"The Calm Before The Storm"

Spencer George. The Calm Before The Storm. Altered Photography. 2014.

This is a new image made from multiple layered photographs. I took the original photo and then continually layered it on top of itself, changing the size marginally each time so that the photos came out slightly off. The effect of this is that you can hardly make out the original photo, which leads to a sense of confusion. In contrast to the confounded effect created, I layered a photograph of a calm, blue ocean. This is meant to juxtapose the confusion of the image by lending a calming background. Layering the blue over the black and white photo makes the entire picture a nice grey/blue which further creates the calming effect. The result is an internal confusion contrasted by an external calm.

"How Angelic"

Spencer George. How Angelic. Altered Photography. 2015. 

This is a photograph from the set of angel vs devil photos I took. In contrast to the devil pictures, this is an angel. I wanted the photos to have an ethereal feeling to them. In order to accomplish this, I dressed in all white, left my hair loose and down, put on light eye makeup and pink blush, and used a white background. I moved some lamps around my bedroom so that there would be a soft light to the pictures. The flower crown is meant to symbolize a halo. In order to fully complete the angelic sentiment, I used Afterlight to overlay a drawing off angel wings over my body. The effect is subtle and not immediately seen, which adds to the innocent and benevolent feeling of an angel, in contrast to the stark and striking black wings and dark clothing of the devil photographs.

"Learn To Love Or Die Trying"

Spencer George. Learn To Love Or Die Trying. Sharpie and Prismacolor Pencil. 2015. 

This is a mind map for the word "passion". I used this mind map to plan the set of photographs which featured a girl putting on red lipstick with smeared mascara. In this mind map, I planned out the different types of photos I wanted to try in order to figure out what props I needed and how I wished to set them up. Arrows come off of the word "passion", which lead to different quotes, song lyrics, and lines of poetry that helped inspire the photos. The different drawings are tests of the photos I planned to take and objects that give light to the mood and feeling of the work.

"Dangerous Things"

Spencer George. Dangerous Things. Charcoal and Acrylic. 2015. 

This is another painting from my concentration, which is focused on the idea of harsh beauty. Like my painting of the lips, I wanted to show the contrast between the perfectly manicured pink nails and the blood dripping down the hand. The cigarette is meant to show ease with the figure, that even though the hand is clearly dirty, they feel comfortable enough to take the time to smoke before washing off the blood. You are left to question why the blood is there, how it got there, and why the figure in question has proceeded to leave it. I used charcoal to draw the hand itself so that it would be black and white, providing stark contrast against the bright red of the blood and the pale pink of the nails. The shadows the charcoal provides allow the work to feel more sinister, and the juxtaposition between the color and it's absence highlight the contrast between the attractive and the grotesque.

"Nefarious"

Spencer George. Nefarious. Colored Pencil and Sharpie. 2015. 

This is a mind map for the word "nefarious". This was created to plan for the "wicked/nefarious" photographs. In a mind map, you plot your ideas through the use of drawings, words, and quotes, organized by arrows. I decided to take nefarious and use it in the terms of wickedness, teenage rebellion, and evil. The many quotes and song lyrics written throughout helped me to synthesize the and connect the inspirations for my idea. From there, I drew out some of the elements I planned to have in the photos and wrote out lines of poetry in any empty space on the page. On many of the photos, I layered lines of poetry across the images. Mind mapping allowed me to plan out the photos in order to have them successfully demonstrate the ideas shown here. 

"I'm Not Searching For My Other Half Because I'm Not A Half"

Spencer George. "I'm Not Searching For My Other Half Because I'm Not A Half". Photography. 2015. 

This is a photograph from a series based on the word "passion". In these photographs, I wanted to show the resilience of women, especially teenage girls, to continually look beautiful. I decided I wanted to show a girl dressed up as if going on a date, putting on lipstick, mascara dripping from her eyes as if she had been crying. The symbolism is that even in the midst of sorrow and pain, we, as girls, have been taught that we should still attempt to look beautiful. The contrast between the red lipstick being carefully put on and the dark black stains from the mascara shows the breach between our internal emotions and our external appearance. On my wrist, there is a corsage full of dead flowers, to show that  the "romance is dead", but the girl is still trying to make something out of it by continuing to wear the corsage.

"Geodes"

Spencer George. Geodes. Watercolor. 2014.

This is a design for a nature inspired fabric. I wanted to focus on the shapes of geodes fitting together, and the intricacies in their colors and patterns. To do this, I picked five main colors and a few different types of geodes, and then filled the page with them. I kept the colors similar since the size of the geodes continually differs. This design was then printed onto a fabric.

Spencer George. Bad To The Bone. Sharpie/Photography. 2015. 

The theme for these photographs was the word "wicked". After creating a mind map, I decided I wanted to take it in the direction of literal wickedness, and play out the teenage rebel. I heavily outlined my eyes with black cat eye eyeliner, and put on dark red lipstick along with a chocker and a shirt that features a skeleton riding a motorcycle with the caption "Live Fast Die Young". After taking the photos, I decided to edit them with some filters so that it looked like there was a fiery light on top of my white background. Once printing them, I still felt that I wanted to do more to emphasize the point of wickedness. I drew a sleeve tattoo on my arm with sharpie, and also another tattoo with a barcode which reads "property of WCKD". This is a reference to the book The Maze Runner, in which a corporation (WCKD) marks many of their objects with this barcode. Additionally, I added in an eyebrow piercing and two quotes from songs- "Ain't No Rest For the Wicked" by Cage The Elephant, and "Sleep" by My Chemical Romance. Since half of my shirt got cut off by my hair, I then re-wrote "Live Fast Die Young" in the corners of the picture.

"Welcome To Heaven"

Spencer George. Welcome To Heaven. Mixed Media on Illustration Board. 2015.

For many of my photography assignments this year, I chose to study concepts such as rebellion, terror, heartbreak, and danger. This collage came out of a series of photographs I did which centered on the theme of Heaven vs Hell, and in turn angel vs devil. The original photograph was meant to be part of the angel photos, but when I layered the wings, it in turn blacked out my eyes. When I decided to collage this picture, I knew I wanted to have a focus on the eyes, which I planned to black out with sharpie. Instead of having white angel wings, I chose to draw black "devilish" wings. The background is a collage of different photographs of storms. Since Heaven is commonly associated with the sky, I thought having destructive skies would continue to emphasize the breach between good and evil. Finally, the sign indicates that it is not meant to be a devil photo, but rather that of a fallen angel. I drew the "Welcome To", and I think it gives it a vintage diner feel, making it seem like Heaven is an attraction, which contrasts with the mental picture the photograph inspires. Finally, in cursive, "I am crazy, I am free" is written over my head, which demonstrates that the figure in the picture is mad, but free because of the salvation of heaven. This helps to provide greater contrast between the picture and the concept.

"Losing Teeth"

Spencer George. Losing Teeth. Acrylic Paint on Illustration Board. 2015.

This is a painting done as part of my independent concentration, something tentatively titled "Beauty Is Harsh". I am looking to study the correlation between beauty and the grotesque, and take iconically beautiful images and then destroy them, giving them elements of the horrifying, in order to demonstrate the human attraction to dangerous things. To do this, I decided to paint "perfect" pink lips, and then have the teeth, which are often shown in magazines as gleaming and white, rotting and falling out. The effect is unsettling, since we have been taught that a perfect pout will also have perfect teeth. My goal in doing this is to teach people that there is no true perfection, or beauty, and that what is beautiful can also have ugly elements. Nothing is black and white beautiful or grotesque- rather, they each share elements of the other, which is essentially what makes us human.