New York City Moves. Moves. Moves.
Mondrian-inspired Collage:
Click on a photo to view. [photosmash=]
Dutch-born painter Piet Mondrian (1872-1944) discovered an artistic form in the dynamics of New York City street life. A true cosmopolitan, he yo-yoed between Holland and Paris before making his mark in New York. There, he created his most famous painting “Broadway Boogie Woogie,” (1942) a slight modification of his typical style that still used his signature primary colors and vertical and horizontal bands. The intersection of red, blue, and yellow lines seem to respond to the vibrations from the city’s jazz music, the flashing of its neon signs, and the honking from its traffic. In a most creative way, Mondrian crafts a mosaic using interlacing blocks of color.
My own Mondrian-inspired collage highlights the moving pace of New York, a city that tolerates no slowpokes. To show that, I handpicked typical New York City street photos and singled out one moving object in the scene. I created my artwork by applying a black-and-white filter to street photos and, in some cases, a motion blur to create a sense of motion. I then used bright contrast colors to apply a Mondrian-print onto that moving object, which is meant to pop out from the rest of the black-and-white street scene.
My collage photos portray New York City as a sea of umbrellas on a rainy day; an outdoor exercise complex on a sunny day, and a fashion runway just about every day. Cyclists. Cabbies. Skateboarders. Joggers. Pedestrians. All compete for space. Foot traffic has become part of the city landscape.
My three collages set the spotlight on three categories of foot traffic:
- All The Pretty Ladies steal the city’s gaze as they promenade along the sidewalks. Roll out the red carpet, here I come!
- Exercise fanatics and cyclists own the road. I like to Move it, Move it. Get outta my way!
- Umbrellas reign in the rain. A rainy day in the city looks like Umbrella. Umbrella. Umbrella. Make way, people!
Mondrian’s minimalist style is often imitated, though no artist has been able to achieve the same effect. His grid style has gained popularity among designers and similar prints have shown up on Nike sneakers and women’s dresses. Mondrian continues to inspire the art, fashion, advertising, and design worlds, as New York City continues to attract worldwide attention. New York City is a city like no other.
Photo credit:
http://s3.amazonaws.com/sfb111/image_xlimage_2010_03_R5455_Rain_03292010.jpg
http://www.blogcdn.com/www.stylelist.com/blog/media/2009/02/sephora-store-front.jpg
http://www.feeldesain.com/feel/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/72810bikelegs_8843Web.jpg
http://www.feeldesain.com/feel/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/91110_LSD_MG_3018lowres.jpg
http://www.gettyimages.com/detail/dv1088022/Digital-Vision
http://images.inmagine.com/img/imagesource/is098q0tx/is098r06p.jpg
2 comments
I love it, love it, love it! Great work! Thanks for sharing! 🙂
Your idea was really creative and I’m impressed by your edited photos in an obviously unsubtle but super creative and fun way. Really well done!