Category Archives: Project 1 – Lost & Found

Russell Armfield Project 1

Taking a walk on my way home from Citytech, I found several objects that either have extreme contrast to their backdrops or blend in. I found several organic shapes or items that have a more obvious figure/ground relationship. The first of the obvious relationships is a black dot against a much lighter sidewalk, while the second is a dark color against lighter pavement. The third image of this group is a red piece of fabric against a gray backdrop. The ambiguous figure/ground relationships were much harder to spot than the obvious ones, all of them organic. The first of the ambiguous figure/ground relationships is a dark brown street against a lightly colored sidewalk, with the second one being glass on the sidewalk. The third and final image of this group is a liquid stain on pavement.

I was attached to most of these objects I took pictures of because I was curious about how they ended up on the road or sidewalk. After taking the photos, I made up stories about how the situations or objects on the image came about. For the first of the obvious figure/ground relationship images, I presumed that a drop of wet concrete was dropped accidentally and dried up. For the second image of this group, I think that an old ripped dress had it’s pieces blown by the wind onto the street. For the ambiguous figure/ground relationships, I think the first one was from someone painting a streak with brown paint that dried up over time. The second of the group could just be someone dropping their phone and having the screen crack and fall out. The third and final image of this group is from a spill of soda.

“Project 1 – Lost and Found ” | step 1 :discover

ambiguous

These are the years left over before the earth dies. With each piece of candy thrown on the floor the earth loses a year.

obvious

This image shown above was proof that dinosaurs existed. These are the nails of a female dinosaur that was locked in a metal box, who started to dig their nails into it trying to escape.

ambiguous

Before the sky was the sky,  it was just stone people would look up to and just see this  layout until one day little holes started to form and dust came out forming the sky we see today.

obvious

 

This paper of the floor found in Brooklyn was spells of the most enchanted witches and as days goes by it crumbles more and more.

ambiguous

These circles represent the human being who are sisters that came from two dogs, they are the first to be ever found.

obvious 

Behind these brick walls reside a couple who escaped from hell and all the lines symbolize the years that have been hiding behind there.

 

6 photos and 6 stories (Project 1 Lost and Found)

Every image has a story and this black slash is no acception. There’s actually a little mouse painter who saw the white wall as his canvas. He felt so inspired and whacked a black slash across the wall creating what we see. He’s very abstract in his work.

This image comes with a short story of how it came to be. And with that we start off with our little termite construction worker. The little termite construction worker is tired of his job and has a passion for art. So decided to carve all these lines into this wood wall on his construction site.

It’s a simple short story for this little rock here. A Mr and Mrs Boulder just took their newborn baby home and named him Pebble. And that is what you see here, a picture of Pebble just brought home from the Rocky Hospital.

Like the previous photos this one comes with a story as well. It’s as simple as an ants putting up a rock wall around their house. They spent days collecting rocks of different shapes and sizes and colors too. Id say this ant family made a pretty nice concrete wall.

This image comes accompanied with a story as well. There were two beavers paving the the black rectangles in the street but one day a couple of rowdy bulls came by and tipped over the huge concrete truck. Leaving a pile of tar basically in the street. Poor beavers.

This image comes along with a story. One day two bunny painters were walking through the streets of BunnyVille when they stumbled upon a blank wall. Both bunny painters became territorial over the wall because they wanted it to be their next masterpiece. So they decided to hold a little competition to see which bunny is the better painter. They painted their little hearts out and in the end the two murals came out exactly the same. 

 

The Stories & Descriptions for Project 1

The CrackIn the picture it shows a crack and some sort of object within the depths of the crack. The shape of the crack appears to be more of an organic shape, which are usually asymmetrical or irregular. The crack definitely has no set pattern and doesn’t follow many geometric shapes, such as triangles or something more uniform. The obvious in this image is the crack because it is right in the middle of the photo and the ambiguous part of the image is the background. This is because the obvious is in the forefront of the photo, while the ambiguous is in the background of the photo. The texture of the crack is rough and unrefined.

The Story-Once upon a time, there was a very clumsy giant named Gary. He fell over, bumped into things, and created tons of messes everywhere he was. Gary shortly realized that his clumsiness was making matters worse for everyone and slowly but surely every time Gary the Giant dropped something, fell over, or even stubbed his toe it would create cracks all throughout the human universe. So, now every time Gary stubs his toe a new crack is born.

