Identity through culture

With this final piece, I aimed to juxtapose the older, more traditional aspects of Dubai and its people’s culture, with the modern day explosion of new technologies and buildings that may or may not be valued by the Arabic people that witnessed the transition from traditional Arabic culture to a more westernised emirate. My painting is that of a woman that cherishes the traditional values of her Arabic heritage, and so I used the national woman’s dress – the Abaya – to symbolise her conservative nature and unwillingness to transition into Dubai’s fast paced life style. I then added various brown Mehndi henna designs to the black Abaya, as Henna is an aspect of traditional Arabic culture and has been around for years. I used actual Henna for my designs, as this stays true to the culture I am depicting, and it encompasses a human sense not usually associated with a canvas – smell. This has added another dimension to my piece, and I feel that this is particularly successful. I again symbolised the woman’s traditional values through the use of the muted colours black, white and grey when adding contours and depth to her eyes and nose. I personally am in favour of the development of Dubai, and so my choice of colours is biased, as one might argue that tradition could be conveyed through the use of bright colours, and the new Dubai in dull colours; however, I wanted to convey how the woman might be falling victim to Dubai’s new cultural identity, as she is still set in her ways. Finally, in order to depict the fast developing society in which this woman lives, I painted the reflection of one of Dubai’s most recognisable buildings in her eyes – The Burj Al Arab.  I had originally wanted the eyes to be green, however, this had no relevant symbolism to this final piece, and the blue has turned out just as effectively. I particularly like that from afar, the reflection in the eyes isn’t immediately obvious, and it is this that really draws the viewer in and causes them to examine and hopefully admire the piece. Through the eyes, I feel the prospect of the future has been depicted, and the inevitable has been established – the woman must learn to accept her new surroundings if she is to be happy and experience the vibrancy of the world in which lives. I would have liked to have made one continuous pattern of henna across the whole Abaya, however, this was extremely time consuming and difficult to do, as it also meant that there was no place for my hand to rest whilst I squeezed out the henna.

Still life and Vanitas

Whilst studying the topic of still life, I began to look at Vanitas and the different depictions of skulls. Below is an artist copy I made of Kayser's Vanitas. I used ink and water to create tone and shading, and used sea salt to create an interesting effect where the salt soaks up the ink:

Looking at skulls brought me to the Mexican Day of the dead. However, instead of grieving the dead, they celebrate - as they believe you are reborn after death. The day of the dead originated from the Aztecs, and so I started looking at Aztec art - which is where I got the inspiration for the colourful designs on the piece I made of the face (top). I wanted to juxtapose the concepts of vanity in life, and happiness after death by using darker tones when painting the face, but brighter tones when painting the aztec skull underneath. I also used a colour palette of black to yellow, as it symbolises a person being happier the less vain they are. To create this piece, I used ink and watercolour.

Evil McDonalds - supporting work

Below is a page from my sketch book where I have experimented with the idea of Ronald McDonald being both good and evil using watercolour:

Brainwashing - Evil McDonald's

I took my earlier picture of my brother as a clown, and decided to use this concept of an evil clown and apply it to the theme of McDonalds brainwashing people - as I looked at before. By painting Ronald McDonald, but with the image of my brother's evil clown face, I feel I was successful in depicting McDonald's as evil, and as something to be feared. I used 3D sand textured modelling paste to create the hair and to give a 'gross' texture that you would associate with something dislikeable, but used acrylic paint for the face and clothes, in order to get the shading and tone necessary to create dark colours and an evil looking Ronald McDonald.

Identity - a memory Part 2

From the same memory of the Aladdin's cave, I produced the above piece. In my memory, I remember a lot of stained glass lanterns hanging from the ceiling. When thinking about the memory, I first designed a 3D representational piece of the room I remembered out of cardboard, card and watercolour paints. This is shown below:

The hanging straws represent the stained glass lanterns I remembered, and I chose to use triangular panels for the roof and sides of the room, as this created a sense of perspective and a feeling of continuation - that the room never ends. The bright colours and the triangles are what inspired the stained glass instalation above. To create the effect of stained glass, I cut acrylic plastic into triangular shapes (glass was too difficult to cut, as it kept shattering and it would be more dangerous when being handled), and then used 3D outliner paint to draw the sections that would make the stained glass effect. I then painted these sections with glass paints in the colours that were most prominent in my mind. There are 9 pieces in total, and they hang from the ceiling to create a 3D piece that can be viewed from many angles and reflect sunlight when light comes through a window.

