Ongoing 2D design project. A Shared Idea, Inspiration, Transcendence & Evolution.

4/17/2012 :: Ongoing 2D design project.

A Shared Idea, Inspiration, Transcendence, Evolution, & Collaboration.

The images below are the result of two single images. Pablo Picasso and Kurt Schwitters are two of my favorite artists (Andy Warhol as well, but we will get back to him below) I wanted to use them as inspiration for this series of collage works. These are the first few pieces from my experiments. Each piece is sized at 8.5″X11″. The desire to create a body of works like this came from my interest in a series of works created by the students of professor Javier Cambre. Cambre is a friend and one of my colleagues at CUNY QCC. I later re-designed my interpretation of the works to fit into a project for myself, as well as my students. I have been teaching 2D design at the college level for 7.5 years. It is a course that I love to teach. I also enjoy intuitively expanding the course content and the class projects. The course allows for students to learn manual techniques, as well as basic graphic design skills. This gives us a lot of options as we focus on understanding the elements of art, and the principles of design. During my classes this week and next, I’m going to ask the class to collaborate on a series of these works by choosing and adding only one element from the original image, and then pass it onto the next person. My classes host between 16 – 22 students per class so the outcomes will generate excitement and serious variation! Stay tuned for that. Are you interested in trying out the project for yourself? The instructions are below this image. By all means, please share your results.

Kurt Picasso Re-arrangement series by Ryan Seslow

Re-Organizing a single Composition (Portrait Image)
In this project you will be re-organizing a representational image into a subjective one. You may work from the image provided (a portrait of Picasso or Kurt Schwitters, just google their names) or you may work from the image of your choice. The image selected must be black and white, and it must be a portrait. (The image should also be a high enough resolution to re-copy and scale to larger or smaller sizes, but then again, if you wish to include texture as an aspect of the work, sky is the limit) You will need at least 6-10 copies of your image, you can make multiples by using a photo copy machine or a printer.
Final output::
You will be re-creating 3 subjective variations of your portrait. The sizes of your re-organized images should not be smaller than 9×11, so please calculate this into your measurements. They can be as large as you would like.
Process::
1. Manipulate the existing image by cutting out several parts and pieces (this includes the individual facial features, head, back round, neck, & clothing areas) You may use your scissors or x-acto knife to cut out your forms.
2. Measure and cut 3 blank picture planes. ( 9×11 is the smallest size that you can use, so you may consider 3 size variations)
3. Lay out the cut pieces in front of you. You will then re-organize and compose your pieces into 3 different compositions. All 3 of the final works must be non- representational and or subjective images.
4. Scan or photograph your final outcomes. Post a copy here, or e-mail them to me using the address on this blog. I will post the works here on an ongoing basis.