Lightening Flower Girl

The below piece is one that I have been working on for the last couple weeks. My idea for composition changed many times during the creation. I first started with just the top two panels of canvas doing the lightening. I then decided to add more panels on the bottom because it felt unfinished and I wanted to include a figure. When painting Sonya I ignored depth but kept the shadows to have a surreal tone. She is meant to be one with the lightening, but also a completely different mood as she looks incredibly solemn compared to the action overhead. The flower with the fallen petals sort of hints to the "he loves me, he love me not" girlish game, but the viewer does not know which option the last petal falls under. The piece communicates an eerie ambivalence and will probably be the focal point of my senior show with some of the work that I consider more portrait-like than political or psychologically twisted. 

Body of Work???

For the remainder of the year I have to focus on organizing my plethora of pieces into a cohesive body for the Senior Showcase. I have been trying to find solid concepts that ground a few of my works together. The below is a threesome that all make commentaries on society, and I feel aesthetically show well together. 

I have a few other paintings that I want to finish before the show. The other sets I have thought about are portraits of people and also more introverted subject matter.

Manic Depression

I am keeping the face basically realistic, as has been a familiar theme in my previous work, but am making the lenses of the sunglasses and the background a sort of psychedelic mix of colors with a teal base. The painting will be less of an overt message as some of my other pieces have been and create more of a mood to envelop the viewer. The calm face and the calm colors with a hint of red/yellow feels sort of symbiotic. It could be as if the lenses a metaphor, projecting feelings inward or outward. 

I also get the vibe of someone who suffers from bipolar disorder is phasing from the depression to the manic stage during the time captured in the painting. 

Politics?

Two projects:

1) I have done a black and white acrylic painting of Mariel Hemingway as Tracy from Woody Allen's Manhattan. On the top of the painting I plan to do a transfer in red of the letter Dylan Farrow wrote to the press. This painting is my exploration of the controversy surrounding Woody Allen's personal life (in particular, the unresolved accusation of child molestation of his then-partner Mia Farrow's adopted daughter, Dylan). I am torn while I watch his films as to if I can still appreciate the artistic output regardless of his questionable character. I hope this piece will illustrate the ambivalent feelings of the informed viewer. I find Tracy's character to be a bit of a projection of Dylan, as she was young (though 17 and not 7) and often manipulated by Woody Allen's character. 

2) I am printing out images of famous politicians, mainly presidents, and going to doodle on the surface of the images. Ex: Giving Joe Biden a "Mom" tattoo, or making Hilary and Bill Clinton look like hippies (again). It's just a small little side product reminiscent of graffiti and (youth's) apathy and disgust derived from the hypocritical and often obscene nature of the government elite.

This one is also inspired by my interest in playing with mixed media and other art I have seen altering photographs. Such as adding tattoos onto iconic people.

From: http://designtaxi.com/news/364044/Photoshopped-Images-Of-Famous-People-Covered-In-Beautiful-Faux-Tattoos/

Revision

In the previous post, I talked of my lack of resolve for a particular piece. Below is an updated version of the painting. 

When I first imagined the piece, I wanted some sort of gold symbolism in the background, but the only icon I could think of was the female sign for gender, which I found redundant (as the painting was already of a naked female). So I was at a standstill. But while looking at my entire body of work, I, for some reason, liked the way the above piece looked with a self portrait I picture below. 

In the work immediately above, I started with the version on the left, but was unhappy, so I let it sit, similarly to the painting of the naked girl. It did not convey the sort of flighty depression I wanted, it just looked like some superficial, try-hard fantasy. Some aspects of the painting I still really liked, such as the clouds and the color palette as well as form of the face. So, I first painted over the body then hair more realistically, eliminating the failed lotus and pitiful semi-2D-style hair. I wanted to add another sort of graphic at this point, maybe in ink. I settled on Sharpie (because that was the only medium that would write over the oil paints) and used my old journals to come up with the broken text. This alteration did not bring the piece to perfection, I am still unsettled by the composition, but, overall, I am much happier and less embarrassed because it feels like a more genuine work. 

But back to the original painting discussion of this post, looking at these two paintings together, I decided to add a textual background. When Ms. Slaughter gave me the metallic markers, I planned to use a literary text that was somewhat sexual. As a joke, I told my friend Sonya that I would write a chapter from "50 Shades of Grey." Then I actually did it. I crossed out sort of sexual or emotional words as a hypothetical censorship. And am satisfied with the outcome. 

Hairy

A painting front the first semester that I am not entirely satisfied with is related to the magazine collage I posted about previously.

This image was meant to represent enigmatic sexuality of women. Her eyes are blacked out to void her of her actual personality and being, it even appears to be subtle, as if she is okay to have her identity reside in her outer appearance. Her hair is long, meant to be seemingly infinite as it cascades across her body and off whatever ledge she is sitting on.

I once read a demeaning advice column that recommended wearing your hair down on the first date, because a man is (unconsciously) attracted to healthy hair because it implies fertility. In addition, I was reflecting on the trend of girls posting pictures of themselves on the internet with their hair being the focal point, going down to their hips or laid across their chests suggestively covering their breasts. Although, my model is a bit more elegant than those girls.

I love the color variance in her body. Alas, this is really the only thing I love about my actual execution of the idea.

I feel the background is bland, not simple in an elegant way. The hair lacks that luster I wanted to accomplish and the extension of her hair across her legs (as my friend lovingly pointed out) looks a bit like incredibly long public hair, excuse my bluntness.

Editing

My concentration isn't exactly obvious. I don't like to limit myself to a particular topic, because this seems unnatural, being a teenager, which means "growing up" or at least changing your perception around perpetually.

