Multiple

DEFINITION

More than one of the same object or subject. Sometimes meant as an equivalent to edition, the term traditionally preferred by makers of prints and cast sculptures.David Hockney calls his photocollages "multiples."Example:David Hockney (English, lives and works in USA, 1937-), Portrait of the Artist's Mother, c. 1985?, photocollage. This is called a photocollage rather than a photomontage, because it is more three-dimensional than a montage tends to be. Hockney reflected extensively on his process of collaging prints taken with a 35 mm camera as connecting to the Cubist sense of multiple angles and especially of movement. These "multiples" (as he called them) convey a strong sense of movement, Hockney argued, in that the viewer must keep readjusting his imagined viewpoint as his gaze travels from print to print. And of course by this means the viewer builds up a single image that is many times wider in angle of view than the camera lens. (The viewing angle of a standard 55mm lens for a 35mm format camera is about 45 degrees. Wide angle lenses increase the angle of view to about 75 degrees without obvious distortion, but the human angle of view, with eye movement, is about 180 degrees.) This portrait of Hockney's mother illustrates the technique at close range. See collage.Also see module and tile.