Cubomania And Exquisite Corpse With My Own Imagery.

I created these experiments by accident, I was ripping up my imagery and randomly collaging it onto a piece of paper which didn't work because parts of the photographs were negative space and it all looked too random because it didn't represent what it actually was, the legs and arms and faces were allover the place in a way which was too unclear and didn't create a trapped/claustrophobia feeling. I then started seeing if the would match up which without realising, worked in the same way as cubomania but with ripped pieces and exquisite corpse because it is a method by which a collection of words or images is collectively assembled. Each collaborator adds to a composition in sequence, in this case the body following the parts of the body.

Above is a surrealist painting by Sheila Rosa completed in 2008 named 'Andre Breton", he is a French writer and poet and also considered the founder of the surrealism movement. Surrealism in itself means combining dreams and reality. I chose this painting to look at as influence because although the medium isn't photography, I can see that each element is continued by another completely different element to continue that same subject matter but also be different. FOr example I can see a lightly toned forehead/skin patch leading onto to skin but going from a face to another eye off of the face which is much larger, this leads to an eyelid which becomes a floor for a male figure sitting on. It has a similar effect to exquisite corpse by create illusions and two different things from contrasting subject matter. I interpreted this to follow these steps of combining various photographs with different ones to create a body, although my subject matter wasn't contrasting it still worked in a continuous way to produce a composition with illusions.

Referring back to the group work I created of cubomania and esquisite corpse, I felt figures worked well for me last time when trying to create them out of plants/birds ect. so I used my claustrophobia imagery. I printed out each photograph in colour, black and white and solarised (which are all stills saved from when I edited them for my gif experimenting) and started ripping them into the head, body, legs and arms. I felt that ripping them would look more effective than precisely cutting them out because there is too much negative space and they would look like they didn't match up by the lines of the limbs.

Here is my first attempt. Leg is too small, head is too large which emphasises the inhuman subject matter created by costume, the sizing is all wrong which is what I wanted to create something that looks physically twisted and warped like Rosa's painting did. The tones worked well because they were various and this was obvious because of the difference, the leg being black and white, the arm being more grey and settled in the background and a bright face standing out the most and drawing us in first with its gaze.

Secondly I used a small set of legs, a larger body and an even larger arm which created a stretch of scale as it went upwards which worked well because it wasn't realistic and normal which is expected in surrealism. The only aspect I could improve would be to have the head in colour again so we are drawn to it and the legs being solarised instead.

This was my favourite because although it had 2 out of 3 of the pieces put together solarised, it was clear they were difference because of the small scale of the head. The legs being smaller makes them look very skinny which gives an ill/anorexic look relating the unnatural surrounding/costume/subject matter. Her arms represent strength which isn't expected from someone trapped, this makes it seem more odd and evil.

Finally, I reversed the small legs and big torso but having large legs and a small torso which made her look more vunerable because the strength wasn't so obvious.

I enjoyed this experiment because it was humourous to see somebody this out of proportion and also because I could create whatever I wanted without it being repetitive and I could keep changing it until I liked what I saw. This in an experiment I will keep in mind for future subject matter during this project.