Exhibition Text:
Death is perceived as something scary, terrifying, gritty, and inescapable. However, death can also be a sort of beautiful and delicate release. Plague Doctors; a symbol well known for their role in the Black Death, or the Plague. It was said that the long beak-like snouts of their masks contained fresh flowers to cover the smell of death lingering with the corpses in the streets. Death was and still is a big part of my life, and I have lost many to it. I recently wanted to rethink my stance upon the subject of death. Rather than it being cold nightmare, but a warm sleep. My work was inspired by the aesthetics in the works of Kathe Kollwitz and Francis Bacon.
Death is perceived as something scary, terrifying, gritty, and inescapable. However, death can also be a sort of beautiful and delicate release. Plague Doctors; a symbol well known for their role in the Black Death, or the Plague. It was said that the long beak-like snouts of their masks contained fresh flowers to cover the smell of death lingering with the corpses in the streets. Death was and still is a big part of my life, and I have lost many to it. I recently wanted to rethink my stance upon the subject of death. Rather than it being cold nightmare, but a warm sleep. My work was inspired by the aesthetics in the works of Kathe Kollwitz and Francis Bacon.
| Critical Investigation |
This piece was inspired by the common society's view on the Concept of Death, which characterizes it as an evil, dark, cold and depressing thing. One of the most common symbols of death, besides the grim reaper, is the Plague doctor from the Bubonic Plague in Europe in the 1340–1400's. They are stereotypical-ly portrayed as men with dark garb that covers all skin, with a near menacing and frightening beaked Mask and a hood or large looming brimmed hat. This intrigued me from the start, since these were supposedly people who would help, but could do nothing in the time, causing them to be a symbol of death. An Artist that I looked into that was intriguing to me was Kathe Kollwitz, with her black and white color scheme and sometimes scratchy style in art. Another artist was Francis Bacon, who has a tendency to pull a macabre twist on a lot of his work. I wanted to pull more aesthetic and style from these pieces. So the color, scratchy style, macabre tones, and themes stood out to me heavily when looking at the work these two artists made.
| Inspiration |
Kathe's Artwork that I had looked into was mainly her wood cuts. These mainly had Black and white colors with harsh contrasts and bold lines. What inspired me the most about her work is how she was able to capture the form of the figures in the wood cuts with clear white lines upon a black background. I mainly took this part of the work, and a sense of grief that falls on her work. This corresponds to my theme of death and false horror from dehumanizations.
What I find most interesting is how she was able to have a clear figure with a messy hatching technique for the white lines, and how it makes the piece come together. Although I did not make a wood cut, It is still amazing to see how smooth and clear the piece is and how constant it is throughout. |
Francis Bacon mainly works and prided himself in paintings, What I was inspired by the most - besides the strong use of color - was how the painting has a threatening and macabre aura to it. This aesthetic really inspired my piece, as it is uneasy to stare at, much like staring down a plague doctor was uneasy as well.
I mainly took out this macabre aesthetic, but once again, the harsh and bleeding lines of contrasting colors also inspired how my piece would eventually look, along with some of the grainy textures in the piece as well. |
| Planning Sketches |
My Planning Sketch(es) all had been focused on getting the main figure of the plague doctor down, while having notes of what I could improve on in my next sketch. The sketch to the left was the final one I used and transferred to my plate. A constant I wanted in my sketches were the flowers leaking from the open socket of the mask. This was supposed to overlay the "dead" eye, showing beauty inside death.
I was not sure if I could get as Much Detail in lines when Carving into the plate, but when I used the smallest tip for the carving tool, I was able to get most of the lines necessary in. |
| Process |
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1.) I started out by taking my sketch and transferring it to the block for my carving (See Experimentation).
2.) I took the smallest Blade I Could and carved into the block, tracing the guide lines. 3.) Once I had a Basic outline, I went back in and Used cross-hatching and deeper cut areas to give shading and contrast. 4.) For the printing, you must have water based block print ink, a brayer, a roller, a paint mixer and some type even tray to spread ink. 5.) I Spread ink onto the tray. The amount was minuscule, since I was doing a single print at a Time. 6.) I then used the roller to spread the ink onto the tray. The ink should eventually have a thin and even texture if done correctly. 7.) Then I took the Paper I had available and set it evenly on the inked block. Next, I took the brayer and put pressure all over the block evenly in a rubbing motion, like painting a wall. 8.) I removed the Paper and had finished my Print. |
| Experimentation |I experimented with how I transferred my image to my plate for carving. I experimented with taking a classic trick of rubbing pencil lead on the back of the sketch, lining it up with the plate, and tracing over the sketch so the drawing would transfer to the plate.
