Transfer techniques - experimenting with placement

These are transfers on cello tape of various images by Francis Bacon and Ivor Abrahams. I placed them in various places around college to experiment with changing the colour, composition and overall mood of the work. I feel some pieces were more successful than others as how see-through the transfer was and the shape and structure of the image in contrast to the background really altered the results of the experimentation.

At first I felt overall using this transfer of Francis Bacon's "Sketch for a Portrait of Lisa" was unsuccessful as due to the opaque colours the change in background didn't make much of a difference. However the close up gives a clearer view of the text behind the face which did produce an interesting result. Due to the size of the text it has been incorporated into the composition well as it fits with the size of the facial features. The white background also allows the purple hue of the skin to stand out which isn't so apparent on the original painting.

Of these transfer's of Ivor Abrahams' screen print "The Raven, I feel the one on the right with text was the least successful. The text didn't fit with the transfer and failed to really alter the composition or mood. However the transfer with paint running down the wall was successful as the contrast of vivd vertical lines running into the transfer gave it an entirely different feel and stripped some of its sombre gothic tones. It made it feel much less traditional and more modern. I feel this effect could have been exaggerated if the background of the transfer was slightly more transparent to allow the bright colours to really show through.




I really liked the outcome of using the college symbol on the door as a background for my transfers. I feel not only did it fit in terms of size but also in mood. The cross was the perfect compositional addition to really capture Abraham's morbid themes and influence from the poem "The Raven" by Edgar Allan Poe which was the basis for Abrahams' screen print. Also Abrahams frequently used red as the dominant colour in otherwise monochrome images in his series on Poe's work. The skull below the cross adds the the heavy presence of mortality, it looks as if the raven is watching over a grave. In the second picture the fact that this transfer is on a door opening to a bright area full of life and growth holds the possibility for many interpretations on this juxtaposition of life and death, religion and nature, mourning mortality and the continuation of growth and vitality.

I used this background again with Francis Bacon's "Study for a Portrait". The cross completely cancelled out the face until I took a close up due to the delicacy of the facial features on the transfer. I then tried taking a photograph with the flash on which resulted in the light being reflected off the shiny surface of the transfer and capturing the face but little of the cross in the background. The representation of religion is a key theme in many of Bacon's works and his most famous painting is that of a screaming pope. I find it very interesting how the man in this picture in also screaming but the cross blocks this out. It posses many similarities to the screaming pope and yet also prominent contrast. There could perhaps even be controversial religious undertones to this piece in comparison to Bacon's screaming pope. Overall I feel this composition was also very successful and I think adding the dross to my transfers has achieved a lot in the way of meaning and juxtaposition and really added to the overall image and structural balance.