Music Mosaic

This image is meant to go along with the song clip "One Word" composed and recorded by Benjamin James Hoff.

Artist Statement:

The idea of this assignment was to collaborate with the music to create an image in space, not time. My first thought was to create a series of pictures and let this wonderful piece of music tell a story. The reason that this came to my mind first is because as humans we are driven to find stories. Our minds automatically fill in the gaps and try to make sense of the information around us. For example, when we sit down in a dark theater and the film begins, the instinctual assumption is not that this film is the meant to be the beginning of time, but that these characters have past experiences, that the world has been around for quite a while and that there are social and cultural norms already in place. All of this conjecture is based in time.

            Therefore, I chose to focus on my ability to create images in space. I then wanted to conceptualize the main feeling from the song in a sort of mosaic. For me, the main sensation cultivated by listening to this song was about conquering the world, being happy and finally winning an internal or external battle. I then used various images to show a girl punching the air as a celebration of her success. Then, in order to work with the music I walked around my apartment and outside with the music playing in my ear-buds. The rest of the images, to fill in the space around the main concept, happened in conjunction with the music. I didn’t decide what they should be when just listening to the music or aesthetically without the music in mind; no, they happened together. So, the rest of the photos worked with the music individually and collectively.

            Corresponding with the recent lectures in class, I focused on not just what the image says, but on the color and especially the line. All of the photographs include strong, distinct lines. The clouds are soft and curved, while the trees and ball have stark beginnings and endings, but each has a line that points into the center of the image, which is meant to bring the focus inward. Also, like the Gorillaz, the images aren’t necessarily literally connected to the sound, but they represent the mood. I made sure to use photography instead of any other medium, because the feelings of joy, courage and epic success inspired by the music feel very real, so I wanted to bring images from real life.

            After creating my humble mosaic, I was reminded of the trailer from my favorite movie: The Social Network

This trailer includes a compilation of Facebook profile pictures and sequences from the film, with the background music sometimes overwhelm the dialogue. The most important part of this trailer is not what is happening, but the mood that is invoked. This is similar to my mosaic because each image itself has something to say, but together the most important thing is just the experience.