acrylic, pencil
Illustration Friday topic
The Inspiration - a century old photograph showing two soldiers, dressed in the uniform of the Russian Imperial Army.
Description: Some faces and names had vanished without trace as if they never existed, while other will live long in the memories after they have gone.
The concept - The "nonpersons" cut from a series of photomontage images done by Gustav Klutsis: Politburo of the USSR, 1935, Vintage gelatin silver print
When faced with the task of creating a collective portrait, Klutsis chose to apply a photomontage technique to mediate the power relationships between the Politburo members, to show the strict internal hierarchy governed by quasi-military discipline. The schematic representation fiddles with the scale of the characters, awkwardly crops facial features, and puts all emphasis on Stalin's face, accented by the darker values of background.
'The relation between what we see and what we know is never settled. Although every image embodies a way of seeing, our perception or appreciation of an image depends upon our way of seeing. The past is never there waiting to be discovered, to be recognized for what it is.' - John Berger.