So, I've just been painting whatever I have felt like. A common strain throughout my work has been having people be the subjects. In some, I experiment with "pop-art" concepts and designs, and in others they seem a bit more philosophical. I'm not really sure if this is the pure true, but it is what I currently perceive. I also find a lot of my art to be a bit satirical, that is they deal with existing, weighty issues, while jointly mocking them.

A piece I finished after break is a self-portrait, in which I am "smoking" a lollypop. I played with the graphics a bit, having my body and hair be generally realistic, with a flat, solid shirt as well as shadow. The smoke that comes from the lollypop is realistic. My pose is reminiscent of the typical "punk pose", leaning against a wall with a cigarette. The lollypop replacement is meant to be somewhat humorous and mocking of this suave look.

Wall Paintings

For my next painting(s) I would like to do a series of walls on fairly large canvases, possibly with tree shadows on them. One I just started outlining is from a picture I took in downtown troy of paint peeling off a brick wall. 

Older walls, like the one pictured above would have a nostalgic feeling of tattered industrialization. The other walls with tree shadows, I imagine them to be cleaner cut, more contemporary-looking. The tree shadow could represent the shadow of nature on contemporary society, meaning it still touches it, but it doesn't seem to make a huge difference. Maybe, maybe not. I also just thought that I could do some cool color palettes with the oil paints. 

Façade: Hands

This is my first oil painting for my concentration on the "façade" of humans. This piece is an abstraction of cutting, or scarring on wrists. Beginning the piece, I was not sure where it would go and had planned for the arms to have much more of a pallor to them. But I'm not very good at predicting how my paintings end up, especially in regards to the color palette. 

I began with a base of the primary colors red, blue, and yellow after sketching the outline. Then I simply took white paint and blended them where I thought it should be blended. I was very pleased with the way the arms and hands turned out and was hesitant to begin the rest of the painting. I ended up doing a wash in a brownish color on the background that vaguely resembles a wood grain. Then, after much contemplation, I did go in with the slash of red on the wrists, adding a bit of other colors to create my dimension, and made the paint in that area extremely think so that it raised off the canvas. Then I made the sleeves flesh-like. 

The painting could be interpreted in a number of ways, depending on the viewer. (That's one of my favorite parts about my concentration, that the viewer can relate my work to his or her own life and own contemplations/struggle). The background serves to separate the arms from whomever they belong to, making them iconic. It is possible that the arms belong to two different people (though they are originally both mine, outstretched). And they could be out in front of the person(s), or vertically hanging. The scarring/blood on the arms has a feeling that even one's insides are being taken away by society. Whether it be the trek of the common worker or the insecurities of a teen causing the scars, each of them labors internally, finding a way to cope with this world. 

Façade: Happy Collage

One of my projects for the "façade" category of my concentration on humanity is a collage of happy women from magazines. The next step is to take the collage and red out the women's eyes with acrylic. The concept behind the project is touching on the image people attempt to convey as they sell their iconicism/product. A smile is perceived to mean everything is fantastic, making it what the general public hopes to aspire toward, and, therefore, it is often twisted to feed into encouraging the materialism of contemporary society. 

Independent Art Project: Concept

After much contemplation and throwing around ideas, I have begun to find a common ground among my brainstorms. This year, I would like to explore the idea of authenticity and façade in regards to humanity.

For my in-class Adv Art concentration, I will focus on the "façade" aspect, creating work that touches on insecurities of people. I will probably be focusing on paint and collage as my primary mediums.

For my out-of-class project, I am going to to explore a variety of mediums including sculpture, film, and graphic design to convey "authenticity." 

Hopefully when viewers look at my projects, they will find some sort of relation to the work even (especially) if it makes them uncomfortable. 

Artists that have really excited my need to throw off but also indulge the viewer include, but are not limited to, Ellen Gallagher, Keith Haring, Jenny Saville, and Wayne White. 

Print: Reach

For my next linoleum print of the year, I took a compelling image of my friend and sketched it onto a piece of linoleum with my usual cross hatching style. I took my linoleum cutter and used it to cross hatch the spots untouched by my pen rather than carving out masses of light v dark. I used a larger cutter tip for her body to imply the perspective, but am not sure how much I like it. Nevertheless, I don't think it detracts TOO much from the overall print's impact

Forgetting to tell my art teacher that I planned on doing these prints over the weekend, I had no access to printing paper, so I used tracing paper and am not disappointed with the result. I am thinking of expanding this project to include some sort of layer or collage to utilize the transparency of the paper. 

Cat Prints

For my first independent art project I decided to venture back into printmaking after a summer of static. Not really having much of a grand inspiration, I just flipped through the photos in my phone in hopes of a glimmer of interest. I landed on a picture of my aunt's cat that I had bonded with over the summer and created a simple linoleum print from it. I spent one Saturday printing 106 of these cats in an array of color combinations from the blue, red, and black ink. How I was to display my cats was an extreme mystery to me until Ms. Slaughter showed me the space I had for display. I laid 100 of my prints on the ground and spend a while arranging them until I settled on two panels of 4 x 10 each, totaling 80 prints, moving in a gradient from corner to corner. I taped the backs of the prints together to create the grid.

I suppose to analyze this piece, I would comment on how it is a bit of a color study to remind myself how color interact and how they bring out the style of the piece in different ways, and the power of a repeated image can have on the viewer. (Final presentation image to come.)

My focus during my independent study will be in exploring relationships in structure of a piece and how the non-routine colors can add emphasis to a subject.