Artist Gallery
Artist Analysis
Born in Berlin, Germany, Carol Mantke attended the Bauhaus University in Weimar where she achieved a degree in Visual Communication. She's part of the wandering contemporary GlueHeads project founded by Anelor Robin, where Berlin collagists come together to maximize their creative potential. At the beginning of her career, Mantke was encouraged to try out multiple different media thanks to the emphasis her university placed on interdisciplinarity. When asked about her experience there she said "I tried out a lot of different things -- video, typography, photography, drawing, advertising, and media art -- and I'm still interested in a variety of creative techniques", and that she's "sure that all of her activities affect and enrich each other". She decided on working primarily with collage after becoming frustrated by the endless possibilities digital techniques offered "I desired touching real things again and wanted to be restricted by the raw material".
The material used in this piece ("Curlface" - 2017) is glossy magazine paper. When talking about the material she used Mantke said that she found magazine paper "perfect, beautiful, and slick". Despite magazine paper typically being shiny, here Mantke managed to photograph it without getting a shine that distracts from the subject of the photograph. Mantke's work is typically of female models, which she said relates to her "own experiences as a woman".
The techniques Mantke uses are generally limited to manipulating her found imagery. Since she doesn't use her own images (she takes them from magazines), I cannot say what camera settings she used. However, I would imagine that the photographer that took these
would have used a low number of f-stops so that the model in the front would have been most in focus, and therefore also a shallow depth of field (seeing as they do not need to capture the background). They likely would have also used a fast shutter speed so as to not overexpose the image, as well as the rule of thirds so that the model would have been well captured. However, this is pure speculation seeing as I do not have the original, un-collaged images to work from. The techniques Mantke used herself are related to collage. She cut up the images of models into strips and folded them to make physical shapes. This can be seen in the image above, where the strip had been wound around itself so that it stands up by itself. Then, Mantke took a photograph against a pastel background (high-key lighting). By the looks of it, she used the same camera settings as I described a model photographer using.
My initial reaction to Mantke's work was confusion. I wasn't immediately sure what was going on, and I had to look at it for a moment before I realised that it was just a person's image cut into a strip and then manipulated. Her work, unlike McGuane's, was in colour, which I found made it easier to identify features, however, it also made the work feel busier and more overwhelming. The two are closely related in terms of style nonetheless though, seeing as both manipulate photographs to conceal identity. At first, I thought McGaune's was more impressive, seeing as editing photographs took a long time (thirty minutes just to make one of the initial, digital edits). Mantke's on the other hand, seeing as she uses found imagery and uses strips of maybe one or two photographs seems to take less time. However, seeing as I haven't done any edits yet, I am unsure of this.
My opinion of this work is that it is a great way to use the collage technique. Where I have done collages before they have always been flat. However, Mantke uses collages to create 3D models, which I think is really unique (at least, I wouldn't have considered it). The way she distorts the faces is uncanny, as they are not immediately recognisable (in fact, I found them rather disorientating initially as there are eyes next to teeth, noses next to lips, and many other misplaced features, such as ears). I think it is an impressive demonstration of skill, and must be credited to the experimentation she was encouraged to do whilst studying at university.
Photoshoot Plan
This is my photoshoot plan for Caro Mantke. I tried to keep the colourscheme relavent to the artists work, which is why the background is a light brown. I also created a border using an image of a piece of work by Caro Mantke. In the plan, I outlined the setting of my photoshoot, as well as the camera configurations I would use. Included also is a drawn representation of the work I would like to do during this project, underneath an actual image of Mantke's work. I drew this using clip studio paint, the software I used to edit some of my work during the Fantastic and Strange project.
First Photoshoot
These are the photographs I took for the first photoshoot. I wanted to focus on encompassing more facial features in my photographs this time, instead of the models body as well. This is because Mantke manipulates faces primarily, so making my photographs focus on faces seemed like a good idea. The most successful images of these are the ones in which there are unique expressions. I was particularly fond of ones with teeth, as I think they will look really interesting when cut into strips. I also took some profile photographs, but I think they will be less useful.
Coloured Edits
With these edits my goal was to colourize the background and fix the lighting of my original photographs. Despite my photoshoot being in midday, many of them were quite dark, so the first thing I did to each image was brighten it. After that, I colourized the backgrounds. I used pink the most because Mantke's backgrounds were often pastel pink. However, I also wanted some variety so included purple and green too. After that, I had to make sure the model wasn't coloured so I erased the areas of the effect colouring her face.
Collage Edits
Here are all of the unedited collages I made. To make them I cut the photographs into one long strip and then bent it to distort them. Some of them turned out more distorted than others, depending on how much I bent the strips. I mostly used a pink background, however, I also used a mint-green and yellow for some variation. The yellow can be seen below where I show step by step how I made these edits.
Step-by-Step Guide
The first thing I had to do was make a background for my collage. To do this, I sellotaped six sheets of A4 paper together to make a large enough background that was pastel-coloured and monochromatic. I then turned the big sheet over so that the sellotape couldn't be seen anymore.
