In Stock Now: "Mergings" by Steve Jerman — 6 3/4" x 6 5/8" — 80 page, softcover
Shipping in the US is $5. \ Published by Greater Goodz LLC. |
For the past 10 years, graphic designer Steve Jerman, who hails from Sugar House, has spent a little time each week experimenting in Photoshop to create photo illustrations. Most of the images took less than 15 minutes to make, only to realize that he had developed a style and a body of work that he's now ready to share. That style is characterized by his interest in combining two different images to create a third. • Some of the images are morphings of two people, like Hitler and Mel Gibson, or Rosie O'Donnell and Donald Trump, in order to emphasize similarities between them that would normally be overlooked. • Some combine an object and a person for aesthetic or intellectual effects: When a girl is layered with a car, the fenders suggest her breasts, the sensuality of the female form and the machine form. When a blond bearded man is layered with a waffle, both images take on unique textures, peaks and valleys — even before reading the text that explains that the man is Kid Rock and the merging was inspired by his fight at a Waffle House. • I prefer the more detailed images; the layers of clip arts images of cats don't add up in my mind to a greater statement, while receipts from Hogle Zoo and Red Iguana make me feel uncomfortably voyeuristic. On the other hand, the most layered images could hold my attention for hours. They involve many layers of photographs combined to create colorful collages from which meaning bobs up to the surface — a chicken there, a roll of the dice there, all combining to trigger memories and half-realized emotions. • Laced throughout the book are Jerman's stories of his processes, both mental and technical. The 80-page book is available through stevejerman.com for $26. — Kelly Baker Ashkettle
