Lydia
DECONSTRUCTED SELF PORTRAITS
acrylic on wood and canvas board
There
are many misconceptions with deer as animals, that they are dumb creatures who
are easily caught. If anyone has gone shooting before they realize that
catching a deer takes a lot longer, and is harder than they expect. Deer will
change their schedules of feeding during game season to the midday, just to
avoid the hunters that only hunt during early morning hours and dusk hours. A
creature of change. I decided to represent myself as a gender neutral deer for
that reason alone. I have seen many times in my life where I have taken drastic
steps to change my behavior when I have become too comfortable; whether it be
something small like driving a different way home, or cutting 16" off my
hair, change is something that I feel everyone needs in order to progress. I
chose to start this project by taking special effects makeup and transforming
myself into a doe. I then painted myself with acrylic on four separate panels
to divide the negative space and show the importance of the materials, and
allow for simplicity. I chose to paint on untreated wood panel because the
grain of the wood was important to the connection with nature, and my influence
of designers that choose material over ornament, like Frank Lloyd Wright. I
began to paint antlers because only the male deer have them, showing strength.
I decided to paint them on another surface and have them raised to juxtapose
the difference of material. Because I am influenced by the era of pinup art, I
chose to represent myself in the style, which is also how I wear my makeup and
hair. Cat eye eyeliner, big eyes, and big hair. I feel that the piece really
represents different aspects of my life.
I really admire your skill of smoothness/blending as the tonal shifts in reds and yellows really stand out in a beautiful way on your face. The antlers really capture a realistic feel and the choice of placing them on the top of everything is a great decision because from the start I understood the strength being represented. My only suggestion in your piece is maybe just bringing some value shifts from lights to dark in the hair. Everything else seems to have a lot of dimension throughout the piece, except the hair. Great choice on materials and placement, I really enjoyed seeing this piece evolve.
ReplyDeleteThis is a really fun piece. I like your use of wood and how that alludes to your explanation of nature. When I first saw your piece I liked the visual appeal of your self portrait but wasn't sure why you chose to paint yourself as a deer. After reading your artist statement, I see how emulating a deer would be appealing. To further your concept I would suggest making the wood look more rugged. If you broke up the precision of the wood, the piece would look more organic.
ReplyDeleteThis piece allows me to see that one can envy an animal even when the one in envy is apart of a different species. I find it amazing the concept behind it. I truly can identify and say that i sometime envy animals for how simple their lives are without a strong conscious like a humans. We as humans stress about the little things when if all we were was instinct we would only know pain through our nerves and not emotion. WELL DONE.
ReplyDeleteI not only enjoy looking at your portrait, I enjoyed reading your statement. Many peolpe are scared of change but you welcome it and seems like you enjoy it. I can relate. I like that you chose a deer to symbolize your ever-changing self. Your materials appear natural (except for the majorly toxic smelly glue haha) but your image isn't; thats an interesting contrast. More intersting is that you've turned your self into a woman he/she deer. I like that you added the antlers to show strength, as women we have to try extra hard to 'show' that we are strong. Awesome job on your eyes and the blending of colors on your face! I wish you had just let the antlers stand freely without that extra board on top becasue the other one doesnt have the extra "support".
ReplyDeletereally nice piece enjoyed the developed features of the face and crafty aspects. one thing id change is use your skill to paint smooth sleek hair instead of sold black, I also really like that you painted on wood
ReplyDeleteUsing the different boards makes the painting feel alive and creates a very naturalistic experience. the antlers make the painting interact directly with the painting surface. I would have liked to see some more expressive strokes in this piece to make it feel more wild
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed your use of color in this piece which i feel like went really nice with your wood background. It makes it feel very down to earth and I feel like your concept was portrayed well. The choice of the doe/buck really brings in a lot of questions and controversy and I feel like this is what most great art does. I think I agree with Nick that there could be more wild strokes for grass or something, but that's probably just taste. I think this piece is one of your strongest.
ReplyDeleteI love this painting! It's beautiful and sculptural! After reading your artist statement I feel like this painting is more than decorative. It makes the viewer question what they think about humanity in comparison to animal behavior.
ReplyDeleteI like the ideas behind this piece, and I like how you were willing to change yourself in odd ways to create the piece. The antlers also seem to kind of represent the "odd and different" ideas behind the piece very well since they both belong on the same side of the head.
ReplyDeleteI think that your choices on composition are very good. I'd say the hair has no depth, and while I wouldn't want to see great detail in the hair, I think that maybe emulating grain patterns (large patches of light vs dark) might help tie your figure back into the surface a bit more.
I think that the last thing I see would be more careful - or less careful - hanging of the pieces would improve this piece. Since you were very precise in the cuts and rendering though, the off angles of the different panels stands out a lot and detracts from the piece as a whole.
The face is beautifully rendered and I really like how smooth it came out. I like how you used wood to add to the nature aspect of it. It would be interesting to see you go further and maybe make the antlers out of wood as well, giving them a texture. I would have liked to see more of an expression or alertness to your face, you have these large eyes but it feels like your blankly staring off, which feels odd to me. I know you wanted the panels to be separated but the topmost panels feels out of place to me, maybe taking it away or adding another panel to balance it would have helped.
ReplyDeleteDeer in the headlights! Haha j/k - I love the pop of color in the eyes for this portrait - it really draws the viewer's attention to YOU. That color splash is great. Your face is rendered really well, though I keep trying to figure out the expression... What, oh what, are you thinking, I wonder? The colorless background is unusual, I like the natural feel of the wood. I like that the antlers are 3D. This piece is very interesting in its plainness.
ReplyDeleteI thought this piece was a little cliche at first. like a girl playing with her makeup and taking a self photo shoot. Pretty, but did it hold meaning? The artist statement REALLY did wonders for my point of view. I appreciate how much power you hold to the symbol of a doe. The antlers (which a doe doesn't have) add on a dominant aspect to the idea of a woman.
ReplyDelete