After this, it was time to cut the image in preparation to be bent. The first thing I did was to cut out the person from the original image so that the background couldn't be seen. After that, I cut the person into one long strip, making sure to split up some of the facial features so that the face would appear even more non-sensical when I manipulated the paper. The before and after of cutting the stip can be seen to the right.
The final part of making one of these edits was of course to bend the stip into an almost unrecognisable formation. Here the features no longer line up in the way a coherent face would, seeing as the nose is to the left of both the eyes and the mouth is in the bottom right-hand corner of the collage. This is the full process of making one of these edits.
HIghlighting Success
These are my most successful images for this part of the project. I'm really happy with how these images turned out. I chose these images due to the way I think they frame the sculptures well. Each of them are centred, had good lighting, and were easy to edit (meaning they didn't turn grainy or multicoloured when I tried to brighten them or up the saturation). If I could go back and redo the project I would just try to have better lighting when I took the photographs as the sun was partially set (due to it being darker this time of the year) by the time I ended the shoot.
Photoshoot Two
This is my second photoshoot for Caro Mantke. In this photoshoot I wanted to try making the face pink instead of the backgrounds, so I used LEDs to alter the lighting in the room I was taking photos. I tried two different shades of pink; one that was lighter (which I actually ended up prefering), and one that was darker (which I like less because I think it looks too red and makes the features harder to see). Nevertheless I will use both when I make my edited trips.
Coloured Strip Edits
These are the redrafted string edits I made. For these edits I used my second photoshoot's photographs, so the strips are coloured pink this time. I chose the colour pink as it is the same colour as the background that Caro Mantke used for her strip edits. The reason there are so few photographs here is because I also did some on coloured backgrounds, so these are just the preliminary edits. The main thing that sticks out from these edits to me is how much the colour distorts the face. Now these strips look like just like red stris with dark shadows on them, when in truth they are actually faces.
Highlighting Success
These were the most successful edits from my redrafted strips (the white background ones). This is because I was overall very pleased with the shape and composition of the edits. In the first one, for example, I was pleased with the way it looked like a walking person (thanks to the two ends of the strips at the bottom, which I thought looked a bit like feet). I thought this was especially fitting seeing as I'm working with hidden identity and the first image looks like a heavily distorted humanoid creature. The other two satisfied me for their composition, as I liked how the middle on was somewhat circular and how the last one had really smooth curves.
The Process
This is an image of what the photoshoot set-up looked like. I taped coloured paper and plain paper to the wall so that is curved to make an infinity background. I thought this would look good as then there are no distracting creases behind the strips. In addition to this, Mantke used an infinity background in her edits (seein as there are no creases in her images), so it seemed like the natural thing to do. The only downside to working on the floor is that it was a bit uncomfortable, but other than that it was okay.
Coloured Backgrounds
These are the photos I took for my coloured background edits. I used pink and green as backgrounds (light pink to mimic Mantke's original background and green as it complements pink). Other than the change in backgrounds, nothing much changed from the white background edits.
Highlighting Success
These are my most successful images for the coloured backgrounds. For the first and last photographs I really liked how the green background complemented the pink strips, as well as the shapes the strips made. For the centre image, I really liked the close-up look of the photograph. I think it definitely helped to distort the face further. As a result of this photograph, I may do another shoot where I do more close up photographs
Gradient Strips
Here are the images I prepared for my gradient strip edits. I coloured them using the application Clip Studio Paint and chose colours that would contrast each other. Every image up here has its matching one that compliments it (complimentary in colour, not identical image). I did this so that when I printed the images out double-sided the flip side of the paper would perfectly contrast the front.
These are the coloured strip edits I made. I made them the same way as all the other ones, by cutting portraits into strips and winding them around themselves. Overall, I really like how impactful these edits are. I think that the contrast certainly makes them more eyecatching and interesting to look at. The way I've made these edits has changed a lot since the first neutral coloured, on-sided edits. Along the way, the new elements further distorted the faces so much that by this point, they're completely unrecognisable. The strips look just like that - coloured strips with darker shaded areas. This, to me, really fulfils my desire to stretch appearance to the point that identity is lost, one of the things I decided I wanted to explore at the start of this project.
Highlighting Success
Here are the most successful of the images above. I like how in each of these images the sculptures are all centres, and how both sides of the strips (and consequently their colours) can be easily seen. These five images also clearly show each of the five individual sculptures (there were five in total as I printed double-sided, dividing the ten gradient images in two).
Hanging Edits
I made these edits by suspending the strips from a bannister by a white thread. The result of this was a series of less clustered edits in which the strips are easier to see. The difference between these and the previous ones is that the others were resting, and so I could only photograph them from certain angles, whereas here you will see some photographs taken from above, bellow, and either side.
Here you can see the bannister I suspended the strips from, as well as how I attached the thread to the strips without it being seen (I stuck the thread to the side of the strip I didn't want to be seen using blue-tack so that it couldn't be seen). I also stuck up a white piece of paper to act as a background for my photographs to keep up the consistent plain backgrounds.
Double Exposure (extras)
