michal mackus

michal mackus manipulates gellage self portraits

These pieces I think are some of the most surreal of the images that I have researched and like others even though these are not taken with a pin hole camera , but on film its the editing technique that iam looking at and how I could try this in my own work  when developing my pin hole images in the dark room.

This collection is based around self portraits and a technique that is his own named gellage the ligature of collagen and gelatin . This is done by transferring the exposed and fixed photographic emulsion from its original base on to paper. this is helped by using a plastic gelatin substance which makes it possible to re shape and re form the original  image. this creates an almost collage effect in which he then makes his surreal images showing his representation of the human form. 

This work has inspired me to use ideas like this in my own work for my final piece , I would like to use the basic idea of using images of the human for but only select  parts of the human boy to create images like these but with a different experimental printing practice to give my own take on  this style mixed with erotic images all exploring the human body / human form in a surreal and abstract way.

 I love the power in this image this makes me feel that the subject is using all his force to rip out of his skin . This I think shows his inner emotions breaking free .

 Images like this represent the type of idea that I want to interpret in my own work . I want to do this because I really like the way the body parts are manipulated to then create surreal / abstract pieces that represent the human form in an experimental way. I find this type of photography really interesting because it makes you explore the image and ideas behind the image as it is more complex.

web references : http://www.michal-macku.eu/
http://beautifuldecay.com/2012/08/17/michal-mackus-manipulated-gellage-self-portraits/



The words of Michal mackus :  

Since the end of 1989, Michal Macku has used his own creative technique which he has named “Gellage” (the ligature of collage and gelatin). The technique consists of transfer the exposed and fixed photographic emulsion from its original base on paper. This transparent and plastic gelatin substance makes it possible to reshape and reform the original images, changing their relationships and endowing them with new meanings during the transfer.

“I use the nude human body (mostly my own) in my pictures. Through the photographic process [of Gellage], this concrete human body is compelled to meet with abstract surroundings and distortions. This connection is most exciting for me and helps me to find new levels of humanness in the resulting work. 
I am always seeking new means of expression and, step by step, I am discovering almost unlimited possibilities through my work with loosened gelatin. Photographic pictures mean specific touch with concrete reality for me, one captured level of real time. The technique of Gellage which I am using helps me to take one of these “time sheets” and release a figure, a human body, from it, causing it to depend on time again. Its charm is similar to that of cartoon animation, but it is not a trick. It is very important for me to be aware of the history of a picture and to have a sense of direct contact with its reality. My work places “body pictures” in new situations, new contexts, new realities, causing their “authentic” reality to become relative. I am interested in questions of moral and inner freedom. I do what I feel, and only then do I begin to meditate on what the result is. I am often surprised by the new connections I find in it. Naturally, I start out with a concrete intention, but the result is often very different. And there, I believe, lies a hitch. One creates to communicate what can not be expressed in any other way. Then comes the need to describe, to define.”