Tripartite project

One of the projects that I am working on these days actually involves three related components. My friend and fellow collage artist -- Anthony Morgan -- sometimes teases me about the fact that I often like to use background elements comprised of space or galactic images. Of course, like many collagists, I do! But that got me thinking about the appeal of those types of elements for me as an artist and for viewers who respond positively to my work. So, in addition to working on a specific collage, I am also taking the opportunity to photograph various "candidate" backgrounds for comparison. I hope to submit an article to Kolaj magazine soon which discusses the use of space/galactic backgrounds in terms of design strategies and psychological effects. In addition, I am considering doing a small research project at Utica College examining viewers responses to the different backgrounds. From a "scientific" standpoint, this necessitated my use of various backgrounds which might replicate the lighting or perspective factors of the space backgrounds, without it actually being space-related (i.s., "galactic"). Here are some of the images that I am considering using for these projects (nota bene: all of these are images of analog elements... i.e., not digitally manipulated):

"The King of Crabnebbula"