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.