Doug Aitkin

Doug Aitkin is a World renowned artist most well-known for his innovative art installation that utilises a variety of media and artistic approaches. Although much of work has some relation to journeys, the specific area of his work in which I am interested in is his combination of text of photographic work. This clever combination allows you to be read the text whilst your mind fills in the blanks of the picture creating a contrast between the image and text as well as engaging the viewer, as they seek to find the relationship between the word and the image. Below are some of my favourite examples of Aitkins work. 

In response to Aitkins work I wanted to create an interesting piece of work which engaged the viewer through the combination of text and media. To create this response I undertook a series test samples developing my ideas of how I would go about creating this piece of work. So to do this I used my own photos and combined them with words related to journeys to create simple piece very similar to that of Aitkin however these looked slightly dull and uninteresting as there was nothing unique or special about them.

Developing this idea I attempted to use different sized letters placed in alternative places in order to create interest and to engage the viewer as they are challenged to form the word through a seemingly random combination of letters placed on the wall space. Although innovative and interesting I thought the image wasn’t clear through the letters so the impact of the work was lost. The image below clearly shows this. The position of letters although creative and would make affective use of the wall space, the image wasn’t clear. The viewer being able to understand the image within the letters is very important as is it is what creates the interesting contrast between the image and the word. These images below show this. 

It wasn’t until I began to place half of the word other the other, like in the right picture above, that I started to realize which method was most successful at allowing the viewer to experience the picture as well as read the text. I also thought that this method looks the best as well. Although differing the heights of the letters may have added more interest to the piece, personally I preferred having all the letters on the same level. Through these developments as well as experiments with what word to use, I was able to come up with my final response.    

The image above shows the final idea with my own photograph placed in the word ‘journeys’ and in my response, this will be relieved from the surface onto which it is mounted to grab the viewer’s attention because it stands out from the rest of the display