MAFC2 - Modern Art From Contributors 2

Over the years, I as the curator have solicited cracked screens from others, for eventual use when I otherwise start to run low on supply of art I can produce myself. This is the second such collection, following MAFC1. All of the screens in this collection were submitted by Jacob G. before they were edited into the works you see here. The first work of particular note this week is Smears 2, the successor to MAFC1's Smears, using the same Retouch Smearing technique to create a unique look. This time, it's more colorful, and there are recognizably many smears in different directions, notably down the center of the image where horizontal smears alternate to the left and to the right. Each of the corners deviates somewhat with its own unique style, making this work overall feel like a mix of many different styles. Next, Hi-Tech Hills is a more typical style of work, with crack sharpened and rolling. The color scheme contributes to the work's title, a combination of blue-tinted silver and blue-tinted black. The rough digital texture of the background also contributes, as does the separation inside the hills in the foreground - the wide horizontal bar that cuts through, as though underpinning their structure. Stages to Fill feels curiously empty, for how busy and colorful it is; a big contributor to this feeling is how pervasive the darkness of the background is, and the way the horizontal impressions, repeated up and down the image at regular intervals, push through it all. It's as though the work exists in multiple layers, all with a level of transparency, creating a unique visual effect. Oddly-Conditioned Texture is a homogeneous work, with little to distract from its main feature, which is of course its texture, as the title implies. In practical terms, this is a relatively narrow ripple wave in blue and green, but for it to appear in a setting rather than simply as a computer-edited image would, indeed, be odd, as would the conditioning required to make it. And finally of note, Trunked Surveilled has a good balance of intrigue, motion, and color. It's very abstract, yet is clearly divided into many different sections; motifs are repeated in the three divisions of the background, with the middle raised and the sides lowered, while the foreground is more vertical and dense on the left and more horizontal and vacant on the right, providing contrast. Altogether this provides a sense of momentum, though what it's building to is left to the viewer's interpretation. Please enjoy!