My primary inspiration for self-design is color itself. I plan on using a hand-coloring process to color black and white photographs (I am experimenting with different hand-color processes for the current ReDo assignment). I am not interested in using color to make a photograph more "real," that is I don't want the coloring to be realistic. Instead, I want color to shake up the viewer's expectations. A number of ideas for how to accomplish this: realistic coloring (following the lines) but unexpected colors (blue skin or multi-colored sky), a "painted-on" look, colors form geometric shapes that seemingly do not relate to the content of the photograph. Hopefully, I will find a way in which the coloring of a photograph causes the viewer to see the content with fresh eyes. Erin Shirreff's "Roden Crater" video accomplishes all this, I believe.
Non-photographic inspirations come from different areas of my life.
Mindful Learning:
Beholding art rather than seeing art
Shifting perception
The novice mind
Making the familiar unknown
Classical Art and Sculpture:
Perfect human form - nude
Colorless/white sculptures were actually painted in vibrant colors
Classical Literature:
Pygmalion
Ancient authors taking old ideas/myths and making them their own
Music:
Animal Collective
Caribou
Javelin
LCD Soundsystem
J Dilla
Paul Simon
Bob Dylan going electric in 1965
