Artist Of The Week: Philippe Halsman

This photo by Phillipe Halsman is quite unique, never before have i seen a man smoking a cigar with a bird perched on top. This iconic photograph is famous for it's funny style, and for the surreal setting in which it is in, the focal point seems to be the man's face, where his eyes are looking towards us. The black and white color scheme is probably due to the black and white nature of photographs in that time period, but it does add a gloomy look to the sky behind him.

This is a very surreal looking photograph, a chair seems to be floating in the air, water and cats seem to be leaving a painting next to an artist trying to paint a different painting. The focal point is the cats and the water, it's quite funny seeing how the cat's have such a posture while flying in the air, I hope that throughout the process of taking the photograph, they didn't hurt those cats. As for the inspiration of the image, i think it is one of Salvador Dali's works, a great way to make a photograph is to base it off of surreal art. I love its style.

Artist of the Week: Andy Warhol

This image by Andy Warhol depicts the American love for Marilyn Monroe, the sharp color schemes that make Marilyn's face look like a cartoon create a very glamorous/superficial feel to the image. For example the borders between the large spots of blue make up above her eyes and the actual skin show very little blending or subtleness. The only sign of a realistic face is the shadowing near the bottom and the complexity of her hair. I like this photo because of the varieties of deep colors Warhol chose, the original photo looks greatly enhanced because of it, the bright yellow hair, bright blue lips, pink face.

This picture is of the famous Mao Zedong, this is another cartoon like color scheme, but the blending between colors is more apparent, so the image ends up looking more realistic. The focal point seems to be the center of his face or his nose, what i like most is the way the Andy Warhol chose to make this photograph, the missing spots on his shirt, the weird scribbles on the background, and the dark shadows and yellow eyes to represent Mao's personality.

Weekly Vocabulary

1. Pop Art - Art that draws it's influences from modern culture and the media, often criticizes traditional art.

2. Dadaism - Coined by dada, an art movement in the early 20th century from the European avant-garde.

3. Photomontage - The process of creating one photo from two by splitting/cutting/merging them together.

Spare Time

Iron Horse Trail At Night

Action Shot

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After