Norm Magnusson Analysis

Norm Magnusson is a American Artist and Founder of the art movement Funism.The main focus of Funism is that art should be as much fun to look at as it is to think about which is what Norm tries to convey through his artwork. He began his career creating animal painting , Eventually he became more and more interested in political art and its potential for persuasion.

One of Norms projects was called 'Decorating nature' this project consisted of painting pieces of nature and capturing it with his camera.There are over 90 pieces to this collection each were painted differently to the next, subject matter included Leaves, Stones, Shells and trees. The collection can be viewed here, under every photograph is a small caption.

Under this image is a caption that says: 
 fig. 68: some stones "blue up" when the water gets cold.

In this image pictures a striped blue rock under he water. I particularly like the way the water makes a patterned effect on the rock and how the rock being coloured blue links into this well. 
The colour Blue conotates peace and tranquillity and those are also things we associate with the sea so the blue was used to recreate this label.

This idea links into the mood of the piece which i think the artist was trying to convey in a sense rocks are part of the sea and they play just as much part in creating a calm feeling.
The stripes also give a good effect because they relate to the design the water is making,The stripes aren't straight down the rock either they produce a little pattern on their own by being diagonal lines across this rock.

To create this Norm would have painted the rock using strong waterproof paints and then simply placed it under the water.The photograph has been taking portrait which allows us to see more of the location where the rock is placed.

The main subject matter of this photograph is the rock we know this because it is placed with other rocks under this water but yet still it is larger than the others and colored to make it stand out. 
Norm Magnussons work aims to draw the viewer in and find it interesting a fun on the website i previously mentioned he says 
'If a photo is pretty, the viewer will spend more time with it. If a viewer spends more time with it, they will begin to think beyond the surface of it and into the meaning of it. That’s the dynamic I hope to create in viewers of my work.'

Therefore when creating his work he has the viewers good intentions to mind.
Although this is a wide shot captured it also seems a little zoomed in as rocks aren't normally that big so this is quite zoomed in to make it seem that way.

I think the meaning of this and the project is to show viewers how beautiful nature is.
For example you may not find a rock with these huge blue lines placed on it but there are many rocks with very different and interesting patterns on them, The same way your not going to necessarily find a tree with a polka dot pattern on it but the bark of each tree is different and are detailed with unique patterns.

Some people just don't see that all they see is nature for nature a rock for a rock so by making this rock and other subject matters the focal point people can start to appreciate nature in it naturalist form.
Overall i find this image and this project pleasing i think its a excellent way to produce art and photography by being resourceful.