This is week 3 of the current series in the One Four. Visit this page for more information on how the One Four works. Also, be sure to check out Leanne Cole’s pages.
This week follows from last week’s near-abstract image. This week it’s a full-on abstract. Starting with the Week 2 image, I first felt that I wanted the image to be less yellow, in fact more pink or rose color. So the first edits were with colors; working with the colors already in the image, I chose to increase the intensity of certain colors and decrease the intensity of other colors. Then, I subtracted contrast and structure, and increased elements (like blur) that would make the image much softer. Most of these changes were pushed until I was satisfied with the result.
Here it is again.
I know that abstracts like this are not everyone’s cup of tea. But the point I want to emphasize is that there’s nothing new here. Everything in this image is a variation of the original. And everything in the original is included here (except for the fence removed at the outset), albeit with a very different appearance. I did not start to create this image from a blank page. Rather, this abstract image emerged from a progression starting with the original.
Here are the original and all three variations so far.
Here is a side by side comparison of Variation 1 with Variation 3.
This series reflects my interest in the writings of Viktor Shklovsky, a 20th-century Russian writer/critic. Shklovsky introduced the idea of defamiliarization (ostranenie). Shklovsky posited that the purpose of art (perhaps not the only purpose) is to defamiliarize that which is familiar, to create unfamiliar renditions of things that are known in order to inspire new perspectives on the original. (See more of Shklovsky in Visions of Nature.)
Next week, the conclusion to this saga, with Variation 4.
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