Rene Magritte (1898-1967)

Magritte was a Belgian surrealist artist. He became well known for a number of witty and thought-provoking images. Often depicting ordinary objects in an unusual context, his work is known for challenging observers' preconditioned perceptions of reality. He does this most directly in his work, "The Treachery of Images". He paints a realistic looking pipe and writes underneath "This is not a pipe". A painting can never be the actual object it is depicting no matter how convincing and skilled the artist is.

Magritte's work frequently displays a collection of ordinary objects in an unusual context, giving new meanings to familiar things. They often have an uncanny feel, which means familiar but strange in an unsettling way. 

In order to achieve this feeling and look in his work, Magritte plays with scale, juxtaposition and humor. 

Your Assignment

You are to create an uncanny collage influenced by Magritte. It must have the following:

1. A clear setting. Be it an interior of a room, a landscape, etc, it must be recognizable. 
2. An uncanny feeling. Each component must be recognizable as what it is, but feel strange and wrong in the context you have placed it in. 
3. It must have a focal point of some kind to draw the viewer in. (example, the train in the above image, etc)
4. It must play with scale. The elements in your collage must be varying sizes to help your narrative. 
5. It must show good work ethic and EFFORT. 

Tutorial Below:
​Refresher on creating collages in Photoshop

uncannycollage.pdf
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