Class Presentation
Drawing on Objects
This idea is to take plain clothing and draw different forms of anatomy, like skeletal parts or veins, on them. Using clothes is a way to reverse the layers of clothing over anatomy vs. anatomy over clothes. I would create a full head to toe outfit, using a hat, shirt, jacket, pants, socks, and shoes.
For this piece I want to take a framed pane of glass and paint a silhouette on it. I want to then place the glass in several different places such as the beach or a yard, in order to have the painting itself change within the environment. I want the painting to be simple enough where it will make sense within each place, but also where it will be able to create a new meaning for each new place it will be.
For this I wanted to take an old jewelry box with a mirror inside and paint a beautiful portrait of a woman on the mirror. In the cubbies of the box i want to paint decaying pieces of a makeup vanity like makeup and combs to signify the decay of vanity over time, while preserving beauty in the eye of the beholder.
Research:
I was very drawn to the idea of using some form of the body for this piece, whether is be on clothing or an abstract idea of the body. I found many pieces of information based around the symbolic idea of vanity and being a rather demonic type idea. Using vanity as a base idea, I want to expand on the longing people have to fulfill inner desires of accepted beauty. I looked at the story of Narcissus to help expand what desires people have had since earlier times, as well as using the biblical depictions of vanity. I was inspired greatly by David Hockney by his mirror paintings. These large pieces are such a beautiful way to create a mask over what we can see in a mirror. The use of a mirror over canvas adds depth to the meaning of the piece which succeeds in captivating the viewer to think of their own idea of vanity and image.
In addition to these mirror pieces, I looked into the idea of body painting as something that would help portray image of ones self. Perhaps painting on a body and standing in the mirror, rather than painting on the mirror itself. Body paint has become such a large part of the art world now, I feel like this would be a good opportunity to combine the idea of new age art with classical ideas of vanity.
Multiple Panels
For this idea I wanted to take ink or pen and overlay on books to create a variety of sentences that captivate the reader. I also had the idea to use photos and cut them out to select only specific words.
For this piece I wanted to expand on my small hangers and create a whole city set up. I want to paint a city background and apartment sides and add on wire fire escapes from which I will hang the clothesline.
For this piece I want to create several layers of honeycomb shaped pieces of wood. These pieces will be painted and stacked on top of each other in order to create depth of an actual comb. The idea to stack the wood comes from the idea that I could add depth with stacking but also with color of paints going from light to dark as the layers change.
Research:
I have been working with the shape of honey combs all semester and have found that I very much enjoy the repetitive pattern of it. Looking at actual honeycombs, they are multiple stacked layers of combs, which is where I got the idea that this would make for a good multiple panel piece. In researching honeycombs, I came across the book Milk&Honey by Rumi Kaur.
This book gave me the idea of simplifying stories into a few short phrases. Looking into these short word stories, I came across the idea of taking already written stories and turning them into shorter phrases. These phrases become so different from what the intended story is actually trying to convey, and often times they are much more impactful.
In these last part of my research for these pieces, I looked at art pieces that hang from ropes or strings in alley ways. These art pieces are more common now, and personally some of my favorite. This gave me the idea to create a larger space while still working with small pieces.