PROJECT #5: SURFACES (after Aaron Siskind, 1903-1991)

Aaron Siskind. Peeling paint (Jerome, Arizona) c.1950

This  close range photo by Aaron Siskind shows peeling paint, displaying a cold dark surface underneath. It's an interesting photo due to the way the flakes of paint point out in different directions, giving it an interesting, rough and rustic texture. The rough texture is also shown through the cracks running around the surface of paint. The central darkness of the peeling paint is the focus of the composition drawing the viewers eye into the depths of the textured cracked surface.  The black and white gives it a depth and contrast between the paint and under surface, creating an abstract image.

San Luis Potosi 16 (Mexico) 1961

RATIONALE: To exercise your artistic/creative seeing eye, and make photographs that are abstracted pieces of the wider view.

DIRECTIONS: Look at the surfaces around you. Notice how light falling on those surfaces creates light, shadow, and ultimately a visual texture. 
Photograph 36+ of these surfaces and bring to next class. (A minimum of 18 must be photographed OFF campus (to provide you with a broader experience of seeing)).
Note: The philosophy of "less is more" does not apply to us now. If you see & do more, all the better. :)

AARON SISKIND.
Although he started his career as a documentary photographer, Aaron Siskind (American, 1903–1991) quickly became known for his abstract photographs. Socially and professionally close with many of the Abstract Expressionist painters in his native New York, Siskind created photographs in dialogue with painting, attempting to find a new language for photographic depiction that could transform an object into an image, a description into an idea. Across a decades-long career, his work explored what he called “the drama of objects,” imbuing forms with animism and rhythm. (From Art Institute of Chicago website)

LINKS:
Image Search
ArtNet.com
International Center for Photography
Wiki Bio.
Etherton Gallery
Siskind's Peeling Paint at MoMA. CLICK HERE.
Siskind's Wiki Bio. CLICK HERE.
Aaron Siskind Foundation. CLICK HERE.
RISD bio. CLICK HERE.