“Anyone Who’s Ever Put A Stamp On An Envelope Or A Note On Their Refrigerator Knows What It’s Like

Week 10: November 8

This week, I tried again to explore playing with the printer after I saw someone on Tik Tok doing it (I lost the Tik Tok, the video may have been one of the removed ones from my favorites.) 

I put a random phrase that I got from a generator, and placed it in photoshop after choosing a font, the printed it. I them scanned the printed images, and manipulated it as it was scanned, causing the text to come out distorted and wavy. I then also generated a random object to go with the random phrase, and would print an image of that and manipulate it as I scanned it. Finally, I would put the manipulated image and text together back in photoshop to form an interesting composition, and to see what connections were made between the random phrase and objects.

In this scan, the duck may not be a fish, but it does swim in the water like one, and it is out of water. Compositionally, I think that this scan is the most interesting. 

This scan I had the most trouble finding a connection between the phrase and object. I actually more noticed the differences between them, as the fluffiness of the ideas of a cloud and the sharpness of the scissors contrasted in my mind. 

In this scan, shot made me think of basketball, which made me think of a basketball, which is a ball just like a beach ball. 

I also looked a little more into Surrealism since the critique last week. These scans kind of remind me of a combination between The Persistence of Memory by Salvador Dali and The Treachery of Images by René Magritte. The images and text have the same melting quality of the clocks in The Persistence of Memory, but have the format of a “mismatching” object and label like The Treachery of Images. In a similar way, it brings into questions what is meaning, and how do we even decide if an image goes together or not. 

As mentioned above, my creative research was mostly focused on surrealism this week. I looked at The Historical Dictionary of Surrealism by Keith Aspley. 

Citation: Keith Aspley. 2010. Historical Dictionary of Surrealism. Historical Dictionaries of Literature and the Arts. Lanham, Md: Scarecrow Press. https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=e000xna&AN=341973&site=ehost-live.

Link: http://ezproxy.stevens.edu/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=e000xna&AN=341973&site=ehost-live&ebv=EB&ppid=pp_3

Summary: The Historical Dictionary of Surrealism relates the history of this movement through a chronology, an introductory essay, a bibliography, and over 600 cross-referenced dictionary entries on persons, circles, and groups who participated in the movement; a global entry on some of the journals and reviews they produced; and a sampling of major works of art, cinema, and literature.

Particular sections are highlighted below:

Here, Surrealism “refers to the artistic and literary movement that attempts to express the workings of the subconscious mind and is characterized by incongruous juxtapositions of images, probably needs to be approached from different angles: chronological, thematic, and linguistic, among others”. This definition is important because it emphasizes the importance of juxtaposition in the movement.

This quote talks about some terms that are used in surrealism. 

This book was a great introduction to the Surrealist movement, and does a good job of explaining its history, timeline, terms, and notable figures. I like that it emphasizes juxtaposition as a key part of the movement, as meaning is made through the juxtaposition of images, text, and what the viewer is expecting. 

Overall this week, I learned a lot more about Surrealism, where it came from, and how works from this period function. The article I read related well with the artwork that I made this week, which ended up seeming like a combination between The Persistence of Memory by Salvador Dali with the melting images, and The Treachery of Images by René Magritte with the image caption format. I further explored how connections are made between unlike images and phrases through this work (going back to how our brains will jump to find the pattern). This actually might be my first exploration that includes both images and text. I really liked the visual effect of the scanner as well, and thought that these pieces came out visually interesting as well as relating to my topic. Next week I plan to further explore meaning, as well as make something digital (maybe video?) 

Midterm Critique Notes + Reflections

7 Days of Making

7 Days of Iteration

REMINDER: Official post coming soon 🔥🔥

Week 5: October 4

For scholarly research this week, I found an article from NASA’s Color Usage Research Lab (that existed???) about successive and simultaneous contrast. 

Citation: “Simultaneous and Successive Contrast.” Using Color in Information Display Graphics. NASA. Accessed October 4, 2022. https://colorusage.arc.nasa.gov/Simult_and_succ_cont.php. 

Link: https://colorusage.arc.nasa.gov/Simult_and_succ_cont.php

“The terms "simultaneous contrast" and "successive contrast" refer to visual effects in which the appearance of a patch of light (the "test field") is affected by other light patches ("inducing fields") that are nearby in space and time, respectively. The names are somewhat misleading since both simultaneous and successive contrast involve inducing fields that are close in both time and space.” 

Basically, it means that we see colors differently depending on what it’s surrounding colors are. This is a color theory related topic, but I just think it’s interesting that NASA has done research on this, as it’s a bit unexpected. 

For creative research, I made a model of the mockup I created last week out of jewelry wire I had laying around, tissue paper, and other craft materials I had. The clear transparent material that is on the frame is two ziploc bags. 