The StickIn the photograph it shows a stick lying on the concrete floor. The stick, which is the obvious in the photo, has an organic shape to it. Meaning that the shapes are irregular or resembles more of an organism rather than geometric shapes, such as squares. In the negative space, or the ambiguous part of the image, you see a straight line going across the back. The straight line is accompanied by mass amount of pebbles and those have an organic shape to them as well. The figure/ground relationship really tells us that the stick is in the front and the pebbles are in the back however, the straight line is such a prominent feature of the image it’s rather complicated to tell if that is also part of the obvious in the photo. The texture of said stick is rather rough and prickly.

The Story-Sandy the sparrow was out looking for supplies to make for her nest when she suddenly spotted the most magnificent stick she has ever seen! She quickly flew over to it only to realize that the stick was magical. This stick, once placed in her nest, made the most beautiful nest any bird has ever seen. Even though Sandy had a beautiful nest and was the most popular bird on the block, but she soon realized that this stick and every gift that came with it wasn’t all glitz and glam. Even though she was the most popular bird, she was definitely the most disliked bird. Everyone was Jealous of Sandy and other birds even tried taking the stick out of her nest! This sudden behavior overwhelmed Sandy and she took the stick, threw it on the ground, and everything was returned back to the way it was.

The WiresThere are hanging wires seen in this photo. The wires are smooth and are the obvious in the photo. The figure/ground relationship tells us that the wires are the figure that should stand out against the brick wall backing. The shape of the wire is more organic because it flows smoothly rather than create sharp edges, like a triangle would. In the background however, the bricks are a definite geometric shape because they are symmetrical, have sharp edges, and take on more of a rectangle shape. The negative spaces, even though it is the background, is rather because and could be distracting to the main object in the photo, which are the wires.

The Story-The wires were placed by a couple of mice trying to escape a cheese robbery. They had successfully infiltrated the Jones’s house in Wisconsin, which was rumored to have the most delicious cheese in the world. The three mice friends decided to break in at midnight! The three mice scurried through walls, broke into the home, and escaped without a scratch. Now, these mice infiltrate the Jones’s house every night, still leaving the wires hanging.

The Trash BagThere is an ambiguous photo taken of a trash bag. The trash bag is rather full and has many different kinds of textures throughout. The main texture of the trash bag however, is smooth and rather silky. Once you touch it further you can feel the contents within the bag. You can feel something sharp and even something mushy. In this ambiguous photo there it little to no figure/ground relationship due to the fact that you can not tell what is in the forefront of the photo and what is in the back of the photo. The shapes in the photo are organic because there is no right angles formed, or any kind of geometric quality to this bag at all. The trash bag is asymmetrical.

The Story-The trash bag was pushed by the wind all day and all night, it couldn’t catch a break. It traveled from Arizona all the way to New York City. The trash bag has seen it all, through the amazing sight of the Grand Canyon, to the Washington Monument. The Trash bag was tired of traveling, but couldn’t stop because the wind was not letting up. So, one night while the bag is rolling through the streets of Brooklyn, it finally gets stuck on some gum and is very happy to settle down for the first time ever.

The PipeThe pipe is a very ambiguous photo because it has curvature, shadows, as well as highlights. The pipe is an ambiguous type of photo because there is not one thing overtaking the other and the pipe not only has a lot of texture, but it also shares an equal space throughout the photo. It is the most interesting because the photo is so close that you can barely tell it is a pipe and it could most definitely be another object. The shapes in this photo are rather geometric, there are multiple straight lines throughout the photo and those lines create rows, which end up looking like skinny rectangles. The pipe’s texture is bumpy yet smooth, because the pipe divots you get the bumpy texture but it is still made out of plastic so it is smooth to the touch. There is no figure/ground relationship because when a picture is ambiguous there is not really a figure in the image to compare it to the background because that line is blurred in an ambiguous photo.

The Story-Two carpenter bulls were trying to install a new pipe outside of Mr.Giraffe’s new home, but couldn’t come to agreements on what the proper way was to install it. They butted heads and argued for almost three days straight! Mr.Giraffe finally had enough of the two bulls and laid them off and said he would do it himself. In the end, Mr. Giraffe soon realized what the problem was, the bulls were arguing over how they would reach such high heights to install the pipe. Mr. Giraffe installed the pipe himself and now water was flowing in and out perfectly. 

The Trash BinIn this ambiguous photo it shows marks on a trash bin that was left on the street. This bin’s texture is quite bumpy because it has some raised areas. The raised areas feel somewhat like paper, while the non raised areas feel grimy and bumpy. The raised areas of the bin are the white areas seen in the photo and they have an organic shape to them because they are not organized shapes, meaning they do not follow a set structure, have a pattern. The shape is abnormal and not like your everyday triangles. The figure/ground relationship in the photo is between the raised white areas and the grey background. This is considered an ambiguous photo because there is not really a main figure that you are supposed to be looking at, there is nothing that your eye goes right to or stays focused on.

