Abstract
This project is an inquiry into Photoshop as art as well as the use of transformation via digital imagery.
A large part of the project was the creation of seven life size photographic portraits, which were digitally manipulated (textured) by myself, to facilitate meditation on the corpse.
The written paper accompanying the work draws an analogy between consumerism and the digital processes utilised in Photo-shopped imagery.
A number of works by contemporary artists David Hockney, Julian Opie, Barbara Kruger, Jenny Holzer, Chen Chieh-Jen, and Jake and Dinos Chapman were considered in relation to this theme.
My artworks experiment with the effects of certain Photoshop manipulations on photographs of people captured while shopping. The images are versions of portraits, stylistically reminiscent of current magazine and billboard fashion advertisements.
The paper aims to establish some criteria for critically assessing Photoshop techniques employed to artistic ends.