Kruger Collage Project

1. I was successful in achieving the goals of this project because I explored the idea of not having one universal meaning of my art piece and affecting people's point of view. I wanted to provoke people's idea of catcalling and being happy for other people's benefit, but it can be interpreted in many other ways. I think it is very important to question the actions of people around me, and I think that questioning something such as fake happiness is important.

2.  When thinking of what I wanted to express in the beginning of my piece, I had no idea what message I wanted to spread. Unlike how my other projects were staged, I wanted to follow where my references led me. The main question I was thinking of was what inspired me. My goal was to find an inspiration that would be universal, or something everyone could relate to and empathize with. So as I went through photos, I picked up anything that would be possibly be turned around to comment on the world around us.
          When I found an article on the Mona Lisa, they discussed her smile, and my imagination ran free with the mystery. Since her smile is so iconic, I decided that I wanted to base my piece off of the pressure of being happy and being forced to smile for other people. You shouldn't be scared to be unhappy, and no one is ever happy all the time. There is nothing wrong with not being happy, and you don't have to kid yourself into thinking you are for other people. Smile, is one of the most popular cat-calls, and I wanted to show that in a satirical sense. Filling the background of my piece with forced smiles really shows the pressure and humor behind having to smile for other people, and I am really happy that it came across successfully. It may look a little scary at first, but to understand the meaning of my piece you have to force yourself to look at it and understand our reality.

3. Babera Kruger is an amazing artist, and her inspirational commentary on the world around her is an amazing feat. In a lot of her art shown to the class, her style is very simplistic and dark. Everything in her piece is usually monotone besides the bright text. I took inspiration from that technique by keeping the entire Mona Lisa and smile background black and white, and added bright red text on top. The contrast really draws your eye to the almost bloody looking letters, and keeps you drawn in. I also took the idea of her pieces having no one meaning into consideration. In a graphic style such as hers, the goal is for it to be seen by everyone, each with a different way of thinking. I wanted to do something similar with my piece, and I really hope everyone can relate to it in one way or another.

4. In the critique, I was very pleased with my feedback. I loved hearing everyone's different point of view, and that they really liked it. Hearing the positive reactions were really the icing on the cake, I loved how my project turned out, and it was great to hear others liked it too. This was obviously a mini project, so time was a little more limited, so there were obviously things I could change. In all, the constructive criticism I got really aided me in understanding their interpretation, and also make my project better. It was really rewarding to see the class branched off their own views on my piece from one and other. Overall, they were really spot on with the idea of cat-calling and fake happiness, and I really hope they took something from it.

5. If we could do this project again there would be a lot of things I would change. I have never done art in a mindset of graffiti or graphic design, and I think that it was difficult of imagine it seen by so many people. The limited time and resources, were not a cap on my creativity by any means, I just wished I could have made it bigger. When cutting off the white trim of blank paper, it made it even smaller, so I would love to see it on the intended larger scale. Also, people commented on how all the smiles were a little difficult to differentiate, which I completely understand. I personally like the confusion and cramped manner, but I do wish the smiles did have a clearer border. If I was a professional artist and this were to be on a huge scale, I think it would be really cool to use smiles not just found on the internet. I would maybe go around and collect smiles from people all over the world, as if they were smiling together for awareness.





Image is now in! Sorry I didn't see the request for it at the top!

Fear - Blog Post #3

1. In my piece, I am trying to show the viewers a take on fear from a different point of view. I wanted to show it throw a symbol of growth, a tree. The future is an abyss of unknown, and for most it is a terrifying place. There is so much pressure to succeed and accomplish everything you want in such a short time, and I wanted the viewer to feel that. Not knowing where you're going or where you're life is headed is truly alarming, and I think I wanted to convey that confusing haze since the beginning.

2. I think my message comes through successfully as long as the viewer takes the time to think about it. One of the main goals for this project was to make it not literal and easy to see, and that really allowed me to go deeper into the topic. The focal point of my peace is a smaller tree, trapped in a dark hole with no sense of direction. It is stuck there while the others are full grown, and a part of it never wanted to grow up and join them. This comes through when you processes the deeper truths behind it.

3. The medium I chose was charcoal because I thought it would best convey the darkness I envisioned. My piece calls for a very dark and brooding mood, and I thought a very pigmented and textured material would add to the effect. The fact that the color was so strong was also its downfall, and when I wanted a lighter shade it was very difficult to achieve. I overcame this by experimenting more with the blending tools and the different effects they all leave. I started using the blending stub and paintbrush to smooth out the pigment, and if it was too dark I would lightly dab it with my eraser to pick up small amounts. From my table mates, I also learned how to use powdered charcoal to create the darkness around my focal point. The effect it gave lead it to becoming one of my favorite parts of the piece.
The dark mood of the piece was enhanced by the equally as ark color scheme. The black and white colors create a sense of darkness that would have not been achieved another way. Darkness was mostly expressed around the main tree. This greatly aided the effect of it being lost in some sort of haze, caused from all of its fear of not having a life path, plan, or any stability.
I incorporated perspective through the line of trees all on a specific course, fading into the distance. This aided in the feeling of the small tree feeling out of the loop and left behind to struggle alone. I also incorporated some foreshortening in the detail of the close up tree.

4. I used a couple of principles of design to enhance my design. I mostly used proportion and scale to create perspective and spotlight on the focus of my piece. To show that the young sapling was up closer than the rest, I enlarged it and put it in the main field of view. This showed the larger scale in relation to the large trees in the background. This also relates to the principle emphasis, when I added the most detail to the up close sapling. There is a very clear movement and detail to my piece because of the principles.

5. Overall, I am pleased more by how much I learned about my materials and my owns fears themselves. I still really enjoy my piece, but I think it was most rewarding to dive deeper into the fear of growing up and not fulfilling your potential. There is an extreme pressure put on today's generation to be punctual and move on to a stable career on your own. If you don't know what you want to do or scared of facing it alone, you're left in the dust. I think it came out how I expected, but along the way I changed and added bits to my design. An example of a change were the roots and darker shading on that lower half of the grown tree trunks. I wanted to fill in the space and the roots were a interesting addition. I also felt like adding more darkness to the bottom added more to the overall tone, and added another layer of meaning. In my eyes, I see the shading to be as if it was growing from the darkness surrounding the sapling. I think the darkness around the older trees could be interpreted in 2 ways, either the small tree's fear is pushing them up, or they learned how to cope with the fear and rise. If I had to do this project again, I think I would use the knowledge I gained by still using the tree idea but in a different way or point of view. I am very happy with my piece, but seeing my growth would be extremely rewarding.

6. I have never drawn roots before, and trees have always been a challenge. In the end, I am not thrilled with how they turned out, but I am proud I took a risk. The reference I chose may have not been as fitting as I hoped. The complexity of how they twist and turn is complicated. After this project, I feel a lot more confident in my ability to draw them in more detail. I feel like they would look better with my new knowledge, especially with my better understanding of my materials. Charcoal is still a difficult medium, but I am very interested to continue learning to create new and better effects. This project was very fitting for the monochromatic color scheme, but if I did do a complete other piece I would like to try and use color. I think color in a different context for this fear would be extremely interesting.