The Story-Terry the trash bin hated being used by the humans. He felt that he had more to offer than just holding people’s trash and he had big dreams. Terry… wanted to sing his heart out on Broadway in New York City. He knew that there was only one way of making it, to add some white spots to his grey look and he suddenly landed an audition for Wicked! Terry sang his heart out on Broadway and did that for almost 75 years! Now, still grey and old, he lives his life on the streets of Brooklyn still singing and making music.

 

 

 

Tameara Hanson

I found six shapes throughout my neighborhood. Three are photos are ambiguous and three are organic. There is a figure/ground relationship difference. The ambiguous photographs that I took aren’t clear what is in the front versus what is in the back. The obvious figure/ground photo has a clear distinction between the front and the back. The organic photos that I brought in looks as though they are stain/residue from what looks like to be a stain/wearing down of materials. The difference between obvious and ambiguous is that obvious has a 30/70 figure to background ratio, and ambiguous has a 50/50 figure to background ratio.There’s a story behind these artifacts that I found. I believe that some came to be there over time by wearing down and some came from humans placing them there. 

 

Obvious

Obvious

Obvious

Obvious

Obvious

Obvious

Ambiguous

Ambiguous

Ambiguous

Ambiguous

Ambiguous

Ambiguous
Ambiguous

 

 

 

 

 

Project 1 – Lost and Found

Klarissa Grullon

 

This is an example of an obvious foreground-background relationship. Even though the black is prominent, I don’t think it takes over the gray’s space. It makes me think of islands and archipelagos scattered through an ocean.

These shapes were made by someone who was trapped at the workplace they loath for a 9-hour shift, while they were using the restroom during their break. They just sat in the bathroom stall, prayed that nobody would come in, and scratched away at the stall door. They carved big shapes and super tiny shapes, all random and near each other, until they saw what it became: a tiny continent. Then they wished they could quit their job and go live freely in their own little world.

    

This example is of an ambiguous foreground-background relationship. There are bulbous, round organic shapes with some parts looking a little rougher and more linear. The crack in almost the center of it doesn’t add on to the shapes but I think it still makes an interesting composition. The shapes together make me think of splats, bubbles and drops.

This came from the aftermath of earthquakes, tsunamis, landslides and even acid rain on the hardest and strongest concrete known to man. Any other kind of concrete would cease to exist after having gone through the same disasters. This one, instead of crumbling apart, just scarred. These shapes are scars that show how strong it really is.

  

Here we have an obvious figure-ground relationship. The light space is much larger than the dark one. The dark shape is geometric and looks like a crack. Some of the chipped off edges are a little rounded up. This shape makes me think of lightning.

One day at home, I was in my room when I heard a loud crash. When I go to check what had happened, I see that my sister’s boyfriend dropped the blender while making a smoothie. After he picked up the broken blender and pieces of glass, I could see this crackled shape now visible on the kitchen floor. To this day, this crack serves as a reminder that my sister’s boyfriend is the reason why I can’t make smoothies at home anymore.

  

This one is an obvious composition. The foreground has an overall geometric circular shape. When you look closely at the edges of it you can see how it is more loose and organic, instead of uniform. I like the constant jaggedness of this shape.

On a magical night, the moon shined so eminently that its light transversed itself through the window and engraved its own composition on the wooden panels of a New York City apartment.

  

This is an ambiguous foreground-background relation. This texture is known to be seen on and come from trees. It looks like psychedelic oval shapes of different sizes and thicknesses being spread on top of one another.

This composition was born inside a tree. The first filled-in oval shape that you see in the center is the first size that it ever grew up to be. The layer surrounding that one is what its next phase of thickening growth turned out to be. All the following ones continue on to show us the tree’s life span. In order to become a grandiose strong woodwork, this tree first had to be a small, weak sapling. It is the tree of inspiration.

  

To me this is an ambiguous composition, as the dark and light parts are almost equally sharing the space they’re in. The light parts wrap up the dark parts. The consistency of both parts against each other make it a strong composition.

These shapes make up the ribs that hold in a walls heavy lungs and the abyss of darkness deep inside of it. The room these lungs belong to is never a fun one to be in. Whoever spends the night in it is always uneasy because they cannot stop looking at the walls ribs and wondering if that’s where they hear heavy breathing coming from. Little do they know, it’s exactly where it’s coming from.