Beauty by Kristen R.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

John Anthony Baldessari was an American conceptual artist. He was known for his work that featured found photography and appro priated images. He lived and worked in Santa Monica and Venice, California. He was initially a painter, but Baldessari began to incorporate texts and photography into his canvases in the mid-1960’s. In the 1970’s, John began working in printmaking, film, video, installation, sculpture and photography. He created many works which demonstrate, and in some cases combine, the narrative potential of images and the associative power of language within the boundaries of the work of art.

CONCEPTUAL

For my work, I wanted to create something along the lines of what John Baldessari creates. When I was thinking of how to execute these works, I wanted to add color to black and white photos. I wanted to block out the faces of the people in the photo to relate back to the theme of this magazine, beauty. Without our faces, we tend to blend into the same people. Our faces are unique and special ;they are who we are. By blocking out the faces and keeping pieces of the face allowed me to capture the beauty of the subjects.

CONCEPTUAL Photography

John Baldessari inspired my works in many ways. I used two specific works of his to somewhat recreate and reference. One included two people, one holding an apple, and everything but their noses blocked out. I re-created this by using two subject matters that got their faces blocked out by bright colours and even one holding a pear instead of an apple. My next piece was inspired by a self- portrait of John where I used abstract images to cover certain parts of my subject, similar to John’s. I was drawn to Baldessari’s work because it was bold and colourful, and spoke to the idea of beauty individually for me.

WORLD PRESS

PAIRED PHOTO PHOTOGRAPHY

Abriansyah Liberto, 2019, Haze

The world press photo suits my chosen design element because it reflects the theme of the photo; Covid. The image depicts a little boy holding a face mask over his face. The photo is originally black and white emphasizing contrast throughout the photo and giving it a dramatic effect. The main subject is a little boy who appeals to our emotions toward the photo; feel empathetic for the little boy having to go through the rough time of Covid. The way the boy covers his face with the mask draws the viewer in and gives us an element of the unknown in the photo.

The purpose of my shot was to reflect the world press photo I had chosen. The image connects to my world press photo because it demonstrates the theme being presented which is the Covid-19 pandemic. It connects to the image because it includes a mask like a world press photo. The two photos have many similarities when it comes to elements of design such as both being in black and white. This creates a lot of contrast in both photos. The space created in each photo is similar as they both help balance the photos out. The world press photos’ texture creates an opposite element between the two. The images connect to each other by expressing a simple tone of sadness and heaviness of the topic of Covid. They are visually connected not only in the way that they both contain a mask and follow the same theme, but in the way the subjects are somber and how the contrast compliments this.

Special Feature

This is Lauren Realejo, my 12 year-old sister. She is very passionate about makeup and was very excited to model for this shoot. We wanted to portray the theme of beauty and show how it applies to all, no matter the age.

LAUREN REALEJO

When asked what beauty is,Lauren had a lot of valuable things to say. She says “ what makes a person beautiful is what is on the inside, and the outside is only beautiful if you love your-self”. Being a young girl and having this perspective on beauty is so powerful.

This shoot was done in my master bathtub with only a camera and a ring light. My sister and I got a bouquet of flowers and placed them in the milky bath water to create contrast in the photos. We decided to wear black clothing to ensure that the flowers popped. My sister did her makeup to make her face appear glowing and angelic. The makeup complimented the flowers because they included different tones of pink; which creates contrast in the photos.

Flower Bath Photoshoot

As my younger sister, she has always looked up to me when it comes to wearing makeup and growing up as fast as she can. Lauren is great at expressing herself through makeup and she understands that she is beautiful with and without it. As her biggest form of selfexpression, makeup has been an interest of hers for a long time. Lauren likes to create simple makeup such as the look presented in the shoot, but also likes to create scary makeup looks using whatever she can find.