on framing fragments 02

How do you selectively frame to play with spatial construction and deconstruction? The translation of a spatial journey into a two dimensional medium acts as a sequence of moments, simultaneously moving and stopped in time.

We were given a photograph and asked to respond to it in a 17x24 printed piece. Looking at the original image, I immediately became aware of the multiple canvases that were different interpretations of the clock tower in front of them. I noticed that every painter framed a fragment of the clock tower based on their own perception. As my response to the original image, I became interested in framing a fragment of the given photograph. The play of positive and negative, foreground, middle ground and background were simulated though layering fragmented words in a mock-up collage over the photocopied photograph. I kept making iterations of the original image and reinterpreting them. Almost in a cubist like fashion, I broke up words and the image background into the composition of the poster. The final printed piece evolved into three separate pieces, each one framing a given reality differently. Each framing resulted in a different perception of space.

Playing with two sizes of type and with positive and negative forms, the eye was tricked into reconfiguring the fragments in space. Normal perception was altered so that the foreground recedes to the background and the background jumps to the foreground. This spatial interplay on the two dimensional page created space and altered space. It utilized framing as a mechanism of creating boundaries for a given object or word. Type boxes on the page mimiced the vocabulary of the amateur painters stacked on the path in front of the clock tower. With the differentiation of words and hierarchies, the reader of the printed piece had a shifted reading of the flow of information. They could pick up fragmented thoughts according to how they perceived the structure.

Through scanning the three dimensional mock up, I focused on the fact that even the poster is an iteration or framing of reality. I highlighted the process of construction by playing with white or black frames, and by leaving a gap where the two scans were meant to be seamed together. Revealing these seams—these overlaps and juxtapositions—highlighted the hand of the interpreter. I stressed the fact that I constructed this interpretation of the original photograph, and that this was yet another iteration of the “real” clock tower. Frames within frames, layers upon layers, these were fragmented, simultaneous moments of the real experience. This honesty of interpretation and translation became an interesting, if obvious, way that form followed content and the project spoke about the construction of itself.