The demonstrator is trying to make off to the left, but although his legs are doing OK, his upper half has got caught as a mere image on the underside of a trap-door. (Matt experienced a similar transformation in comic book picture 25, Art Therapy). At the same time the backgound to the scene is deep space at the top, but has become a mere patterned surface pierced by a man-hole lower down. So solid figure becomes mere picture as the eye travels up the image whilst space becomes surface as we scan in the opposite direction. The same thing happens in comic book picture 27, OK!. Matt looks as if he's probably three-dimensional, but Fran and Ben, and Lucy as far as her head goes, could just be pictures on the surface of the K. Similarly the K seems to be solid figure against a background of deep space to the left, but becomes an opening in a surface with stars painted on it to the lower right. Matt however is putting that to the test by seeing if he can pick up a star.
Playing around with pictures within pictures has never been easier because of the tonal controls and distortion tools in graphic packages, which offer strong surface cue effects. Experiment! And when your eye is really in, take a look at Braque's "Still life with Violin and Pitcher" of 1910, at www.artchive.com/artchive/B/braque/v_pitchr.jpg.html (Click on Image Viewer to enlarge). Notice the illusionistic nail and shadow at the top of the painting. Braque wanted to emphasise that the whole of the rest of the picture is just a surface - a picture within a picture - although it's full of suggestions of relief and volume. (The painting is in the Basel Kunsthalle).
The cubists, especially Braque, Picasso and Gris, loved playing with subtle paradoxical "picture within the picture" effects like these. For a great selection of their work in the slightly later style called synthetic cubism, put "USC synthetic cubism" into Google, and go to the University of Southern California (USC) site that comes up. Then just imagine every painting has a nail like the one in Braque's painting, emphasising that the rest of the picture is just a surface, even though it paradoxically just won't lie down flat.
Thanks for joining me on this site and good luck with your own artwork.
& Comic Book Picture 27, OK!
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The demonstrator is trying to make off to the left, but although his legs are doing OK, his upper half has got caught as a mere image on the underside of a trap-door. (Matt experienced a similar transformation in comic book picture 25, Art Therapy). At the same time the backgound to the scene is deep space at the top, but has become a mere patterned surface pierced by a man-hole lower down. So solid figure becomes mere picture as the eye travels up the image whilst space becomes surface as we scan in the opposite direction. The same thing happens in comic book picture 27, OK!. Matt looks as if he's probably three-dimensional, but Fran and Ben, and Lucy as far as her head goes, could just be pictures on the surface of the K. Similarly the K seems to be solid figure against a background of deep space to the left, but becomes an opening in a surface with stars painted on it to the lower right. Matt however is putting that to the test by seeing if he can pick up a star.
Playing around with pictures within pictures has never been easier because of the tonal controls and distortion tools in graphic packages, which offer strong surface cue effects. Experiment! And when your eye is really in, take a look at Braque's "Still life with Violin and Pitcher" of 1910, at www.artchive.com/artchive/B/braque/v_pitchr.jpg.html (Click on Image Viewer to enlarge). Notice the illusionistic nail and shadow at the top of the painting. Braque wanted to emphasise that the whole of the rest of the picture is just a surface - a picture within a picture - although it's full of suggestions of relief and volume. (The painting is in the Basel Kunsthalle).
The cubists, especially Braque, Picasso and Gris, loved playing with subtle paradoxical "picture within the picture" effects like these. For a great selection of their work in the slightly later style called synthetic cubism, put "USC synthetic cubism" into Google, and go to the University of Southern California (USC) site that comes up. Then just imagine every painting has a nail like the one in Braque's painting, emphasising that the rest of the picture is just a surface, even though it paradoxically just won't lie down flat.
Thanks for joining me on this site and good luck with your own artwork.