Man Ray

This week we are focusing on Man Ray, an influential photographer from the 1900s. He was born in 1922 and is actually known for his photography without a camera. He created these pieces by putting pieces of cut-up paper on a piece of photo paper, then exposing it to light to create negatives and positives, and then developing it in a dark room. It was the same concept as with film cameras but just without the lens and creating the photographic settings on his own. (MoMA, 2017)


    This is the first piece I chose to talk about from Man Ray. This piece reminds me a lot of a circus in a way. I think this is because it kind of looks like there is a spotlight and the optical illusion of the rings kind of reminds me of a circus act. One thing I really like about this piece is the light-to-dark contrast. Although the piece does not have a 50/50 balance of black and white, I think that the smaller amount of light works well for the piece. One thing I don't like about this piece is the white 3D box on the right-hand side. It just kind of feels out of place to me and I wish he would have chosen a different shape to go there.




The other piece I am choosing to talk about. What is interesting to me about this piece is that it's a little mysterious. We don't know the complete backstory behind it and I think that's cool. I also think it would have been cool if he would have been more intentional with the letters. For example, he could have spelled out a specific word with them. One thing I really like about this piece is how there are some solid white parts but then there are also shadows of the S and H and other letters on top of those. I just think it adds a little bit more to look at in the piece.


Overall, I think Man Ray is an impressive artist that does things in different and creative ways. I like how he created a way to do photography without actually having a camera. I think it created a different way to look at the everyday objects around us in a different light (literally) and creates a whole new feel when you look at a piece of art like this.



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