The MET

My project is revolving around my obsession with portraiture. I went to the the MET this weekend and shot these photos for a project for another class. In my other class we were given a prompt to experiment with surveillance and portraiture. I thought that this was a perfect opportunity to gather information for this project as well. I had too much fun taking pictures of strangers around me. It made me think about the people within the pictures. I was exploring the questions I usually have about the faces within paintings.

I decided to interview a security person in the European Art section. She was new to the job, and I thought her answers were quite opposite to my feelings about portraiture. She said she doesn’t feel a connection with these paintings, and would rather see culture through objects and sculptures. Unlike my obsession with muted colors and black and white art, she is very drawn to bright colors.

my sketch

Sephora

I decided to go to Sephora to research the element of organization in art and display. This is something I find important in the creation of my own work, and I wanted to see how this ties into the business world. I asked a few questions to a woman working in the store. She found the organization of the store extremely important. She said otherwise people would have no interest in buying this makeup. The black and white design of the store ads a more classic element.

Makeup sketch

Times Square

Times Square has a huge display of giant faces on billboards. There are faces everywhere, yet I don’t recognize them. I wanted to explore the idea of identity and how it may be lost when its purchased and displayed as an item. I interviewed a woman handing out flyers and her responses were quite different from my own opinions. She finds the billboards exciting and inviting. She would have loved to have her face up on the big screens. She doesn’t see them as a loss of identity or invasion of privacy.

This is a location I have in mind for my project installation. I have ideas to create a video, photo series, and sculpture.