overuse of paper. It was time to reconsider my idea.
As I contemplated the challenge I was presented with, my professor, Dr. Justice, made a very interesting suggestion: why not combine my many tiles into a collage directly through Photoshop?
This new concept presented a very intriguing, yet daunting, prospect. I had very little experience with Photoshop, and this notion would require me to wield some of its more complex tools. Nevertheless, I was determined to give it a try and I produced some interesting results in the process.
Now, for a first attempt, I was pretty proud of myself. I had never worked so intricately with Photoshop layers before and was excited with the end results, so the obvious thing to do was to continue.
Next, I decided to make a few different collages, each one consisting of an even number of the tiles I originally created (shown below).
I really liked the combination of these three collages and wanted to make a larger composition combining the three. I made multiple prints of each of the three collages and pasted them in an interesting pattern on a piece of poster-board.
Something to notice is that I arranged some of the collages to be hanging over the edge of the poster-board. I wanted to express that the art was too big for the canvas it was created on. However, while this composition was appealing, I wanted to continue exploring.
My next step was to create bigger prints of my collages. Accordingly, I adjusted the printer settings for the bigger Pro Luster paper and began my endeavor of printing all three collages on one large sheet of paper, one at a time. However, I mistakenly put the paper back into the printer both times in a way that each collage was printed one-on-top of the other and the results were shocking.
This triple-print is very intriguing to see and I'm pleased to have made the mistake that led me to it. The enhanced darkness and red hues of the overall print are truly riveting, especially knowing it came from a combination of pinks and greens being printed on top of each other. Regardless, I wanted to go even bigger.
Despite how compelling I found the idea of the Photoshopped collages, part of me was still fixed on my original idea of a mosaic, so I decided to do both.
I selected all 36 of the tiles I created and added them as layers into a Photoshop document with a significant canvas size. Then, I rearranged them just I had done previously in my collages, but, this time, with the goal of recreating the photo from which the tiles originated. The end results were fascinating.
The image I created very closely resembles the original, yet the geometric edges of the tiles add an otherness that make it truly captivating, but I knew I could take it even further. I then chose to enhance the image by changing the hue and saturation of the image in Photoshop to create even bolder colors.
The changed features of the image create even more emphasis on the rose itself to make it even more beautiful, but I still wasn't done.
As I admired my most recent success, I considered the sentiment I had previously explored of the art being bigger than the canvas. I knew that couldn't exactly have this image hanging off of multiple edges of poster-board, so I decided to try and show this concept in reverse.
I chose multiple tiles towards the middle of the collage in Photoshop and hid them from view, thus allowing the black background to show through.
The stark contrast of the black against the pink creates the illusion of an endless void behind the image, thus developing the sentiment that the art is indeed bigger than the canvas.
My final print is almost exactly the same as the one of the enhanced hue and saturation, but with one significant difference.
I manipulated the Levels settings in Photoshop to adjust the darkness of certain tiles in the background to further enhance and emphasize the rose. I wanted a print in which the rose was the primary focus so that a viewer could fully appreciate its organic beauty, while also still being able to appreciate the geometric edges of the tiles adding to the complexity of the image. This print has become my favorite, thus far.
At this point, I have reached the end of my Impossible Project, though I'd say it's no longer impossible. While I had originally set out to create a mosaic of individual tiles closely resembling a puzzle recreating the original image from which they were made, I managed to create some incredible collages, some of which still beautifully recreate the original picture. I proudly learned how to maneuver some of the many tools Photoshop has to offer to create complex and captivating compositions and I couldn't be happier with the results.
I look forward to creating more beautiful collages in Photoshop in the future, perhaps even creating an entire series featuring various types of flowers or exploring the same concept with different subjects.
This semester in ARTT 2372 has been a rollercoaster of frustration and satisfaction, of confusion and realization. I had never truly been interested in digital media in my art, but this course has given me invaluable experience in just that, so I will now be prepared to aid my future students in their own technological endeavors in art. Moreover, I have found that some digital media can be truly amazing, even some that I actually enjoy applying to my art. Now, I can't wait to see what else digital media has to offer.