In writing and speech, a metaphor is used as an expression- a word or phrase; that refers to an unrelated idea, creating additional meaning. Images can be used in much the same way. For example in this painting of “Dark Matter”, the artist uses smoke rising (in the human figure) as a visual metaphor; making the audience curious about why the artist choose to incorporate smoke and the meaning behind the smoke. What does the smoke have represent? Is there a greater meaning to this painting that the artist is trying to convey? By using “smoke” as a visual metaphor, the artist is trying to make the audience think “Am I just looking at the shape of a human with smoke filled in? or is there a bigger picture I am missing??”. For this assignment I originally planned on comparing my typeface/ poster design idea to the “Wendy Red Star” (painting seen below on the left) because I liked how the artist used the colors to make a sunset on the beach, but after rereading all the pictures I took from the WSU Museum and their summaries; I decided that the “Dark Matter” Painting was much more relevant to the typeface design I decided to go with. The reason I choose to go with the painting by Samantha Wall  (Dark Matter artist) was because the creativity she had in substituting smoke as the filler for the human figure, instead of just plain old skin. This paintings uniqueness, to think outside the realm of the social norm; helped me in shaping my organic shape that I used in the creation of all my letters in my typeface design (except the letter “C”). For my poster design on the other hand, I was actually inspired not only by the wave like shape I made but by also the colors presented in the “Wendy Red Star” painting of a couple at the beach watching a sunset.

Dark Matter 2016 Samantha Wall 1977

Wendy Red Star Enit 2010 Image courtesy of Crow’s Shadow Institute of the Arts