Project 2 - Jeff Toye

Project 2

Jeff Toye

Alexander Rodchenko was the artist who inspired these paintings. He is a Russian avante-garde artist, sculptor, painter, photographer, and graphic designer. Rodchenko emerged from the Russian Revolution and focused a great deal first on war posters and limited color compositions until moving toward more photo montage work and ultimatley unique photography.

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Movement

For this piece, I referenced a photograph montage and various posters by Rodchecko. The diagonal lines were strategically placed to move your eye quickly all over the entire composition while the verticle bars push your eye up into the daigonals and into the middle away from the top and bottom of the piece. The one area that is relatively empty and static (the top right corner) is circumvented by the eye throught the turning of the dinosaur's head.

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Balance

For this piece, I referenced a photo montage by Rodchenko. The diagonal symmetry is vextremely implied by the similar opposite corners creating the balance, however the stacked animals in the center and the different letters create at least a small amount of variety. The way the balance is achieved, I feel, is sort of "cheating" by simply mirroring the image over the line of symmetry, however I think it works in this piece because you read the word "ANIMAL" across the line which takes away from the idea that the two sides are mirrored images.

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Emphasis and Economy

This piece war inspired by many of Rodchenko's pieces, however it is much representational and impractical compared to most of his posters in this style. The Russian character is the focal point of the piece, however without knowing that the white shape is a shape, the 6 triangles are all pointing into the cente creating a "nothing" focal point right in the middle of their crossing. The emphasis here is blank space which utilizes the economy of having a focal point without actually having a focal point and by using shapes around it to bring emphasis to it.

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Repetition

This piece was inspired by a photograph by Rodchenko entitles "Steps." The piece itself was very rich in detail and meaning and a simple representation of it was all that was needed to achieve the goals of this piece. The repetition of the step shadows nicely brings attention the main focal point, the woman and child, by having perpendicular movements. The steps also create a distinct sense of depth both going back towards the top of the page and coming up as the shadow and the figure work together to make the woman feel like shes popping out of the piece. The piece is very simple and could possibly use something else, some other detail or element to make it more intriguing, however, I believe it is effective in showing how repitition can assist in making a work effective.