Compose styles
Rather than blending styles toward a middle, this gives them roles. The first one carries the structure, the next comes in as the accent, and anything after that shows up in a single detail. Where they fight each other, it says so before you start.
How to divide the work
- Composition
- Follow Dada: Keep one reading path; rotate and sever the rest
- Type
- Set in Dada's manner (Collide weights, directions and cases in one plane), and let Photogram's lettering (For letters, lay cut stencils on the paper and leave them reversed) appear only where you want the eye to catch.
- Material
- Ground in Dada's material (Letterpress black, red, off-white; bind the accidents with repetition); bring in exactly one thing from Photogram (Photo paper, lamp height, exposure time, distance controlling edge hardness).
- Colour
- Build on #efe6d0, #d7362f, #161513 and admit one accent from #f0eee5, #73777a, #111315.
Where they fight
- Dada and Photogram stand roughly 86 years apart. Keep one of them recognisably period rather than letting both drift into the middle.
Caution
- Dada Not decorative messiness. Decide which authority or custom you are objecting to.
- Photogram This is not black and white abstraction in general. Merely arranging unusual objects records only shadows, while transparency and distance from the sensitized surface are what make the image.
Image prompt
Produce four original images that take their structure from Dada (style, 1916–1920s) and their accent from Photogram (technique, 1830s– / avant-garde revival). ## What to make Make the kind of thing Dada exists for: cultural events and statements that doubt common sense, or making voice, noise and collision come before meaning. Choose one subject and hold it across all four. ## Structure comes from Dada - Rotated type - Fragments of sound - Collisions of scale - Unbalanced margins Composition: Keep one reading path; rotate and sever the rest. Type and lettering: Collide weights, directions and cases in one plane. ## Accent comes from Photogram, used sparingly - Cameraless - Object contours - Reversed values - Contact and distance Let one material quality come from it: Photo paper, lamp height, exposure time, distance controlling edge hardness. ## Colour and feeling Build the ground on #efe6d0, carry the structure in #d7362f and #161513, and let a single accent come from #73777a. These are read off real works, so a direction rather than a fixed palette. Feeling to carry: rebellion, play, exhilaration, technique, calm. ## Where they fight - Dada and Photogram stand roughly 86 years apart. Keep one of them recognisably period rather than letting both drift into the middle. ## What goes wrong - Dada: Not decorative messiness. Decide which authority or custom you are objecting to. - Photogram: This is not black and white abstraction in general. Merely arranging unusual objects records only shadows, while transparency and distance from the sensitized surface are what make the image. ## Across the four Keep the roles fixed in all four. Vary the framing, the scale and the arrangement so the set shows what this pairing can do rather than four versions of one picture. ## Constraints - Do not imitate, reference or name any specific artist, studio, brand, character or copyrighted work. - Do not reproduce the composition of an existing work. - Produce original compositions in the general period languages described above.
Related entries
- Dada 1916–1920s / Style / Avant-garde
Deliberately dislocates meaning and order, making authority itself the material of the joke.
- Photogram 1830s– / avant-garde revival / Technique / Photographic Techniques
No camera is involved. Objects laid on the sensitive surface and exposed to light turn contour, transparency and distance into the picture.
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