Exploring Visual Design- Intro, Contrast Ch9, and Unity Ch8

Intro

I'm just going to talk about the chapter and how I felt about it here, as no one piece really stood out to me. I was a bit surprised that this intro focused on fine arts as well as design. The class being split, there really is a fine line between the divisions of AP design and AP drawing. It almost makes me think I took the easy way out when I chose design (haha not really). But honestly, design is mainly what I want to work on. Reading this chapter made me a bit more eager to start working and observing.

Contrast Ch 9

On page 182 I liked Masami Teraoka's piece Video Rental II. I didn't think anything of it until I read the title. Then I looked closer and actually laughed at the contrast between the subject matter. I had thought it to be a traditional Japanese piece but was really surprised to see a video camera in the picture. The contrast here is in the subject and not so much the style. It made the picture very humorous as described in the caption. I looked at some of the artist's other work and found a lot of this contrasting subject matter.

Another picture I liked was Undercover Cleo by Loudvik Akopyan on page 185. This one has more of a contrast in style. The subject matter, the two people in the foreground are very sharp and in focus, like a picture taken with a low depth of field. Even their expressions are very sharp. Each fold in the clothing has deep shadows. The rest is somewhat blurry, or foggy. There is still detail, but it is a little hazy and doesn't grab the attention like the focal point does. It is really an enjoyable image to look at. I don't think it would be as interesting if the whole picture had been focused and detailed, so I think it has a great use of contrast.

Unity Ch 8

Unity and contrast are a bit difficult to distinguish when you look at one right after the other. I was glad for the dominant and subordinate definitions, they made things a bit less confusing. Anyway, I like Edgar Degas's picture, Madame Camus on page 160. I like that the artist used color to create unity and value to create contrast. It's monochromatic I think, but you can get the feeling of more colors. Like a red light is being cast on the image. Maybe the reason this strikes me is because I struggle with monochromatic paintings.