KERRY ROPER'S WORK

Continuing with using the idea of "covering" the eyes of the models with blocks of colour, I was reminded of the fantastic work by Kerry Roper who oftens leaves the models in his work unidentified by blocking out their eyes. The eyes are actually an important part of a persons identity and there is also the known quote- "The eyes are the window to the soul".

The examples shown of Kerry Ropers work show body parts, pattern and mark making all merged to form incredible compositions-

This style may not be to everyones taste, but in my opinion I find them so so beautiful.- Infact I now want to try incorporating more subtle pattern and mark-making ideas together to form a background which i could then display body parts onto?....

YOU CAN SMILE WHEN YOU LOOK THIS GOOD.

There is something about these "cheesy" photographs displaying "immaculate women" which I am warming to.- Despite this being a simple concept of using basic block coloured shapes which are overlapped and positioned effectively, I feel that this is quite an effective composition. Perhaps a SIMPLIFIED approach of using basic geometry could work effectively....

THE NOT SO PERFECT SIDE TO HOLLYWOOD...

While flicking throught a magazine I came across a couple of fashion shoot pages which showed the stereotypical, "Perfect American dream woman" in quite a cheesy way.
The shots from this magazine were ideal to scan in and play around with as the models were wearing skimpy and tight fitting clothing which enabled me to trace aroud their figures accurately.

The first image shows the magazine page which I scanned in to use.
The image below shows how I have concentrated on the outline of this figure and then inserting blocks of solid colour using a warm colour palette to emphasise the warmth of the skintone. I deliberately wanted to cover the eyes and bottom of the model to help conceal the identity.

CHOPSHOP

Using an image of a mannequin to start with, I have played around with overlapping "Body parts" onto this figure to create a "mismatched" figure. I am wanting this to reflect the idea of "changing/swapping parts" to create "the perfect figure". I think this style would work best with a humourous approach to it. For example, having a title such as "Swapshop" or "Chopshop" as a mockery of one of the leading highstreet stores, Topshop.....

INSPIRATION FROM DEVIANTART.COM

I discovered this piece of work on deviantart.com which shows a mannequin figure that has been manipulated to creat almost fluid resembling skin. I like how the lower half of the torso looks like it has been reflected and how the finger, elbow and shoulder appear to be "breaking away" and moving away from the figure.


This led me to experiment on Photoshop with merging two images together. I used a background displaying a "shattered" pattern and merged it with a head shot of a woman with a flawless complexion. The results are shown at the top of this page.
I focused on distorting the area around the models eyes, nose and mouth while leaving the cheek untouched as I felt it would be too much to distort the whole face. Also, I like how this creates "a perfect" face contrasting against a "distorted" and shattered part of the face.

EXAMPLES OF "THE MANNEQUIN" BEING USED IN ART TO REPRESENT HUMANS....

(Both images scanned from- "This Ain't No Disco" By Jennifer McKnight-Trontz. Chronicle Books 2005. Pages 108-9)




Above are two examples of CD covers which both use "the mannequin" dummy to represent the human form.

The first image, "Upstairs at Eric's" shows two male mannequins which have cleverly, and rather amusingly, been cut into two parts across the stomach area. The folded arms and positioning of these two mannequins create the sense of atmosphere or tension between them, for example the folded arms suggesting defence, and the direct eye contact.

The second image, "Compute Games Mi-Sex" shows two armless mannequins, both of which are positioned central on the canvas. Both the male and female mannequin show a stamp of a barcode inprinted across the stomach area.- Perhaps this is the only form of identity they own?
On an even close look, it is not fully clear whether the "figure" seated on the left side is actually human-being or a mannequin with hair.

These two images have made me think about placing "a mannequin" in an "out of context" scene/shot to make the viewer look twice at the book cover.

FIRST IDEAS/EXPERIMENTING

For my first piece of work to help experiment with different techniques, I began by typing the words "NIP/TUK" into the google search engine, where I came across the image shown of the relevant advert used for the tv programme.
I liked the shape of the woman in this advert displaying her bent figure.- I think that this is an interesting angle in which the silhouette shape could be used to insert “incision lines” into.

I started by tracing around this figure and then rotating the body at different angles.- I think that this layout is quite clean cut and precise. The plain white background does not detract the eye from the centred female form. The text written clearly identifies what the book would be about, however the silhouette shapes of the woman do not give much away to the viewer. The red blood drips from the scalpel add almost a gruesome twist against these block silhouette shapes.

I think this type of layout would suit a factual based book written about cosmetic surgery. The image on the front is not a real photograph however there is some precision to it and intersecting lines.