Photo Mentor Project

Andre Kertesz

Andre Kertesz was born in Budapest July 2nd, 1894.  Originally named Kertesz Andor he lived with his middle-class Jewish family with his Mother, Father, and two brothers.  After earning enough money Andre disobeyed his parent’s wishes for him to pursue a career in business and bought a camera.  In his free time, Andre would take photos of things we might see on a daily basis and give them a deep meaning.  

The first photo depicts a fork leaning up against a plate.  This photo is called “the Fork” it was taken in Paris in 1928.  This photo represents a utensil people use everyday to represent their lives and the shadow represents the dark secrets they keep from other people.  This relates to his main style of taking a photo of things people see daily (the Fork) and adding a deep meaning to the photo.  This photo is one of Andre's most famous pictures.  The fork was used in the ‘Salon de l’Escalier’ (Paris, 1928) and at ‘Film und Foto’ (Stuttgart, 1929) and was used in an 
advertisement for the silversmiths Bruckman-Bestecke.

The second photo is untitled and it was taken in Meudon, France in 1928. The photo depicts a street leading under a bridge with a train going on top.  People could say the photo that the photo looks like an average day walking in town at this time period. The meaning of this photo is thought that the man in the foreground could be the German painter Willi Baumeister, and the package he is carrying the stretcher of a canvas. Kertész had known him since 1926 when he took a photo of him.  This photo was taken with a Leica.  This camera first appeared in Germany in the 1920s. Kertész began using one in 1928, the reason this camera is used so often by photojournalists is because it was light and easy to handle.

The final photo is named Mondrian's Pipe and Glasses, it was taken in Paris in 1928.  The photo was first shown in 1927 at the Au Sacre du Printemps gallery.  Andre portrayed this by taking a photo of two pairs of glasses, one on its side and one standing up on the lenses, and a pipe sitting in an ashtray.  The objects are owned by famous painter Piet Mondrian who painted very abstract paintings hence the name “Mondrian’s Pipe and Glasses. This goes back to his main style of showing everyday objects (The pipe and glasses) and giving them a deep meaning of placing them in abstract ways to show the style of the owner’s paintings.

Andre was a photojournalism legend and many photojournalists today give credit to him for inspiring them.  Many try to replicate his style but very few are able to recreate his sense of perspective on the world and its creations.  In an interview with the famous photographer, Henri-Cartier Bresson he said; “We all owe something to Kertesz, Whatever we have done, Andre did first”.

My Photo Interpretation

My photo was taken with a Nikon D3100 with a f2.6 Aperture and a 1/100 Shutter speed.  The photo is of a door with the number 19 on it.  Just looking at it you would not think it would have a very deep meaning but that is not the case.  The meaning of this photo is that the door is to entrance to adulthood.  I showed that it was the door to adulthood and not just a random door because of the number.  The number is 19 which represents the age you are considered an adult and not a minor any more.  I think this imitated Andre Kertesz photos because it is a simple object (A door) and it has a deep hidden meaning (The entrance to adulthood)

References

Lafer, Sarah, 2011. Retrieved December 20, 2016 from http://cargocollective.com/arthauslondon/Andre-Kertesz

Andre Kertesz, Retrieved December 20, 2016 from https://sites.google.com/site/andrekerteszphotographs/photography/the-fork

Wikipedia, Andre Kertesz, Retrieved December 20, 2016 from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andr%C3%A9_Kert%C3%A9sz

Wan, Leo,  2016. Artist Mentor Project, Retrieved December 20, 2016 from http://nexusvaporotart.blogspot.ca/

Marketable Object

For my marketable object I chose to do silk screen.  The reason I chose silk screen was because you can easily print a photo onto an article of clothing or any fabric like a bag or a t-shirt.  The photo I chose to use was one I took a ticket I found in my house.  The reason I chose this photo is because it looks like it could make a cool logo for a brand.

How I would market this logo is by printing it on clothing and branding it as "Admit One".  The logo is printed in the colour red and not placed right in the middle or on the side but just a little bit off those areas which makes the print unique to the brand.

There are two different styles to the print:

#1: Solid Print,    The solid print is when the logo is fully filled with colour and looks brand new.

#2: Worn Print,   The worn print is when the logo looks like it is very old.   How I achieved this print is by using a thin layer of paint and sliding the squeegee once across the silk screen so the paint runs out before it reaches the end.


These 3 Following Photos are of the Solid Print.

These 3 Following Photos are of the Worn Print.

Alternative Processes

#1:  Gel Medium

The Theme for my gel medium photo was Balance.  On one side of the photo there is a tower of rocks which has many different sizes of stones forming the sculpture but is still able to balance with ease.  The other side has a picture that i took of a buddha sculpture i found in the class, Balance is a bit deeper in this part of the photo but it still follows the theme.  Buddhism, the religion that believe buddha to be god is very often associated with the art of yoga.  Performing yoga poses requires a lot of balance to hold the position without toppling over so thats why I included a photo of this statue.  How I made this photo was by first photoshopping the rocks into the photo with the statue and I also made the rocks more opaque so they would blend better into the background.  Once the photo was finished I printed it out taped it down to a wooden board and started the process and painting on the layers of gel medium and drying.  Once applying around 10 layers I washed off all of the paper off of the back and the gel medium photograph was complete.

#2: Photogram


The photogram is a process of exposing photo paper to light while placing various objects on them so that those certain areas would stay white.   What i used for my photogram was: A lid of a glue stick, a lid of a film canister, popsicle sticks cut into sword like shapes, pieces of construction paper i cut out to look like bodies in a fighting stance, and paper letters i cut to form the word on the bottom of the photo.   The meaning of my photogram is "Fighting over Nothing".  Basically what this means is nowadays people fight over such minimal things such as who gets the last playstation on a black friday sale or who gets to control the remote.  How I portrayed this meaning in my photogram was by having two stick figures fighting over the word "nothing".  I think I showed the theme pretty well because it is very literal and simple,  but also would take a few seconds to understand what it really means.