I'm planning on emulating this piece by Salvador Dali titled "The Elephants." This painting has been a favorite of mine for years, and i love it because of its surreal atmosphere and the vibrant colors in the background. Its at first disconcerting because of how the elephants have been contorted, and I like how the elephants act as a sort of frame around the picture. The scale is also fascinating. Because this painting makes me feel uncomfortable and also extremely drawn in, I'm going to work with a fairly uncomfortable and surreal format -- infrared film. I am most fascinated by art that warps reality, and infrared film does that by changing the lighting and the way we see nature especially. I plan to experiment both with shooting nature and portraits with infrared film, and then toning it to get the same sort of odd color that appears in this painting.
UPDATE: After further consideration, I decided to use the photographs I had taken on my recent trip to Moab, Utah for this emulation project. When converted to infrared, they evoke the exact eery and isolated feeling that "The Elephants" makes me feel. Also, the barren desert landscapes correlate well with the reddish and ruddy hues in Dali's painting, not to mention the painting itself looks like it takes place in some sort of desert.
