The second artist I am going to be looking at is Man Ray.
Man Ray (Emmanuel Radnitsky) was born on August 27th, 1890 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania . His parents were Russian Jewish immigrants who moved to America looking to start a better life for themselves and their future family. His father worked as a tailor which meant that Emmanuel grew up around fabrics, patterns and elements of designs this meant that he was surrounded by creativity which sparked his love for design. His family changed their name to “Ray” to allow them to escape the Anti- Semitic prejudice. Emmanuel then changed his first name to “Man” which showed his masculinity through his identity. When Ray was still a child his parents moved to New York where he started to find his love for art in which his parents supported, however they still expected him to pursue a career in something practical which made it hard for him to balance his work ethic and his passion of photography. He went to an art school briefly through his teenage years but then discovered that he preferred to teach himself and experiment in different ways on how to produce artwork. He was inspired by modernist art and this is where he could observe and get ideas for his own work. In 1920, Ray oved to Paris where he was able to pursue his love for art and this is where he became a key figure in surrealist art. In 1940, due to WW2, he moved back to America and lived in Hollywood, but unfortunately he never felt at home there and was able to move back to Paris in the 1950’s where he lived for the rest of his life.
Man Rays artwork relates to the idea of union in many different ways. The first way that his art work relates to union is because he was the first artist to blur the lines of photography, painting and sculpture. He was able to create a dream-like compositions without a camera that were a light of union. Another way he was able to link in union with his work was by merging the idea of bodies and objects creating sensuality and psychological depth. Man Ray was interesting in collaborating with other artists such as Marcel Duchamp, Kiki De Montparnasse and Lee Miller, these partnerships united these artists together to create effective artwork which essentially then created a union through the artists coming together.
Image Analysis
I really like this image produced by Man Ray and it is my favourite. I like this image because it relates to the theme of union by merging two objects together to create one image. He has merged a violent tool (spikes) with a utility tool (iron). However both of these objects could be used violently as the iron is also dangerous. I like the way he has created a threatening image using these objects to portray a sense of surrealism and to make the viewer feel uneasy by the idea of the deadly objects. I also like how he has made this image black and white because it correlates to the gory image and adds to the mysterious sense of scariness.
I am inspired by this image taken by Man Ray, this is because I feel as though it relates to the idea of union. Eyes create the idea of union because they come as a pair and it portrays a sense of togetherness. This images only has one eye which creates a sense of loneliness as it has been taken apart from the other half. I like the expression that this eye gives because it shows a sense of sadness which could be from the feelings of loneliness and isolation from everything else. The tear next to the eye adds sufficient meaning to the photograph and a sense of solemnness because of the way it has dropped down from the eye. The image being in black and white could signify the idea of sadness because there are no bright colours or any colour at all. Therefore, this could make the viewer feel sorry for the person in the picture and create a sense of empathy towards the person in the image.
When I am creating my own images, I am going to take pictures of eyes like this. I am inspired by this image because I can relate it to the idea of union and I feel as though it would be a good way to edit the image. I am going to make my images of the eyes black and white to also create a sense of sadness because of the individuality of the eye without its “other half”. I am going to aim to take pictures of lots of different eyes and edit them together to create my own surreal image that portrays the idea of union. I feel as though having an image of one eye has a adverse affect on the meaning of union which I feel will be extremely powerful to create.