Monday, October 10, 2005

Mosaic - part one

I have spent a chunk of today (Sunday) creating a new wall decoration for the spare bedroom/ room with my PC in it.

I decided ages ago on doing a large mosaic using a photo, the scanner, photoshop, a colour printer and a ton of empty CD cases.

The biggest problem has been deciding upon a good image. Initially I was going to go for one of two photos by an American photographer I adore called Gregory Crewdson.

mosaic blog

Both images are from his excellent book Twilight, which features 40 plates taken in and around suburban America at the magic hour. His photos always have a deep inner monologue going on - which is typically 'what the fu...?'. They are staged snaps but not digitally manipulated.

mosaic blog 2

I really do love them, but I couldn't decided which one.

The other problem I had was, I really wanted to do something that I had created/ taken, so I decided to use a snap I took of the Doo's with my mobile.

Dachshunds 5

This snap in fact which you probably saw a few days ago. I love it, not just because it’s of the doggies - which I would be the first to admit is a tad sad, but because it captures the personalities of both animals perfectly. Daisy - messy and laid back, Dixon - smooth and uptight.

I'm intending this to be a trial run for a full on Crewdson mosaic utilising (I estimate) upto 150 CD cases. This Dachshund mosaic will be comprised of 40 cases. I'll go into more specific details of dimensions and structure next time.

I also like it because it'll be replace a picture I have in the intended space by Warhol called Maurice, which was a painting of his own Dachshund. Why have a picture of another dudes dog, when you can have a picture of your own?

Maurice

What I am aiming to do, is to take a grainy mobile snap and blow it up using a mosaic affect, and hopefully in the process lose the tweeness and create a bold and personal image for the room. Ahem.

Okay, now I've selected my subject the next step is to enlarge the photo and grid it ready for printing. I will cover this in detail next time.

11 comments:

Sniffy said...

This is really innovative and bold. I bet the final effect is absolutely stunning. Will you let us have a glimpse when it's done?

garfer said...

Crewdson's photos have an unsettling edge to them. He makes suburban America seem a bit David Lynchish.
Hope you give us a glimpse of the mosaic.

M said...

Suburbian America "is" a bit David Lynchish. Always love to see your work. Glad to know your personal projects though. It sounds really neat. Ever so much better than, "I'm almost finished with the cross stitch I started almost 3 years ago." Geeze, what a pooser I am. :-p

Anonymous said...

very cool idea!

MoMo said...

Love those photos by the Crew guy - especially the one with the woman - I'll have to check him out.
Not sure i really understood what you're planning to do re the mosaic but I hope you'll share with us when its done - i have a feeling its gonna be great.

Sniffy said...

Fuck, I'm so ignorant. Look at you lot knowing who Crewdon is! I just ignored the that fact that Herge was going on about somebody I'd never heard of. Ho hum, I'm a scientist, I can't help it.

MoMo said...

I've never heard of the guy either, Tina. And I'm a scientist too!

Sniffy said...

Phew!

M said...

I have no excuse. Neither do I know the artist, nor am I a scientist. Herge~
Pls give some background on your inspiration, if you have time or energy.

Rowan said...

Sounds different! Certainly Hergelike, never precedented. I couldn't begin to try to do this, few could I dare to say. I once saw a mosaic made entirely out of lego, it was really impressive and hard to believe that someone created it frm their mind.

M said...

What about the impressionists and the artist who use just dots to create their artwork? That stuff is amazing. I have an ink drawing of nothing but dots and it is a womans eye. It's fantastic, done by one of my former daycare kids dad. I love it!