Victorian photographs and Andres Serrano's "Morgue" (Unit 7)

Post-mortem photography was very common in the nineteenth century when "death occurred in the home and was an ordinary part of life". The death behind my pix-elated images would be invisible behind it. The same can be said for these images of Victorian photographs, but the death is hiding in sight. All of the children in these photos are dead. But its not communicated because you don't assume day life photographs of fully clothed bodies, maybe only at an open coffin funeral.

Andres Serrano's controversial "corpse" series presents morgue photography of the victims of violent death in the manner of beautified portraits. As the common practice of post-mortem photography in North America and Western Europe has largely ceased, the portrayal of such images has become vulgar. 

You are familiar enough with the skin tones and shape but its quite disgustingly unfamiliar in a sence of how much they give away in death, the bag is the most unsubtle thing about it and also makes for great colouring.

Photograph from "Morgue" 1991, Serrano

Photograph from "Morgue" 1991, Serrano

Pix-elation Blur (Unit 7)

My idea of heavy pix-elation was to get an honest deep look into the fabric of something dead. So deep that when presented alone and scaled up the fuller content couldn't be recognized. (Like looking at a piece of a puzzle).

The picture below is different because its pix-elation is controlled to give the viewer an obscure and identifiable image. This example an provocative image because you can identify a naked figure, but its age and gender is obscure. It is the same control i will have over my images to give a familiarly and

Artist Unknown

FMP and proposal (Unit 7)

UAL Awarding Body - Foundation

Unit 7 - Project Proposal

Candidate  Name	Robert Bury
Candidate Number	32852
Pathway	Fine Art
Project Title	Aesthetic DNA
ASection 1: Review (Approx 150 words)
Throughout the course so far i have built up a wide range of new skills such as life drawing, screen printing and wire sculpting. I've developed contextual knowledge through research and practice involving ideas of automatism, mechanised painting and conceptual sculpture. These ideas led a series of automatic drawings using pen/charcoal/paint/inscribe pastel that i printed into a book using an online manufacturer; an artistically unintentional sculpture that i again drew from and a final series of conceptual sculptures commenting on the the dilution of commerce and art. Ive worked with and exhibited in a gallery space and presenting my portfolio in several interviews for universities with success.
Section 2: Project Concept (approx 250 words)
The initial concept is to look deeply into the fabric of something dead and then scale it so that its fuller content can't be recognised. (Like looking into a piece of a puzzle), scaling it up, then presented. I've also made a decision to break off a series from that to break down its deep pixelated visual and present it in measured convention. As if the pixels that made up the digital scan are broken down into ingedients. I've been informed by artists such as Andres Serrano's work "Morgue", Adam Lister's pixelated water colours of class paintings, Piet Mondrean's work and his aesthetic concepts and some broader research into video gaming pixelation and old victorian photography of death. After being initially informed the idea is to digitally scan insects things of similar scale directly off a scanner because its a nice working scale. So this work will involve digital scanning, photography and editing; and may involving none digital works such as drawings or printing.
Section 3: Evaluation (approx 100 words)
I will evaluate my ideas, research and processes by keeping up to date via blog and time table. Permitting me to continuously re-evaluate and develop my project. i have learn that the endless process of evaluation and clear understanding of progression of work will allow me to organise further ideas efficiently. i will discuss my work with different tutors to get a range of different opinions by keeping a running body of my work i am able to look back and evaluate everything i have done so that i can make improvements along the way.
Proposed Research Sources and Bibliography (Harvard Format)
Artists: Andres Serrano ("Morgue"), Adam Lister, Peter Saville, Piet Mondrean, Van Gogh (Sunflower textures) Research: Victorian death photography, Video game pixel design Available at: http://blogger.com/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post-mortem_photography http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Saville_(graphic_designer) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piet_Mondrian http://www.pixelprospector.com/i-history-of-video-games/ http://beautifuldecay.com/2013/09/13/andres-serranos-powerful-images-death/ http://www.adamlistergallery.com/ http://www.google.com/imghp

Project Action Plan and Timetable
Week	Date Week Beginning	Activity / What you are intending to do - including independent study	Resources / What you will need to do it - including access to workshops
1	26/03/14	Develop FMP idea, first artist research	Blogger
2	01/04/14	Find dead ant outside college, scanned and uploaded and talked about, developing idea with tutor	Scanner , Blogger
3	10/04/14	Develop first ant scan into bee scans idea, developing idea with tutor	Scanner, Blogger
4	17/04/14	Findd two dead bees outside home, scans on home scanner	Scanner, Blogger
5	24/04/14	Further artist research, third bee scanner	Scanner, Blogger
6	03/05/14	Tate visit notice, blogwork	Blogger, Take out cameras
7	16/05/14	Tate visit, filming and interviewing, further research	Driving to Tate
8	24/05/14	Develop idea from tate visit, print out first scans	Reprographics
9	30/05/14	Make decisions on presentation and work to put out	Pins, boards,