It was a slight failure, and it came out a bit wonkier than I expected, but it was probably still good to go through the process of making it. I’m still not sure about the exact works/materials that I would put on the windows. I used various textures, and definitely tried to keep with materials that light could shine through. I feel like it looks a bit childish though because of the use of craft materials….

If I actually made this, I’m realizing I would probably need to use several different arches and connect them on sight, so it could be easily transported and disassembled. Maybe I could use a shower curtain in place of a ziplock bag, and that was I could just drape that over the arches, and just make sure all of the squares are lined up.

I was a big fan of the successive and simultaneous contrast article from NASA, as I feel like it was a good bridge between the graphic design and psychology side of my topic. I am a bit disappointed by my creative research this week though, as it didn’t turn out as beautiful as it was in the mock-up. I am concerned by the lack of specificity of what I want to put in the windows and how I feel like it looks nice, but doesn’t completely convey the message of my topic. It would definitely need an explanation. Maybe I’ll get some feedback during crit next week on that.

Week 13: November 29

This week for scholarly research, I did a final look into semiotics with by taking look at The Semiotic Perspectives of Peirce and Saussure: A Brief Comparative Study

Citation: Yakin, Halina Sendera, and Andreas Totu. “The Semiotic Perspectives of Peirce and Saussure: A Brief Comparative Study.” Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 155 (November 2014): 4–8. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2014.10.247. 

Link: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/277572736_The_Semiotic_Perspectives_of_Peirce_and_Saussure_A_Brief_Comparative_Study

Summary: The primary purpose of this paper is to make a comparative analysis between two leading scholars’ perspectives on semiotic theory, namely Charles Sanders Peirce and Ferdinand de Saussure. In addition, it is also aimed at discussing the linkage between communication and semiotic which can be grasped as a signification of symbol or simply as a study of sign in societal life. Apart from the communication field itself, the theory is commonly used as a reference in various fields such as philosophy, linguistic, arts and literature, archeology, architecture, mathematics and so on. The data has been attained by using content analysis technique of various studies on semiotic and related subject. This article is expected to generate positive contribution in underlining the significance of semiotic theory, not only towards the enhancement of the semiotic epistemology but also to other researchers and academicians in related fields or specific areas.

Specific sections of interest are attached below: 

It’s interesting how all of these texts describe Saussure’c concepts in just a slightly different way. Sound pattern I don’t think was mentioned in the previous articles I read. 

Here, Saussure says that signs are not signs unless they are intended to be interpreted as a sign, which I find interesting but I’m not sure I agree with.  

This article focused on Peirce and Saussure’s theories in particular, rather than on semiotics as a whole like the other articles I have read. I focus on Saussure in particular. The signifier is the physical existence of the sign, which can be a word, symbol, or anything that can represent an object or concept. The signified is the object or mental concept that the sign brings about. For example, the symbol of a snowflake brings up the mental concept of a snowflake, as a small icy crystal that falls from the sky. This then may lead to other associations that come with the idea of snowflakes like winter, Christmas, the cold, snowstorms, etc. This makes sense. What I’m not sure about, or maybe am a little unclear about, is how a sign is only a sign if it is delivered with purpose and specific meaning intentionally. If a sign is delivered with purpose, but a very vague meaning, is it no longer a sign? Why can a sign not represent something signified if the person viewing it sees it that way? If it brings about a signified, I argue that it could be considered a sign. 

For creative research and inspiration, I went to the New York Public Library main branch. I was not able to see all of the rooms as some of them were closed or full for tours for the day, but I was able to see a few objects: 

I just thought the typefaces here were really beautiful

Trompe L’oeil with Paper Money, 1796

By Joseph Hunin After Jacques Callot 

Wall card for Trompe L’oeil with Paper Money

Fan made of ivory and printed paper

Wall card for fan

The book at the top I initially saved because I found the typefaces to be really beautiful, and thought it was interesting that so many different ones were combined on one page. Usually this isn’t cohesive, but here I feel like it kind of works. On the topic of certain signs leading to certain signifiers, I thought about how certain typefaces can seem to go with certain words. Could typefaces sound as a semi-symbol that bring about certain mental concepts, making them a sign? I also enjoyed seeing the samples of the short-lived assignat juxtaposed with each other. The fact that there are so many variations yet it is short lived suggests instability, which make sense since this print is supposed to hint at the poverty that can come with putting all of your trust in paper money. A similar message can be found in the beautiful fan below that is also made of currency. 

This week, I got a new perspective on Saussure and Peirce and semiotics. While I may disagree with Saussure on the necessity of intentionality for a sign, overall I have found his theory about making meaning to be key to understanding juxtaposition. For now though, I think I have done enough research on this subject. I also saw some more historical pieces that I generally found beautiful, but do act as examples of how juxtaposition can be used to convey a subtle message that may not be apparently obvious. My main focus now is going to be on finishing my paper, as well as deciding on an exact idea for my final form.