Year 10 PHOTOGRAPHY

INFLUENTIAL ARTIST CASE STUDY BOOKLET

TERM THREE 2015

 

Students Name: Calvin Camacho

Artists Name: Polixeni Papapetrou

Teachers Name: Mrs Hogan

 

 

SECTION 1:

 

 Basic Details about your Artist:

a) Date of Birth: November 21, 1960 (age 54) Melbourne

b) Nationality: From a Greek immigrant family, but born in Australian

c) Education: Monash University

 

d) PRACTICE – World

 

1960 Born in Melbourne, Australia

1984 Attended the University of Melbourne graduating with a degree in Arts and Law.

1985-2001 Worked as a lawyer

1987 Began taking photos

1987-2002 “Elvis Immortal”

1997 Graduated with Masters in Art from RMIT University

2006 “Haunted Country”

2007 PhD from Monash University

2009 Josephine Ulrick & Win Schubert Photography Award

2009-2012 “Between Worlds”

2013 “The Ghillies”

2014 “Lost Psche”

2015 Windsor Art Prize

 

 

 

 

 

 

SECTION 2:  CRITICAL INTERPRETATIONS                                       Artist/Artwork/Audience                                   

 

Research and photocopy or print examples of CRITICAL writings about your artist’s work.  Make sure you source your material accurately. Also make sure that you acknowledge the correct author.

 

 a) Stick in at least one examples of CRITICAL writing in the space provided below. Acknowledge who made the quote and include the location of the quote in your Bibliography.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

b) Write a short paragraph explaining the significance of this quote. (What does this quote tell you about the artist and the way they work? Does it give you an insight into how audiences react to the artists work?)

 

This quote I extracted from an article done on Miss Papapetrou by “Art Blart” blog was chosen by me because I feel it represents her as an artist, and it represents her photographs as well as her paintings. Her photos are very unique and crazy. Instead of taking the mainstream photos of cities, lights and landscapes she does her own thing and “creates her own language” by her photo albums. Each album is different in content by follow the same trend of crazy and it clearly shows to the audience on how indie they are.

Concepts/Theories   (Artist/Artwork/World)

 c) What concepts and theories are present in your chosen artists work? Consider things like social/cultural issues, politics, and the environment.

Papapetrou’s photos have developed lots of different concepts and theories created by what the art actually is and how it is actually portrayed and what people’s perception are of the art work. Her concept for her art work is her love for fantasy and her childhood. She wants to show the imagination she had as a child growng up and show the imiaginaton her daughter has and how she can see it in her life today. She wants to create her own little story of fantasy freedom and she does this in her albums of photos where there are lots of these crazy photos demonstrating the fantasy freedom she has experienced. She wants to create an enchanted wonderland of her childhood memories of exploring and dreaming.

 

SECTION 4:

ARTWORKS

  a) Locate 4 images by the artist that you find inspiring. They could be photographs or film stills. Cut and paste them into the 4 boxes below. Make sure you include the title, date and medium (citation). These images should reflect the concepts and theories you mentioned in the previous section.

 

“The Loners, Between Worlds” 2009 105 x 105

 

 “Magma Man, Ghillies” 2009 120 x120

                                                                                                    

 “Hanging Rock 1900 #3, Haunted Country” 2006 105 x 105

 

“Mark Elvis Impersonator paying his respects at the Elvis Memorial Melbourne, Elvis Immortal” 1992 100 x 100

 

                                                                                               

SECTION 5

The Frames:

Considering the images included select one image to answer each of the four questions below. Each question should consider a different image. By the end of the

Questions, you will have discussed ALL FOUR images.

Eg, A) Discusses Image 2. B) Discusses image 3 etc….

 

Subjective Frame

a) Title of work: “Hanging Rock 1900 #3, Haunted Country” 2006 105 x 105

 

Using descriptive language and examples, explain what you believe this artwork is about.

HINT! Avoid writing in the first person.  Don’t write “I believe the artwork is about……”  Write “The artwork is about….”

