Cliff Sargent: I have made a myriad of changes over the past day, and I feel that this design is as powerful and potent as my proposal implied it to be. I will speak more about the concept behind my piece in the artist statement, but for now I would like to post this early to get some feedback, just in case there is something crucial that needs to be changed. I have worked hard on this one, and I have it where I want it. The most profound change I feel was the heavily saturated red in the eye, giving the piece a focal point and adding to the aggressive nature. There was also a ton of work done with "curves" in photoshop. My color design ended up being Monochromatic, with variations on red. I experimented with several different color schemes, but for this atmosphere and emotion, as well as reading the last lecture which was very informative, I have come to the very solid conclusion that shades of red suite this far more than any other color.

Statement:

The original concept behind my design was to portray inner feelings of turmoil, immense frustration, pain, rage, and alienation. In another sense I wanted to take a look at the regression of the human state and create an image based on archaic and primal thought patterns. I wanted the photographs to have even more power than they did in their original form, and have symbolic pieces stitched together in a design that truly represented the concept I was designing around, and undoubtedly the color has added an almost electrical surge of energy to the photography, creating such an intense look that the B&W versions are not comparable. I pursued the project with this ambition of creating an antithesis to pop design, which incorporates a great deal of light hearted and friendly subject matter, and much of the time comes off as disposable, impotent, and intellectually bankrupt. Pretty harsh words, I know, but when somebody speaks of art, I think of catharsis, not catering. The design is composed for four photographs, 1 so large it takes up half the page, and the other 3 horizontally stacked upon one another. They all tie in to the above themes, the first depicts an extreme close up of a young mans faced covered in mud and paint, with an almost tribal animosity in his expression. His eyes are sullen, his hair is ragged, his lips are cracked and it is a very extreme form of expression to behold. Opposite this picture is a series of three others, starting with a wide shot of spindly trees, another extreme close up of a glowing red eye surrounded by mud and paint and finally a dirty, primitive looking hand clutching the side of a tree. The composition is balanced by the large picture on the left and the glowing red eye as a focal point on the right. Neither were adjusted so that one overpowers the other, and the eyes can easily take in the entire piece. All of the images had high contrast in relation to one another in the beginning, and after curves had been used, the contrast was even heavier, and that was the desired effect.
The monochromatic color harmony suited the piece, as red is the color wheel's answer to aggressive or passionate emotions and responses, and the various shades mixed with the content in the images intensified the organic and earth related atmosphere. The color scheme had a large part in propelling the desired effect to where I wanted it to be. The image of the fiery trees gave a much needed feeling of depth with the negative space and allows the composition to feel open and not cluttered. Finishing the final project was difficult during the end of finals, as this term was focused at the tail end when everything suddenly got extremely busy and fast paced, while it had been a leisurely trip for most of the term, but inevitably I got everything done including this, and it turned out better than I had hoped. I feel I have accomplished my stated goals, and also inspired myself to create more imagery similar to this, as my newfound love of color has opened an entirely new realm of possibilities. I feel that perhaps my overall presentation methods could be refined. I am still not used to presenting work in a professional manner, and if I can just utilize all the tools to intensify the work so that it is at its full potential when unveiled, I will be satisfied. This has been a phenomenal course. Thanks to Jeff Prentice and all my peers, I wish you luck with future endeavors. -Cliff Sargent