Alise
DECONSTRUCTED SELF-PORTRAIT
canvas board, bristol paper, ink, acrylic
I never know how
to approach a self-portrait; it always seems like one of those things that is a
terrifying project to take on. This is perhaps why I often like self-portraits
which are more experimental and break away from the conventional head on view
of the artist. I wanted my self-portrait to move away from me (visually) and
focus more on what it is that I love to do and draw, that being more sequential
art and in this case mimicking a comic book page. My self-portrait is a
combination of five "panels" which make up one page; these panels are
a mix between real and imaginary.
I went through the process I would as if I were setting up for a regular page. I went through my normal steps of storyboards, rough drafts, pencils, inking (painting), adding sound-effects/panel effects and dialogue and then retouching the panels. I found that the process was very much a part of the message and added to the end result. The first three panels seen are itself a quick story, I wanted this these panels to be engaging and interesting as much as possible in the span of only three panels. The fourth panel moves jumps to an image of me actually inking the above three panels. Interestingly this panel took on a more graphic result compared to the rest. I also wanted to play around with the fact that the comic book panels were done on canvas and the portrait of me was done on paper, a sort of reversal of what is usually expected. The page read left to right.
I agree with the idea of self-portraits being terrifying, and yours is so interesting. I like that you focused on what it is you like to do instead of focusing on you. I can't remember if this was discussed in class but, what does the comic story have to do with you? Since you are adding a comic strip into your painting, and since it is a self portrait I think your comic should more clearly define you. However, you painted the comic part well and I like that you chose to do them in black and white. Great job!
ReplyDeleteI really love the narrative of your overall piece representing the process it takes in order to create a comic. My suggestion upon improvement is maybe adding more value shifts in your image of you creating the comic to make it have a little more range in perspective. I'm also very curious in how the narrative would come off in a completely different arrangement. My favorite aspect of your work is the close up of the eye in which you create great value shifts on a gray scale to represent it. I myself have a hard time creating an eye to look human like and not so flat, and you executed it really well with the reflection near the pupil and the stroke of the brush.
ReplyDeleteI love your idea! This takes a direct approach to showing your process and what you find interesting! The narrative in the comic looks interesting. I want to know more about what is going on. Each individual piece is painted well and characteristic of your style. The only critique I have is to tie in all the pieces together more. You could do this by putting them all on the same background or making it look more like a page from a comic book or anime.
ReplyDeleteI love the narrative that is clearly presented here and you can a genuine sense of who you are both as an painter and as a storyteller. The images work for me and I got the idea that the smaller pieces were all part of the big picture. These creations I feel make up your identity and I liked this as a self portrait and I believed it. I agree that the images might have been more readable if arranged different, but that's easy to play around with.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed the black and grey graphic segments and the connection to yourself and your interests. it was cool to see you interests pushed to the forefront of your self portrait. I think presentation was the only area that lacked, if you would have done the whole thing as a single piece and in more graphic format it could be really cool.
ReplyDeleteI like your idea for the deconstruction of frame and idea in this piece. It is a fun and insightful approach into the way you work. However I think that it becomes very confusing. I am not sure how to read this piece (Left to right or right to left?)
ReplyDeleteI think the distinctions between the images you create and "you" are very important for this piece and you were very successful in making it clear what was a portrait of you, and what is a portrait of your artwork.
A further note on the arrangement, I feel like the image of the pen would be more effective at the beginning of the narrative. I think that the "zooming out" effect is halted very abruptly, and it feels like the pen image shows the beginning of a work, rather than the end, which - with it's location - is not very satisfying to my overall experience with this work.
I love the concept of integrating comic books into a "high art" environment (in this case the canvas). the panels are very well done, but the image of the figure that is drawing is less impressive.
ReplyDeleteThis self portrait is great. When I read it from left to right I feel a sense of intensity coming from determination, but when I read it from right to left I feel the intensity coming from a victim's point of view. Powerful piece. I think that the use of strong thick lines and occasional words, give your painting sound and movement.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed this piece, however, in my reading of your piece I ended up looking at it from right to left, and wasn't sure if you meant for it to be that way. I think your use of handling acrylics is incredible in the black an white pieces, that being said, I feel a huge amount of disjointedness with the rest of the piece. I really feel that the black and white should stand alone. Great detail!
ReplyDeleteSO clever, the idea of breaking up frame within comic book panels. I also very much enjoyed the piece as a narrative, expressing a movement in time so unlike any other art form.I think these pieces would do very well matted together -to accentuate the feel of a comic book.
ReplyDeleteI absolutely love your comic art. Your talent is amazing! However, I feel like the rendering of yourself as the artist seems disjointed; I would have liked to see the pieces tie together more purposefully. I think that it is interesting that the figure is also done in a comic style, yet one different from that in the pages. I, personally, do not necessarily view this as a "deconstructed" portrait (it has more of a narrative feel). Very nice work, though.
ReplyDeleteYou had a wonderfully unique and creative idea for this piece. Not only did it stay well within the scope of the assignment, it was authentic. You were genuine about who you are and what you love to do, and that level of honesty really shows in this work (which is my favorite of yours). I think that a lot of art is about being honest, and about taking risks, both of which you have done and have succeeded at.More often than not, it is the unconventional self portraits that re more difficult, especially when trying to infuse a personal philosophy and, again, you did this quite well.
ReplyDeleteFormally--and you mentioned this in your artist statement--the "self portrait" panel of you working on the comic did end up being more graphic than the rest of the panels. Because of this, I ended up reading both the panels and the portrait as suspended realities: the panels are realistically handles, but are monochromatic, and the portrait has depth and color, but only as much as a comic would. In this way, you have created the "real world", the one in which you are drawing, as its own kind of comic. the only thing that hinders this wonderful transmission of concept and aesthetic is the fact that they were all displayed as separate pieces, and the order in which they were meant to be viewed was not clear. Others have commented on this and how you could potentially fix it, and i agree. Otherwise, i think you have made an honest, well thought out, and ultimately excellent painting.