 

In this artwork the photographer is showing us the Subjective frame work aspect as the children in the photo look blank. She is making us think about the children and what they are doing and the positions that they are in. With the children’s positions/ stances we are made to believe that the kids are exploring and playing hide and seek. They are letting their imagination run wild in the terrain and being free. They are letting their fantasies explore the new area. This is exactly what the photographer is all about. Letting your imagination go.

Structural Frame

b) Title of artwork: “Magma Man, Ghillies” 2009 120 x120

Discuss how the artist has used compositional qualities such as The Elements of Design and Rule of Thirds in this artwork.

In this piece of art the structural frame is the key frame that we look at. This is due to the design of the photo. In the background we have the large rocks, in the foreground/ midground we have the camouflaged person under the ghillie suit making another large rock. I in particular love this photo as it shows that you can make up your own photo with just a few props. It shows you that you can structure your own photos and its done in a very fun way. Papaptrou has used the rule of thirds in this aswell, balancing the photo for us visually. The first third is where the ghillie suit model is standing. The second is the rocks and the last third is the sky. This technique makes it a very structural piece, whilst not directly displaying in with straight line but instead it has the general third in it.

Cultural Frame

C) Title of Artwork: Mark Elvis Impersonator paying his respects at the Elvis Memorial Melbourne, Elvis Immortal” 1992 100 x 100

How have cultural events during the life of the artist impacted on the artists choice of subject matter in this artwork.

HINT! Events could include world issues relating to gender,  sexuality, politics, economics, industry, environment, consumerism or war.

In Papaptrou’s “Elvis Immortal” it shows her love for music and Elvis himself. It shows how much, culture he brought to the world, in the album we see many photos of many people of many different cultures, nationalities, personalities come to see “the kings” resting place. And there to document these people and their love for Elvis was Papaptrou. She wanted to show how much of an effect this man had on the world and she managed to document a great piece of art while she was at it. This photo in particular shows how his spirit lives on his listeners and beloved fans. An interesting photo from a very interesting album.

Post Modern Frame

d) Title of artwork: “The Loners, Between Worlds” 2009 105 x 105

 

 Identify what technology has been used to create this artwork and discuss how the artist has used it to create a meaningful artwork.

This photo displays that craziness that makes Papaptrou’s photos truly different and seperates it from the rest and she has started her own trend of these fantasy life photos. She has been quoted for not using any technology for her photos, such as photoshop and other enhanced digital media’s on her photos as she wants to create her photos by herself and doesn’t find it nessesary to use them so all of the colours, lighting and all of the vivid imaging is done by props and her camera. She wants to create this new fantasy genre on her own, in a real life environment yet keeping the feel of it being enchanted and magical at the same time. She wants to create the feeling that you could stumble upon one of her photos in real life. This new genre she has created is very different to the norm and past/ present concepts of what photographers are capturing at the moment. She is disregarding the traditions of having a nice scenic view of a hill side by the ocean by putting in these rabbit- human characters.

 

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

 

·       Polixeni Papapetrou - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 2015. Polixeni Papapetrou - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. [ONLINE] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polixeni_Papapetrou. [Accessed 10 August 2015].

·       Polixeni Papapetrou. 2015. Polixeni Papapetrou. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.polixenipapapetrou.net/. [Accessed 10 August 2015].

·       Polixeni Papapetrou - Stills Gallery. 2015. Polixeni Papapetrou - Stills Gallery. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.stillsgallery.com.au/artists/papapetrou/. [Accessed 10 August 2015].

·       Glenis Israel, 2008. Artwise Contemporary: Visual Arts 10-12. 2nd Revised edition Edition. Jacaranda Wiley, Australia.vvc

·       Polixeni Papapetrou | Art Blart. 2015. Polixeni Papapetrou | Art Blart. [ONLINE] Available at: http://artblart.com/tag/polixeni-papapetrou/. [Accessed 10 August 2015].

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

End of Booklet