"Weekend Getaway"
Collage (construction paper, photographs)
West Chester, PA
My "Special Place" is my couch on the weekend with my boyfriend, Marc (and sometimes my dog, Charlie). It is the time where I get to escape from my hectic life and just be me. I wanted to unify the piece and create the feeling of one place by duplicating the images and emphasizing the photos of the couch. My hope is that the viewer gets the feeling of contentment even amidst the bright colors and city setting.
16 comments:
Hi.. nice to get a chance to connect with you.. your image made me feel very privaliged to live where i do..i saw the city images and felt lost (after a few yrs living on small islands citys conjour up a great sence of disorientation to me) ..i could connect greatly to your "sofa" i couldnt stop wandering what noises you hear ?..i hear the sea crashing behind the house and the occasional car on the single track road near by..i then started thinking about all the buildings in your city image..what they might contain.. galleries, museumns, libarys, shops..ohh shops..resturants..i think you,d have to make room on your couch as im now exhausted just thinking about all the places i would love to be !
Hi Lauren N,
Your dog is so cute! The image makes me long for my own couch. I agree with you, there is nothing like just sitting down and relaxing at the end (or beginning) of a very busy week.
Lauren B.
I like the repeated images in this. Also there is a duality between the city images and images of the couch.
Hi Lauren!
I couldn't agree with you more. My favorite nights are on the couch with my boyfriend and puppy! Thank you for creating such a personal piece for us to view. I really like the negative spaces between the images- for some reason I think of jazz when i look at it.
Thanks for sharing!
Hi Lauren
I love the links ,contrasts and relationships revealed in your work:the private space with public ,a glimpse of part of your inner landscape,contentment, with the physical landscape of the city,your most intimate relationship with the anonymity of the city.Visually, I like the repetition of the images.... and,oh yeah ,nice dog!
I like your images. It's strange and compelling that you are surrounding yourself with skyscrapers, you and your dog. The contrast between the impersonal and the personal is acute.
my new blog is http://betweenscyllaandcharybidis.blogspot.com/
the old one was tagged as spam for no reason that I can figure. I appreciate your comments.
Lauren,
I think it's interesting that you chose construction paper as a background to your personal photos because it automatically assigns a playful, child-like vibe to the collage. It conveys warmth and comfort. I also find it interesting that you chose an areal view of the city, since you it seems that you relate relaxation when you are outside of the city.
It is interesting how each of the photographs comes from a very similar vantage point (angled downwards), so the images seem to occur within your piece as pockets of space at various depths. Equally noteworthy is the fact that the 'warmest' (regarding the color) image in your piece is that of you and your boyfriend. You seem to have executed exactly what you were after. Nice to see.
~ Bryan
Your positioning and framing of the color photo of you and your boyfriend do set it apart from the surrounding bigness of the city pictures. There is an enclosed or enveloped feel to it, and I can read that it is somewhere within the limits of the city. The close-up of the dog being physically larger than the space your boyfriend takes up should be a warning call to him to start buying flowers now!
Thank you for your comments on my blog.
I was a little disturbed by it, realizing I had arranged it with part of the population at the bottom. When I was putting it together, I had geography in mind, west to east. But there's a social content, too, you're right.
Hi Lauren,
Thanks for your comment on "Sanctuary". I wanted to convey a dream-like quality with it because it is truly how I feel about my house and little family. It was always a dream of mine to own land and a cottage in the country where I could hide out and create!
Your collage really lets viewers get a glimpse of your personal life. The intimacy is really heart-warming, and the image itself just makes me feel happy. Nice job!
Hi Lauren - the juxtaposition of the grid patterns - rectangular shapes - cityscape and personal spaces establish a push / pull with the viewer. One can not help but associate grid patterns and rectangular patterns with most any city of any size - the bigger the city, the more pronounced the patterns and shapes. Your selection of the impersonal along with the personal spaces - the large scale with the small make for an effective compostion. Cheers, Michael
Thank you for your comment on my WYWH. Yeah, a big panoramic shot of Philly that I squashed down horizontally. I don't know if anyone got that. I felt threatened when I came here, about as welcome as a virus. I tried to make use of sickening colors for effect.
The composition of this piece has the grid appearance of the areal view of Philly which I love. I think the contrast of busy city with the coziest place ever really works in this piece.
In response to your wish you were here comment. I got the spots on the image by using watercolour over my painting and finished the whole collage with gloss medium.
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