"Splash Photography"

Artist: Josh Tibbetts, "Splash Photography"
critic: Phil Winkelmann

Josh's print titled, "Splash Photography" was an interesting image for me to "read". At first glance, it seems quite straight forward, however I feel there are some general ideas/feelings that can be drawn from this print; and overall it seems to have some media-like qualities, and is someways impersonal; yet I feel that upon closer investigation, there are personal meanings that can be drawn from the imagery.

I could see this image existing in multiple "spaces" or contexts. I feel that this piece would fit best in an "art-world" setting; however I could also see this being used in a business setting, as a marketing campaign of some sort. It is a rather flat, square, 2-D image, with about a 1.5'' border, and is made up of 4 colors (5 if you count white, but to me this appears to be the paper showing, as negative space). A black line of medium thickness( about 1/8th of and inch), makes up a border around the image, and it "separates" or "outlines" the rest of the color in the image, but not entirely. This is where the traces of negative space come in. I find these quite interesting because it resembles a coloring-book; in the way when a child does not fill in the spaces completely, or goes outside the lines. For this reason I wonder if it refers to a time in Josh's childhood. It certainly reminds me of a childhood memory. Adding to the "childish" tone of the piece, are the choice of colors used. The colors are quite vibrant and bold, which make me think of "kid's things," yet at the same time, it brings me back to the context of a "media" or "marketing" space, because of it's ability to attract attention, along with its purposeful, lack of detail.

The subject of the image, appears to be a younger woman, or child, holding a mini' camera. I would say the person is a woman or a child because of the color and shape of the skin. Pink is usually connected with the female gender. With this shade of pink, I cannot stop relating it with a baby pig. I am not sure if the piglet theory has anything to do with this piece, so I am going to "throw that out" for now, and assume this is a female figure being portrayed here. The way that the hands are rendered, to me, appear "round" and "soft". Undoubtedly they appear like female hands. The way the woman is holding the "mini-camera" is quite interesting. Her face is covered almost completely, by her hands and hair. This makes me want to look closer, to see if maybe I know this person. Then I wonder what she is taking a picture of... Is she taking a picture of me? Why? Then I want to know why she is using such a small camera; or... is she giant? There are really no other visual ques in the image to help me figure out relative sizes, so I must assume that she is normal size, and the camera is smaller than normal. This makes me think that it may be a toy camera, which can possibly further relate to children or a childhood memory.

The feeling I get from this piece is of deep personal attachment. The image is put together almost as if it was taken from a personal photograph. The frame also resembles a photograph, and seems to invite you, to experience it personally. In this case, this is a photograph of a person holding a camera, or taking a photograph. This personal feeling because of the frame and how close the figure is to the viewer. Also, I feel that the figure is wearing a gray sweat-shirt of some sort, that is a little large for her. This reminds me of when women wear their boyfriend/husbands clothes, or when a child wears their dad's shirt. This is usually to give them a feeling of "warmth" and "comfort" ( both physically and psychologically). I feel like this could be underlying theme to this print, because I definitely get a feeling of "comfortableness" and "playfulness". I feel that for Josh, this may be an image of a loved-one, or just a really close friend. Also, the title, "Splash Photography" gives me clues as to how it was possibly made. From the title, I would guess that the artist took a photograph and "broke-it-down" into its simplest shapes, and then assigned each one a color. I feel that this type of work is powerful, and has "lasting power"- meaning it is something I feel will be easy to recall by memory.

When I look at this, I am reminded of the work of Gerhard Richter, and his famous Photo-Paintings. He would take photographs and paint on top of them, giving them a blurred look( not exactly like your piece), this would give them a nostalgic feeling to them ( much like yours). I feel like this piece works well in the way that the image is simple, yet complex when you take a closer look( much like a photograph relates to a memory, it can be more than just a photograph, it can be an aid to recall an even in the past). In all, I enjoyed trying to wrap my brain around this image, and I also can be sure that this image will not leave my thoughts for some time, because I feel like I have not fully figured it out.