Identity - a memory

This final piece was inspired by a memory of a room that I had. I did an art workshop for a day, and I was inspired by this. My memory was of a shop known as the aladdins cave that is full to the brim of various random objects, with coloured lanterns hanging etc. It is a hoarder's paradise, and I wanted to create something that represented this. The colours I used were the ones most prominent in my mind, and the triangles were inspired by the claustraphobic atmosphere, along with the idea of it being a maze with small doors and enclosed walkways. I used 3D modelling paste, mudrock, cardboard, indian ink, acrylic paint and string to create more depth and a busy atmosphere, as well as by layering the different colours of paint. I first used a brown oil colour and used it as a wash by diluting it with white spirits, and then painted thick oil colour in darker shades of red and brown on top of that. I then later painted acrylic colour over the top of that - in some areas - and on the left hand side I used a technique of scratching away the paint to reveal the layers of colour underneath.

The figure - supporting work

Matisse was known for his paintings of the figure, and his earlier works were in the style of the fauvism movement - a movement that particularly interested me, as I love the use of bright colours and surrealism. Using Matisse as inspiration, I made the below watercolour of an angel (depicting a womans figure) that I had photographed earlier this year in Italy:

After looking at Matisse and his fauvism work, I started looking at ways I could represent the figure in a 3D medium:

Before I carved the Matisse and Okoye inspired figure into the wood, I researched the Akan tribe that create Akuaba figures. They are recognisable by their flat, disk like heads and their simplistic bodies that feature rings around the neck and feminine features such as breasts. I made my own Akuaba figure out of clay, however, I realised that the head would not balance on the body due to its shape and weight. Hence why I began to work with wood in the first place, as the Akan tribe use wood to create the figures, and this way, the heads can balance on the bodies. However, I made do with what I had and added rings around the neck, and simplistic arms, breasts and belly button. I decided to glaze my piece in a polka dot glaze rather that in the solid colour of the dark wood that is actually seen on an Akuaba figure, as the cream colour best represents the colours used by Matisse in his cut outs. The below photo is that of the head I made, and glazed in a blue polka dot glaze - again inspired by Matisse's colour palette:

The figure - Matisse and Okoye inspired

On the topic of 'the figure' I looked at Matisse and Chidi Okoye in particular, and these two artists inspired this art. I chose to use firewood as I feel the natural look reflected the natural form of the body, and the relief reflects the work of Chidi Okoye. However, I looked at more simple shapes to depict a man dancing - as Matisse often simplified images of people and the figure in particular. The wood was hard to carve, so I coudn't get the effect I had originally been hoping for, where I would have had the relief mimic the actual shape of a body, rather than be raised, yet flat - but this just wasn't possible. I used a drill to drill holes around the outline of the body, and then chiselled between these holes and sanded it to make it look more smooth. I also like the way in which the figure appears to move/dance as the wood is turned from side to side.

About Me

For me, art is not only about the expression of the artist's views and opinions, but also about evoking a response from the viewer. Throughout my artwork, I have tried to achieve a sense of awe and intrigue from the viewer, and would hope that my work leaves them thinking. I have found myself experimenting particularly with acrylic paints as I love the huge variety of techniques you can use with them as shown in some of my works. For me, the most powerful pieces are often in more subtle tones and so I have used often used greyscales or used one colour continuously throughout a piece. I find that simplicity is often the key to success and it is this sense of simplicity that I would like to apply not only to my work, but hopefully to interior spaces and designs.  I am interested in your interior design course as I would love to be able to produce works that are not only creative and have both meaning and function, but works that please a customer and evoke this sense of emotion that I hope to achieve in all my work.  If an artist simply did not care for the viewers’ opinions, the artists creations could not be enjoyed in the same way that other’s maybe are. I would really love the opportunity to be able to refine my artwork and learn the skills necessary to become an interior designer as I have felt passionately about this career for some time.

Identity

(If you have a mobile phone with you, please look at the picture above through your phone camera, as the image then becomes much more clear). I also studied the theme of identity and was particularly interested in the idea of censorship and how this can take away someone's identity. Through this final piece, I wanted to show that although censorship and distortion can alter someone's appearance and in essence, an aspect of their identity, it does not remove the individual's own personality and identity. I tried to show this through the way in which it is difficult to determine what the image is of from close up, but from far away or through a mobile phone camera, the image of my face is clear - proving that my identity has not been completely removed.

Reflection

before having started the topic of evolution and freak show, I studied reflection. I was particularly interested in this reflection as I love the way the scene in the reflection looks as if it has been taken with a fish eye lens. I enjoyed paiting this and like the continuation of blue and purple tones throughout.

McDonald's burger

Again on the topic of McDonald's as a freak show, I chose to illustrate why McDonalds' heavy influence and brainwashing of society is a negative thing. I did this through an up close photograph of a McDonalds burger. I took 3 or 4 different McDonalds burgers and mashed them together to create the most unappetising burger by appearance. I wanted to show the burger in the most disgusting light, zooming in on the grease and obscenity of it all. I then edited the photo I took, by making it brighter and adding more contrast, in order to emphasise light and dark patches, which again add to the dirty/greasy appearance of the burger.

