Comments on: What is the art theory term for an effect like a Where's Waldo picture?

Question: What is the art theory term for an effect like a Where's Waldo picture?

philosophistry — Sat, 09 Dec 2006 17:48:32 -0800

What is the art theory term for an effect like a Where's Waldo picture?

Other examples of what I'm thinking about are:
- A Hieronymous Bosch painting
- The Million Dollar homepage

By: JujuB

JujuB — Sat, 09 Dec 2006 18:43:16 -0800

Collage

By: rhizome

rhizome — Sat, 09 Dec 2006 19:12:16 -0800

I'm not sure I understand which effect you're talking about.

By: philosophistry

philosophistry — Sat, 09 Dec 2006 19:34:03 -0800

Here's another example

It's an image that invites you to put your face up close so you can see individual objects and all their little details. And then when you step away from the image, it has an entirely different effect.

By: rhizome

rhizome — Sat, 09 Dec 2006 19:49:05 -0800

I'm not sure that's anything more than "detail" itself.

By: fvox13

fvox13 — Sat, 09 Dec 2006 19:55:10 -0800

Montage. Arcsoft makes a piece of software called PhotoMontage that a lot of OEMs used to bundle with new computers. Maybe you can find it on eBay? It would let you define a "montage image" and then a directory with hundreds of little pictures to make the montage with.

By: niles

niles — Sat, 09 Dec 2006 20:48:14 -0800

Along with montage, maybe a (photo) mosaic?

By: rhizome

rhizome — Sat, 09 Dec 2006 21:13:03 -0800

I don't think montage or mosaic covers Bosch.

By: bookish

bookish — Sat, 09 Dec 2006 21:53:40 -0800

I don't know if there is a term for it, but I think there should be. Maybe you should invent it.

By: philosophistry

philosophistry — Sat, 09 Dec 2006 22:12:16 -0800

Yeah, I'm kind of going for something like a Long Zoom

Yeah, I think montage is closer, but there's something about seeing a bevy of objects similar in class, but different in detail. From afar they look the same, sort of. That "sort of" invites you to inspect the details. The abundance of minute variety itself is similar to seeing the legs on a centipede I think.

By: gauchodaspampas

gauchodaspampas — Sat, 09 Dec 2006 23:05:09 -0800

For those not familiar. Here's The Garden of Earthly Delights by Hieronymus Bosch. Awesome painting. I have a poster of it in my room.

I see what you mean, philosophistry. Not sure if there's a term for it. Long zoom seems pretty close. If you plan on writing about this, why not call it the "where's waldo effect"? In writing, there's nothing wrong with coining your own terms, so long as you define them early on. Though I guess calling it the "where's waldo" effect might give the false impression that there's supposed to be a particular small detail to be found. But if you define it well, that won't be a problem.

By: Thorzdad

Thorzdad — Sun, 10 Dec 2006 06:53:13 -0800

I think, for the images you site, you're just responding to a high level of detail.
Frankly, I've found most good art naturally invites a closer examination...even apparently simple modernist work invites much closer inspection.