Recreation: Constructed Reality

Original Photograph: Teun Hocks, 187. Untitled, 2000

At first glance, this photograph is visually intriguing. Why in the world is this guy sticking his head through a painting? and more importantly, how? After reading some information on the photographer, this "photograph" was created by taking a picture and then painting over it to create this surreal-like image. It got me thinking... is this a commentary on how people interpret things? Do we try to dig so deeply into things, like art, literature, ideas, and try to grasp a meaning? Can anything have meaning? Can we make something out of any little speck of idea?

In my recreation, I wanted to capture the eye of the man. I want to see what he is looking at and how he is interpreting this painting which he is sticking his head inside. More importantly, how do we interpret this photograph which Hocks has created? In my recreation, I capture the iris, plain and simply, containing all the human flaws and details. I then splattered the photograph with diamonds and sparkles. Why? Because there is this form of visually aesthetic discomfort. Eyes should not look like this. Eyes should not be covered in sparkles and diamonds. I wanted to leave my picture up for interpretation. The eye is the source for what he visually understand and I wanted to distort this idea. We, as thinking human beings, attempt to grasp interpretation and meaning from almost every aspect of our lives. Our eyes hold all these ideas inside our pupils and brains. The second photograph I posted represents the explosion of collected meaning within our vision. I created a series of these photographs just to show how a simple and quick change in camera setting can so drastically change the meaning of the photograph, opening new doors to new ideas. Interpret these photographs however you like.