Stock Market

Photo Credit to Roman Brodetskiy

http://www.photodom.com/member/odessa

The New York Stock Exchange is a symbol of the free market: American capitalism at its best. It is at the center of our economic prosperity and our economic downfall. Around it, are its citizens, its innocent, or not so innocent, bystanders who live their lives consciously of its significance, or passionately and independently as artists, with little concern towards the competitive monetary gauge. Herein exists the dynamic the American citizen: poor or rich, white collar or artistic, either a benefactor or a victim of the free market system.
In my collage I tried to express the dynamic citizen that our capitalist society produces: rebel or successor. I used a variety of photos that were taken by my father at different times. The background is a single shot of the New York Stock Exchange, and class distinguishes the overlaying figures around it.
The man on the top left is a random stranger on the street that my father photographed for a dollar. The violinist on the top right is a blend between these two figures, an artist and a professional, producing a unique good as an artist on a quite professional and respectful level. The man beneath him is a junkie from rehab. The one to the left of him is a street performer, perhaps disenchanted by the system, surveying pedestrians for dollar bills like a forgotten muse.
Directly beneath the American flag is your white collar, suit and tie, American success story; a true champion of the free market system, with a private fund manager, enjoying a cigar. At the bottom left of the screen is as Southern fisherman who takes stock only in fresh water salmon, not concerned by the intricacies of the market.
In constructing this collage, I tried to intertwine my two prospective majors: economics and philosophy and provide a visual anecdote of how a single system have propagate a variety of individuals and different stereotypes. Some may say “so what?” but I find it important that a uniform system is interpreted and implemented personally on many different levels, establishing value to perspective.

The American flag is a perfect center because it evokes these very ideas: capitalism, democracy, freedom of expression, and individualism. It networks these individuals through a common authority in their livelihood. In some respect each one of use belongs in this collage; we are in no way discounted from its composition, neither by mentality nor by social consensus.

I composed the piece by taking my fathers works and manipulating them with various filters that give them an artsy appearance. Brush strokes were simulated to accentuate the details in the images before the photographs were cut out and blended onto a background. The lighting and contrast for each figure was adjusted and was set to distinguish each person from one another, not to sell them as a uniform group. In essence this photograph is a memorial of American life: socially and economically, artistically and professionally, offering insight on the dynamic of our country’s life.

The New York Stock Exchange is a symbol of the free market: American capitalism at its best. It is at the center of our economic prosperity and our economic downfall. Around it, are its citizens, its innocent, or not so innocent, bystanders who live their lives consciously of its significance, or passionately and independently as artists, with little concern towards the competitive monetary gauge. Herein exists the dynamic the American citizen: poor or rich, white collar or artistic, either a benefactor or a victim of the free market system.
In my collage I tried to express the dynamic citizen that our capitalist society produces: rebel or successor. I used a variety of photos that were taken by my father at different times. The background is a single shot of the New York Stock Exchange, and class distinguishes the overlaying figures around it.
The man on the top left is a random stranger on the street that my father photographed for a dollar. The violinist on the top right is a blend between these two figures, an artist and a professional, producing a unique good as an artist on a quite professional and respectful level. The man beneath him is a junkie from rehab. The one to the left of him is a street performer, perhaps disenchanted by the system, surveying pedestrians for dollar bills like a forgotten muse.
Directly beneath the American flag is your white collar, suit and tie, American success story; a true champion of the free market system, with a private fund manager, enjoying a cigar. At the bottom left of the screen is as Southern fisherman who takes stock only in fresh water salmon, not concerned by the intricacies of the market.
In constructing this collage, I tried to intertwine my two prospective majors: economics and philosophy and provide a visual anecdote of how a single system have propagate a variety of individuals and different stereotypes. Some may say “so what?” but I find it important that a uniform system is interpreted and implemented personally on many different levels, establishing value to perspective.

The American flag is a perfect center because it evokes these very ideas: capitalism, democracy, freedom of expression, and individualism. It networks these individuals through a common authority in their livelihood. In some respect each one of use belongs in this collage; we are in no way discounted from its composition, neither by mentality nor by social consensus.

I composed the piece by taking my fathers works and manipulating them with various filters that give them an artsy appearance. Brush strokes were simulated to accentuate the details in the images before the photographs were cut out and blended onto a background. The lighting and contrast for each figure was adjusted and was set to distinguish each person from one another, not to sell them as a uniform group. In essence this photograph is a memorial of American life: socially and economically, artistically and professionally, offering insight on the dynamic of our country’s life.