Originally, I had planned to draw the image again on the plate, but I found that trying to replicate the symmetry in my planning sketch would be very difficult to say the least. So I tried and used this method to transfer the image so I could carve, to save time and energy. |
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| Meaning |
This piece was inspired by the common society's view on the Concept of Death, which characterizes it as an evil, dark, cold and depressing thing. One of the most common symbols of death, besides the grim reaper, is the Plague doctor from the Bubonic Plague in Europe in the 1340–1400's. They are stereotypical-ly portrayed as men with dark garb that covers all skin, with a near menacing and frightening beaked Mask and a hood or large looming brimmed hat. This intrigued me from the start, since these were supposedly people who would help, but could do nothing in the time, causing them to be a symbol of death. Death was and still is a big part of my life, and I have lost many to it. I recently wanted to rethink my stance upon the subject of death. Rather than it being cold nightmare, but a warm sleep.
| Reflection |
My main goal and theme of This Piece (Untitled) was to make the audience understand the issues of the relationship between us and nature. Because of that goal, I pushed to make my project as full of symbolism as it could be, with ideals and physical materials I used. Because of that, I think this project would be a success. While creating it I noticed many weaknesses as much as I did strengths. For example, Wrapping the wire and getting structural balance was fairly simple to do overall. Another strength was placement of both branches and body parts, it was fairly simple because I had patience and a keen eye for where and how I wanted things placed. There were also some complex or tougher things in the project such as getting the Branches just right in placement and rotation. The must frustrating thing was probably cutting the branches down to get a good size (I had even accidentally cut my finger badly while trying to cut a branch). But, I, overall feel that this project turned out better and exactly as I had hoped. I feel like I need to really get more comfortable with wire and other mediums, because I feel like this process could have been done much faster if I had a better grip on how to use the materials at hand.
| ACT Questions |
1. Clearly explain how you are able to identify the cause-effect relationships between your inspiration and its effect upon your art work?
My inspirations have affected my artwork by having a more aesthetic and ideological impact on my work, with visual content and the macabre feel.
2. What is the overall approach (point of view) the author ( from your research) has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
The authors really went in depth about the history of the artworks rather than the meaning of the works. With the author for Kathe Kollwitz, for example, they focused a lot of her personal history, rather than history of the works she produced.
3. What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
I have discovered that a continuous theme of Death is something dark and scary, throughout many cultures. From The Grim Reaper and to the Plague Doctor, it dehumanizes the very human concept of death.
4. What was the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
Mainly my theme was the perception of death in the common community. Not only because of personal reasons, but because Death is always approaching every one of us, it s a matter of when, and how we perceive it can change the reactions to it. Many are scared, contrast to Mexicans, who have celebrations like Day of the Dead, and just consider Death an Extension of life.
5. What kind of inferences (conclusions reached on the basis of evidence and reasoning) did you make while reading your research?
Humans are amazing in the way that we are able to dehumanize our human concepts by making them terrifying and attaching them to tall tales and stories.
My inspirations have affected my artwork by having a more aesthetic and ideological impact on my work, with visual content and the macabre feel.
2. What is the overall approach (point of view) the author ( from your research) has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
The authors really went in depth about the history of the artworks rather than the meaning of the works. With the author for Kathe Kollwitz, for example, they focused a lot of her personal history, rather than history of the works she produced.
3. What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
I have discovered that a continuous theme of Death is something dark and scary, throughout many cultures. From The Grim Reaper and to the Plague Doctor, it dehumanizes the very human concept of death.
4. What was the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
Mainly my theme was the perception of death in the common community. Not only because of personal reasons, but because Death is always approaching every one of us, it s a matter of when, and how we perceive it can change the reactions to it. Many are scared, contrast to Mexicans, who have celebrations like Day of the Dead, and just consider Death an Extension of life.
5. What kind of inferences (conclusions reached on the basis of evidence and reasoning) did you make while reading your research?
Humans are amazing in the way that we are able to dehumanize our human concepts by making them terrifying and attaching them to tall tales and stories.
| Citations |
Kollwitz, Käthe. “Käthe Kollwitz. Frontal Self-Portrait (Selbstbildnis Von Vorn). 1922–23 | MoMA.” Lee Bontecou. Untitled. 1959 | MoMA, www.moma.org/collection/works/160136?artist_id=3201&locale=en&page=1&sov_referrer=artist.
“Study after Velázquez's Portrait of Pope Innocent X | Francis Bacon.” Francis Bacon, www.francis-bacon.com/artworks/paintings/study-after-velazquezs-portrait-pope-innocent-x.
“Study after Velázquez's Portrait of Pope Innocent X | Francis Bacon.” Francis Bacon, www.francis-bacon.com/artworks/paintings/study-after-velazquezs-portrait-pope-innocent-x.