Tonight I’m posting a straightforward photo-manipulation, no caricature this time. I did this manipulation to illustrate how I feel about Facebook’s censorship of images and censorship in general. I think this is a serious subject and I just wanted to express my feelings about unfair and thoughtless censorship all around us. It’s not just people doing the censoring, in fact that’s the problem, algorithmic censorship is controlling what we see or don’t see on the web, not people. I’ll let Eli explain the algorithm bit below. I can understand protecting young children from graphic images, but to mutilate a work of art, even a Master’s work is wrong. There must be another way. Take DeviantArt.com for instance. They actually have adult content on their site and to protect minors from such content, they have taken measures to mask and password block any nudity or violence so only responsible adults can see it, and it gives the viewer a choice with a warning of the content. Facebook deletes any image flagged by anyone and refuses to give a reason why it was deleted or even bother to notify you. It’s just wrong. Dali is going to turn over in his grave after seeing what I did to his painting of his dear wife, but it was for a cause and I think he would agree about the mindless censorship going on. I myself have had two Dali paintings deleted from my Facebook album among several other works. Just thought I would put my two cents in. Listen to what Eli has to say about it. Crazy stuff!

I’m no expert on algorithmic censorship but I do know this; you can’t program an algorithm to have common sense.

Tonight I have a manipulated caricature of actor director, Ron Howard. He’s changed just a bit over the years as you can see by the short video of his child acting days in The Andy Griffith Show. Few of you are old enough to remember, I’m sure. Today Ron is a very successful director for films such as The Da Vinci Code and A Beautiful Mind. He’s come a long way since his Opie days. I’ve posted the source image below.

 

Source image:

I hope you enjoyed. Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

Tonight I’m posting the completed manipulation of Bill Murray in a painting by El Greco. The original painting is called “El caballero con la mano en el pecho” which in English means “The Knight with His Hand on His Breast”. I changed the name just a bit to “El caballero con el pulgar en el culo” which means “The Knight with His Thumb in His Butt”. I’m sure those Spanish speaking readers already got the punch line. If you’re a Bill Murray fan as I am and you remember the late 70s and 80s, you’ll understand the Brooch on his chest. For those of you who don’t, the brooch pays tribute to SNL Star Gilda Radner or as seen as her alter ego, Rosana Rosanadana. Hope the spelling is correct. I’m sure that’s clear as mud for those of you who don’t remember her. Anyhow back to the manipulation. If you view it in full size you will see the texture work I’m kind of experimenting with. I’m trying to produce convincing paint crackles, scuffs and scratches. I’m not there yet but I’m getting closer. Source painting below:

El caballero con la mano en el pecho by El Greco

Tonight I wanted t get something posted so I did a very quick caricature study of Bill Murray. I was not at all concerned with likeness. I was more concerned with the overall feel, so don’t ask me why the likeness is not there. It was an experiment. I think that the fact that I did it so quickly may have helped actually because I kept it loose. I didn’t get hung up on the details, which usually tighten me up, and the image ends up looking stiff of forced. I only spent about an hour and a half from the quick liquify sketch to the final caricature manipulation. I’ve posted the source image below as well as a short video clip from Caddyshack from about 1980, which is the Bill Murray I grew up with. That and SNL.

I hope you enjoyed. Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!