McDonald's brainwashing

To me, the most prominent clown in the 'freak show' is Ronald McDonald, as he depicts the way in which society is so easily influenced by marketing and are subject to McDonald's unhealthy food every day. It is inescapable. I feel that this in itself depicts mankind as a freak show as we allow ourselves to be brainwashed by monopolies such as McDonalds. In the above piece, I wanted to give a sense of the world as a dark place when under the reign of McDonalds, and I did so by painting the background in a light wash of ink as well as painting the sky and crowd of people grey. I felt this was successful in creating a sombre mood. I feel that the crowds of people mindlessly walking towards the golden arches could have been printed better, as I feel it is not always immediate to the viewer that they are people, but I like the way their brains are black - symbolising how their minds have been polluted and over run by McDonald's, but the bottom of their heads are a lighter grey/white, to depict areas of them that have not yet been 'infected'.

Clown

For me, my immediate thoughts when thinking of a freak show are clowns. Although they do not typically appear in freak shows, I feel that the way they are presented as complete extremes - good or evil - and these extremities/contrasts allow for clowns to be classed as part of the freak show, as juxtapositions between beauty and horific qualities that are prevalent in the typical freak show. With this in mind, I painted scary clown make up on my brother and took pictures in the dark in order to present him in a sinister way. I would have preferred if I had used a red clown wig in order to make this image more authentic, however, i do feel that I was successful in conveying a scary image.

Virus

After finishing the two plates, and reflecting on them, I realised that my project of evolution had now morphed more into the theme of a freak show and so I decided to play with this idea of the 'Freak Show'. My first immediate thought as associated with evolution is the development of new viruses and diseases that seem prevalent in today's society. I feel that viruses link intrinsically with the theme of the freak show, as people that carry viruses are often ostracised by society and although not thought to be freaks, can however be treated in this way. I then studied Hunter Cole's work on viruses under the microscope and was intruiged by the way in which something so awful could look so beautiful under a microscope. From Cole's images, I played around with some different textures, shapes and colours and produced the above piece using iridescent modelling paste in order to create a 'gross' texture. I experimented with shapes and colours that I like, as I was in effect creating my own virus and I used a kitchen sponge to a rough texture with the iridescent medium.

Mutation plate 2

The same explanation for the previous plate applies to this as well, except this time, I was more used to the ceramic paints and was able to mix the colours and create colours that I feel are true to those of collectible floral plates. I feel that this plate is more successful than the other, even though it is more simplistic.

Mutation Plate 1

After completing the piece with the nuclear bomb, I experiemented with the juxtaposition of cute and creepy. This idea originated from the two headed duck on my previous piece, as I loved the viewer's reaction when realising something so cute - the baby duck - was so deformed. The first thing that came to mind when thinking of how I could present mutations in a cute, floral way were the typical floral collectible plates. I then chose to use some examples of these as inspiration for my own designs. From the plate above, I wanted the viewer to have to look twice before realising what was wrong with the animal in the centre of the plate, and hopefully evoke a sense of awe. I was only able to get hold of a select few colours of ceramic paints, and so I am not completely happy with the colour scheme used, as I would have liked the brighter colours to be slightly more toned down, as these colours are unrealistic of the floral plates actually collected.

Nuclear bomb

I began to consider the implications mankind itself has had on its evolution. Through the development of nuclear bombs in particular, mutations have began to emerge. My idea of the nuclear bomb originated from the theory of the big bang in explaining evolution, but from there took a turn in a more sinister direction. I chose to use newspaper as the background, as newspapers often scandalise situations, and I feel that this is an event that needs scandalising. I also chose to do a simple line drawing of a two headed duck next to the nuclear explosion. The way in which it is hard to see symbolises the way in which people tend not to notice the effects mankind itself is having on our own evolution, or the way in which they simply do not want to notice these effects. I also love the way the viewer often has to double take before noticing that the duck has two heads.

Evolution of kitten

From the same image of the ape evolving into the human, I played with the idea of evolution within other mammals and the way in which I could depict time passing. I feel that sunset is the most appropriate as it symbolises the end of a day, era and time period therefore showing that the transformation between kitten, caracal and lion has been a gradual development. I chose to use the silhouette of each animal as it allows the viewer to appreciate the colours of the sunset more, and does not compete with the sunset for thw viewer's eye.

Anatomy as part of evolution

I started with the theme of evolution and my immediate thoughts were of the stereotypical image of man developing from an ape, to a caveman and eventually to the man we are today. This immediately inspired me to look at Da Vinci's Vitruvian man as it depicts what is thought to be the perfect body type. From this, I made my own form of the Vitruvian man, but from behind as I wanted my work to be completely original.