Exhibition Text:
Something I’ve struggled with for a long time was my depression. I always struggled dealing with emotions and things going wrong in my life. The things I dealt with was stress. The stress of time and expectations. In this Piece, I wanted to reflect the Journey I’m on, seeking help via therapy to deal with my feelings and stress. My work was inspired by the aesthetics in the works of Francis Bacon and Even Bob Ross
Something I’ve struggled with for a long time was my depression. I always struggled dealing with emotions and things going wrong in my life. The things I dealt with was stress. The stress of time and expectations. In this Piece, I wanted to reflect the Journey I’m on, seeking help via therapy to deal with my feelings and stress. My work was inspired by the aesthetics in the works of Francis Bacon and Even Bob Ross
| Critical Investigation |
This piece was inspired by my journey and struggles of coping and overcoming my Depression, which is ongoing. From stressful nights in February, to the winding road to therapy, and then acceptance. Acceptance that this mental problem will always be a problem, and will always be in my life, but it shouldn't consume me. This idea intrigued me from the start, when we were introduced to the project, in which we were to describe in visual forms how the Community and City changed us, and my story is still going. An Artist that I looked into that was intriguing to me was Bob Ross, with his vibrant color scheme and smooth style in art. Another artist was Francis Bacon, who has a tendency to pull twist on a lot of his work. I wanted to pull more aesthetic and style from these pieces in my first 'part'. So the color, smooth style, off tones, and themes stood out to me heavily when looking at the work these two artists made.
| Inspiration |
Bob Ross's Artwork that I had looked into was mainly his, as many others do, paintinfs. These mainly had vibrant colors with harsh contrasts and bold lines. What inspired me the most about his work is how he was able to capture the form of the figures in the scene with clear forms upon a vibrant background. I mainly took this part of the work, and a sense of peace that falls on his work.
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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 stressed pose down, while having notes of what I could improve on in my next sketch. The sketch was the final one I used and transferred to my canvas. A constant I wanted in my sketches were the main themes of stress, healing and acceptance.
| Process |
1.) I started out by taking my sketch and transferring it to the canvas
2.) I took the smallest Blade I Could and took masking tape, covering areas that were painted different colors to protect them as I painted a dark background. I did backgrounds first.
3.) Once I had a Basic forms, I went back in and painted the forms covered in the tape
4.) Finished Shading and details
2.) I took the smallest Blade I Could and took masking tape, covering areas that were painted different colors to protect them as I painted a dark background. I did backgrounds first.
3.) Once I had a Basic forms, I went back in and painted the forms covered in the tape
4.) Finished Shading and details
| Experimentation |
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I experimented with how to protect my sketch as I painted my background. So I tried Masking tape, using an exact-o knife to cut the curved lines.
This was semi-successful, as some of the dark paint leaked through. |
| Meaning |
This piece was inspired by my current Journey through my Therapy and Depression. From stress to therapy to acceptance. Acceptance that this mental problem will always be a problem, and will always be in my life, but it shouldn't consume me. This idea intrigued me from the start, when we were introduced to the project, in which we were to describe in visual forms how the Community and City changed us, and my story is still going. The third canvas is a look into the future, which why the figure is a vacant black; simply put, I'm not there yet.
| Reflection |
My main goal and theme of This Piece (Journey) was to make the audience understand the issues of the mental health and the journey needed to improve. 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. There were also some complex or tougher things in the project such as getting the figures just right in placement and rotation. The must frustrating thing was probably. I feel like I need to really get more comfortable with paint 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 |
“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.