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Assignment 6
Problem 1: Michelle Ha
For me, what makes Michelle's problem #1 stand out is her creative use of the GD platform to complete the objective of the assignment. Rather than using the GD triangle primitive to imitate the style of a Bauhauser, she uses the power of the computational medium to transform a Bauhauser into five triangles ("… with skewed images generated by gd," Michelle writes).
Her piece is also particularly interesting for it shows the various stages of the transformation. The middle three images, due to the highly jarring jagged lines, are not particularly aesthetically appealing. This aspect appears to reinforce Krauss's claim that "painting-by-numbers," in this case the mere computational crunching of an artwork, is a "mockery of art." But, in contrast, the final image is very attractive: the distortions of the lines are more-or-less minimized and the final three-color painting is beautifully simple, as if the final image was "distilled" into a more pure form from the more complex (in terms of both the color and layout) original.
Michelle's problem #1 is a creative and effective demonstration of the artistic potential of a computational medium.
Problem 2: Moira Racich
Moira's visual introduction is a highly attractive collage of three images and a block of text that provide different aspects of her character.
While the work is visually impressive, it does not give a thorough "introduction" for it is very difficult to decipher on the account of this collage alone what the various pieces represent.
An interesting aspect of Moira's work is that many of these images have been used by her for previous assignments. For instance, the sunset and flower-painting scenes have been seen in her assignment 2, and her portrait has been seen in both her assignment 2 and assignment 3 (problem 3). It is also worthwhile to note that the images appear more vibrant in assignment 6 (due to larger size and, in the case of the portrait, color). With this in mind, perhaps what Moira meant to symbolize by "Moira Racich dreams in color" is her rejection of the restrictions that had been placed on us for past assignments (the black-and-white requirement, for example.)
Problem 3: Adrienne Bolger
The most striking feature of Adrienne's problem #3 is her success in creating the illusion of depth by using appropriate shading. The image seems to be composed of three-dimensional polygons, rather than a simple, flat painting.
This design goes a long way in making the portrait appear "realistic," one of the objectives of the assignment.
There are some incongruities in the piece, however. While the hair, face and nose appear to have "volume," other features - such as the eye, eyebrow and mouth - are unmistakably flat.
But nevertheless, Adrienne's problem #3 is a very effective use of soft gradations to add realism to the work.