Wednesday 20th May
Live from 10.00 – 12.00 via ZOOM, £10/session
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Images of faces are everywhere whether shared selfies or fashion stills, photos for biographies or visions of beef cattle in a county show.
This exercise is a playful introduction to photo montage. This is an end in itself. However… it can be an exciting step into something completely different.
The photo montage images are full of interesting juxtapositions, strangeness and implications. The composite faces can result in social commentary, comedy, ridicule. Does the combination or two recognisable faces shed a light on their relationship? Can you make the face of an offspring from the features of parents and grandparents? Political statements, and questions can emerge from this simple technique.
Photomontage can help you make a leap of imagination. Looking at the picture below it could be interpreted as a very clever man looking out of the windows at the studio in Bransbury, licking his lips at the prospect of one of our delicious lunches. I suspect I would not have drawn this image without this strange montage leap of faith.
This class is about helping you to have the courage to do something extraordinary, possibly strange, and see where it takes you.
Materials
- Magazines or images from the internet,
- found images,
- glue,
- camera or mobile phone
- paper, pencils, paints. Probably stick to something quick and easy to use for this session.
Method
Gather Images
You may well have done this before the class. Don’t stick the images together – just place them as you see fit.
Gather magazines, catalogues, old photos or pictures from the internet. At this stage you won’t know quite what you need. I picked up a fishing catalogue – NO faces…even of fish.
Go through the various magazines and cut out, or rip out ANYTHING that catches your eye. This is a very untidy stage – don’t worry about it. All the magazines in the photograph above were from the recycling box.
After I have finished the rubbish will go back into the box.
I thought i would throw together a few photographs to get the ball rolling…
We would love to see your photomontages. If you use instagram please use the hashtag #hampshireartstudioalteredfaces
I’m looking forward to seeing what you get up to.
More Information
The Dadaists saw the satirical potential of photo montage.
Raoul Hausmann 1886-1971
Raoul Hausmann, a founder member of the Berlin Dada group, developed photomontage as a tool of satire and political protest. Although the ‘art critic’ is identified by a stamp as George Grosz, another member of the group, the image was probably an anonymous figure cut from a magazine. The fragment of a German banknote behind the critic’s neck suggests that he is controlled by capitalist forces. The words in the background are part of a poem poster made by Hausmann to be pasted on the walls of Berlin.
Hannah Hoch, The sole female member of Berlin’s 1920s Dada group, produced punchy feminist photomontages of objectified women – cut from fashion magazines, encircled by eyes and adorned with cutlery hair – which were admired at the time and later influenced the punk aesthetic. Dada colleagues sidelined her, the Nazis branded her ‘degenerate’ and while she never recovered her pre-war fame, she was defiantly prolific – painting, drawing and montaging until her death at the age of 88.