self portraits

Tony Robbin

         Tony Robbin was born in Washington, D.C in 1943. He is an author and artist. His focus is mainly sculpture, painting and computer visualizations. He is also part of a movement called the Pattern and Decoration art movement. With over 25 exhibitions for his artwork and over 100 shared exhibitions, Tony became more well known. By 1974 he debuted his work in the Whitney Museum of American Art. He created an application of Quasicrystal geometry to architecture and was given a patent for his work in this field.  He has become a leader with the work in four-dimensional geometry in computer visualization.

 

(sculpture below)

            

Utilizing technology, Tony produced digital prints which help him satisfy his idea of “Many spaces in the same place at the same time.” He wanted distinct overlays that gave his 3D effect a little more edge to it. This is his strategy for visualizing the fourth dimension which he has attempted for years.

 

(digital image below)

Higher dimensional space is the goal in which Tony tries to reach in all of his work. The layering and placement of clean-cut, precise lines gives you a visual rollercoaster ride. Along with his lining, the contrasting colors and overlays help give more dimension to each of his pieces of work. Each piece gives you this trippy feeling of falling into eternal space. Rhombus’, hexagons, and cubes are used to give you this sense of space within his photograph that makes you want to reach inside and touch that one cube that seems so far away from you, while not having the one jumping off the page hit you in the face. It messes with your mind.

 (painting below)

I think that Tony’s work has more of an impact with his sculpture and digital prints. While his paintings are aesthetically pleasing, they do not give the same depth effect I think he is trying to capture. I think his paintings and drawings do not pop out as much and I would prefer a sculpture piece with his dimensional use or a digital piece that has the ability to be morphed and distorted to tease your brain. What makes his work strong is his use of placement and angles. It teases and confuses the eye and makes something look like something it’s not.

Here is a link to his website which takes you to his artwork, essays, books and even films:

http://www.tonyrobbin.net

project 1 flying grandma

Lewis Wickes Hine

In 1874, Lewis Wickes Hine was born in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. He put himself through the University of Chicago, New York University and Columbia University. He became a Sociology major and began to teach in New York. Lewis worked at Ethical Culture School where he taught his students to use photography as a tool for learning. Hine would bring his students to Ellis Island where they would photograph immigrants coming to America. Hine began to realize the impact these photos could give in social change.


The Pittsburgh Survey was a sociological study started by the Russell Sage Foundation. They hired Hine in 1906 to photograph steel-making districts and their every day lives. in 1908 he left his teaching position at Ethical Culture School to work for the National Child Labor Committee (NCLC).  Hine focused on child labor mainly in the Carolina Piedmont. He later used Galton's composite portraits to capture cotton mill child labor in 1913.



Lewis wanted to impact society with his photography and make a difference. These children were losing their youth. No education. Little to no pay. Children were working long hours in extreme temperatures, in factories and buildings with dangerous health risks.




Hine's early work shows these faces of children who should be happy, should be in school, should still have innocence. But instead they had to grow up as soon as they could walk and talk. Hine's photography was odd because of his placement of children. Usually looked staged and like he placed them in certain positions. Other times he photographed the children in their workplace doing their job but again had them hold still to get his shot.




Later on when Hine began to understand and delve deeper into his artistic abilities he started photographing for other companies and groups. One of his more famous collections was his photographs of the Empire State Building being designed and constructed. It depicts men laying, standing and sitting on these platforms that were well overtop the city.

The background of these photographs looks almost unreal. They seem photoshopped or painted in later on. But these photographs of these workers shows no fear or worry in their faces. 

Because of the time these photos were taken, camera technology was not that advanced. The quality of these photographs is not the best but it's the story they tell that impacts the viewer. The quality of Hine's photographs fits well with the industrial, labor induced age in which he took them. It gives them a hardier feel as if black and white photography showed all the darkness and sadness of these times hidden inside each and every little crevice.

Overall I love Lewis Hine's earlier work the most because of it's straight forward impact on society and blatant truth about child labor. He wanted to capture big changes in America and successfully grasped this tragic era's problems. Hine gave these child workers the ability to tell their own story with the way they presented themselves in each photograph he took.  

cites:


http://images.dailykos.com/images/68057/large/lewis-hine-child-labor-a-heavy-load-1909.jpg?1391618508
https://kyriolexy.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/hine2.jpg
http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-17673213

Before and After

Bad photos before and after

before:

After: 

this photo had some very dark shadows and I wanted to lighten up our faces. One thing I found difficult was brightening up the photo without making his forehead too bright. 

Fun with photoshop

Ben loves his mother.