Urban Landscape: Quality Control and Curation

 After I have finalised selecting which image I will use for the collection, I opened Photoshop to begin the quality control and curation process.

I begin by opening Photoshop and clicking 'File' and 'Open' to open up an image from my selection. I decided to change the image to a monochrome filter as I thought the image will look more enhanced and vintage.

To do that, I clicked 'Image' on the top left side and selected 'Adjustments' then 'Black and White'. I then adjusted the presets to enhance the image by changing the Red to -51 in order to enhance the brick colour and the Blue to -40 to enhance the sky. 

In which resulted as shown below.

I then clicked 'File' , 'New', 'Print' and selected the 'A3' and 'Horizontal' to add a canvas for the image. I decided to use the colour white for the background as all the images I selected will be in black and white and that matches the images well.

I then went back to the image I have already edited and clicked on 'Select', 'All', 'Edit' and 'Copy' in which then I will paste on top of the canvas I have previously created. I proceeded to adjust the size so the image will fit symmetrically on top of the canvas.

I then continued on to add a title for the image in the canvas by selecting the 'T' or Typing Tool in the left side. I decided to name this image 'Shades On and Off' as it is self-explanatory and explains the image quite well, using the font 'Mongolian Baiti' in the size 36 and colour black.

As I have finished, I saved the image in a JPEG file and saving it to my Google Drive and Desktop.

I will now discuss about the Director and Chief Curator of The Studio Museum, Thelma Golden. She is a renowned expert and curator in contemporary art made by African-American artists. She established her prominent curatorial style in 1988 and has coordinated a number of ground-breaking exhibitions over ten years. The exhibitions include Black Male: Representations of Masculinity in American Art, in 1994.

“Black Male: Representations of Masculinity in Contemporary American Art,” Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, 1994–95. From left: Robert Colescott, George Washington Carver Crossing the Delaware: Page from American History, 1975; Gary Simmons, Step in the Arena (The Essentialist Trap), 1994; Byron Kim and Glenn Ligon, Rumble Young Man Rumble, 1993. Photo: Geoffrey Clements.

"Golden explained that in order to address the complexities of black masculinity, the exhibition demanded many voices and perspectives. There was no previous model for understanding the complicated manifestations and nuances of representations of black men, and she described her feeling that in order to make this exhibition, it was as if a new language had to be invented." (whitney.org, 2015)

Reflection:

I am overly satisfied with the result as the idea to change the image to a black and white image creates a different atmosphere out of it. Though I was quite confused in handling the navigation and settings of Photoshop, I managed to adjust myself and understand how to correctly use it.

References:

Golden, T. (2016) Thelma golden on "Black male" (1994–95), The online edition of Artforum International Magazine. Available at: https://www.artforum.com/print/201606/black-male-1994-95-60084 (Accessed: April 24, 2023). 

Looking back at Black Male (2015) Looking Back At Black Male | Whitney Museum of American Art. Available at: https://whitney.org/education/education-blog/looking-back-at-black-male1 (Accessed: April 24, 2023). 

Thelma Golden, director and chief curator (2021) The Studio Museum in Harlem. Available at: https://studiomuseum.org/thelma-golden-director-and-chief-curator (Accessed: April 24, 2023).