Process and BrainstormingFollowing this existentialist theme I began to brainstorm different ideas. While considering a topic I began to think of creating either a painting or a drawing. I wanted to relate my piece to death or the idea of existence preceding essence. This meaning we choose the way we want our lives to be/ we don't have a set purpose when we are born. These ideas lead me to focus on the use of bones or skeletons. This being done by the use of a skull in a regular human body or a skeleton looking up at a balloon , to a person looking up at bones, which were all well connected to my theme.
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Planning SketchesWith these sketches I was conveying the idea of existence preceding essence. I sketched these drawings in detail in order to best practice for my final piece which would be a large scale drawing with a lot of shading.
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Experimenting/Developing IdeasOnce I knew I was going to do a drawing I decided to do a lot of experimentation with value and form. Since I had not worked with drawing in a long time I knew I would have to practice a lot before beginning my piece. With any part of the skeleton there is a lot of shading which takes place in order to give it form. Before the actual drawing I practiced gradation which allowed me to work best with creating a smooth transition of value. Then I began with the basic outline of the bone and worked my way up. In some parts of this skull I practiced shading with a pencil alone and on other parts I practiced with my pencil and finished the shading with my finger, which seemed to work best. After practicing with different bones I demonstrated to have the best shading while using my pencil first to guide the placement of the shadow and then I finished the shading with my finger in order to make the drawing look as smooth as possible.
ReflectionAfter completing my piece I believe the outcome was just as I had envisioned it to look like. I liked the shading and contrast in color I gave the piece which helped convey a similar meaning as my inspirations. Both Rene Magritte and Francis Bacon wanted to convey the feeling of loneliness through a unfamiliar image. I wanted to represent a similar idea in my piece and although I did not paint all of my piece I believe there are still many similarities. Like Rene Magritte's "Golconda" I used repetition in my background through the red paint which gives an almost run like appeal and like Francis Bacon I used a unfamiliar depiction of reality my piece by making the face of the person into a skull.
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Meaning of the PieceFollowing the existentialism theme I decided to make my piece based on the idea of existence preceding essence. The body was made to represent the ordinary working person or student, because that is what the ordinary person does everyday. The person however does not have a normal face but a skeleton face. This face is made to symbolize the concept of day dreaming which we all do while sitting at school or work. Many times we think of what are life would be like if we were doing something else instead of sitting down at school/work all day being told what to do. The idea of existence preceding essence tells us that we set our own purpose and therefore we don't have to do whatever we are told. This however is a scary and painful thought that almost everyone shies away from which is represented by the red paint scattered in the background.
ProcessAfter experimenting with value and form I was ready to begin my piece. The first step I took was projecting my sketch onto the paper. After projecting my sketch I had an outline I could begin shading on. I began with the skull and then worked my way down to prevent smearing. The skull would be the hardest part of my drawing because of the amount of shading and detail required, once finishing the skull I had little trouble creating the rest of the piece. After finishing the center figure I began to work on the background.The background consisted of red water color paint which was hard to distribute around the piece. In order to get the splashing red dots I dipped my brush in the paint and then in the water an began to flick the brush around the background. Although it seemed fairly simple, it was difficult to not get any paint on the drawing; therefore, I had to work with extreme detail and caution.
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The artist which inspired my work were Francis Bacon and Rene Magritte. I was inspired by Francis Bacon’s “Study after Velázquez's Portrait of Pope Innocent X” and Rene Magritte’s “Golconda”. Francis Bacon’s piece was painted in 1953 where he displays the human body and face in a distorted and often referred to as grotesque form. He depicted the human figure to represent loneliness, violence, and suffering. On the other hand, Rene Magritte’s piece is speculated to symbolize repetition and emphasize on the ordinariness of everyday existence. In other words, the boring routine in the working lives of many people that is not enjoyed. Also, the idea of how unattentive we seem to be towards others even though we are inches away. Like the men in the painting we are isolated, and our individual identity is lost.
I identified both artist as surrealist painters which was my main inspiration. It was seen how both artists also had many similarities which inspired me to use qualities that both these painters set onto their work. That being that both artists had a similar meaning in these particular pieces by representing the loneliness most of us often experience. Francis Bacon took a more grotesque form of representing this idea while Rene Magritte chose a more realistic altered illusion. Both approaches to the same concept is what I wanted to incorporate into my work. I wanted to use a similar meaning that both these artists used and also convey a similar twisted depiction of a human while including the repetition of common things. McKiernan, Mike. “René Magritte, Golconda 1953 | Occupational Medicine | Oxford Academic.” OUP Academic, Oxford University Press, 19 Feb. 2014, Accessed 24 Sept. 2017.
"The truth behind Francis Bacon's 'screaming' popes | Art | Agenda." Phaidon. N.p., n.d. Web. 31 Jan. 2017. |
Magritte Rene. "Golconda" 2016. Web. 09 Sep. 2017.
Francis Bacon. "Study after Velasquez's Portrait of Pope Innocent X" 2015. Web. 09 Sep. 2017.
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