Nick
DECONSTRUCTED SELF PORTRAIT
acrylic and crayon on paper with mirror and horse
In this piece I wanted to focus on the parts of my body that
could be seen while sitting in the drawing horse and facing a mirror. My torso
and upper legs were obstructed from view; and even though my forearms and lower
legs were able to be seen, I wanted to focus on the three parts of the body
that are considered most important in mastering the human figure. The face,
hands, and feet are the most difficult to render and most emotional parts of
the body according to the authors Burne Hogarth and George Bridgeman.
Considering their fame for being masters of the human figure, I decided I would
conduct an intensive figure study using acrylic paint (since it was required)
and crayon. The crayon was used as a tool of deconstruction of my own art.
Instead of using tools of “high art” (charcoal, oil paint, etc). I decided to
create a composition that used a drawing utensil that is widely sold to
children. Not only that, but this piece is deconstructed from where I was
sitting while conducting this figure study. The mirror is the frame that the
viewer uses to fill in what parts of the human figure remain aside from the
face, hand, and foot.
I'm unable to see your image but from what I remember I really love the cut out head placed at the top of the mirror. It really gives one insight into how you may see things. What I found hard to grasp was just the choice in materials as to why you used crayon instead of acrylic for all the body parts. The tonal shifts with a very well rendered face with half flesh toned and the other half in very dark blue was very nicely done. It almost seems to give one a contrast between their good and bad side in using warm and cool colors.
ReplyDeleteThis is kind of unfortunate that i cannot view your piece because it wont load. FOr the most part my memory of your piece was brief and interesting. I think that you found a balance with materials you used. Next time maybe approach a piece like that with different materials and see if that changes your stand point.
ReplyDeleteYour portrait is interesting however I feel its a bit disjointed. I understand that to get the full effect you must sit in the chair so that the viewer can see his/herself in your own portrait, but teh placements seem odd to me. I think you could have incorporated crayon in a different way so that the acrylic and crayon were more harmonious.
ReplyDeleteA bit scrambled but I feel like a character was definitely captured by b this. The crayon helps being in a playful and experimental feel to the piece and I feel like the piece might be more personal, and less about the viewer. I feel like making the piece was intimate. Maybe full thought wansnt put into display, but the piece still gives the viewer an intumacy with it when veiwed on the horse. I appreciate the interactive part of the art and feel like a few formal elements such as composotion in frame or out, also unity of materials. Overall I thought it was very creative.
ReplyDeleteI think this self-portrait was highly conceptional and very daring. I can't help but want it to be turned into a performance piece. Maybe by recording the viewer positioning themselves in your form. I love that you used crayons! the detail in the hands and feet are wonderful. I think that in your other work the brush strokes feel so emotional. I get caught up in moving my eyes from one color to the next (which I love). In this figure you've instead highlighted the details that are often missed at first glance and made them the main part of your work. Love the hands and feet!
ReplyDeleteI feel like this is a piece that has a lot of potential, but fell a little bit short for me.
ReplyDeleteI feel like the sizes of each body part are not quite right for each other, and stylistically the change from the face to the hands and feet is so drastic that it is very distracting for me to try and fit them together.
The use of the mirror was a very good idea, and I'm very glad that you used it as it shows one of the tools that you used in completing the project which then becomes a surface within your project.
I think your idea was very solid, and the choice of those three body parts was a good choice to simplify your design.
I like your idea but I think it needs to go further, maybe exploring more of these figural elements and mastering the human form instead of just one hand and foot. The hand and foot is amazing and I would really like to see more of them! I think it would have been better to render the face in the style of the hand/foot, so they connect more. The face is great as well, I love that strong blue opposite that bright yellow on the other side, they contrast well. This seems like an interactive piece that isn't quite there, however I'm not sure if you intended for it to be interactive in the first place. I know we were supposed to work with acrylic for this project so that's why you used it but it would be interesting to see you really work through this just with the crayon. Overall an interesting piece.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoy looking at both the hands and feet in this piece, but the face looks a little scary and not like you at all, maybe when you were ten, but still. I think that your idea and concept with this piece was really interesting but I feel that you could have elaborated on the concept. The way the hands and feet are rendered are more interesting to look at for me and they feel severely disjointed from the face. This piece is interesting, but I feel that you could have expanded on this.
ReplyDeleteNick, I love the concept of this piece. Although, you are capable of so much more expression! Your skill is evident in the lines and proportions of the body parts, and so I am disappointed not to see more from your hand! The mirror idea was indeed a good one, but I would have liked to see it utilized in a more inclusive way (maybe a border that seeps into the viewer's peripheral vision or a fade from body part to mirror).
ReplyDeleteWow I was not expecting your project to turn out this way. I like that represents your personality -> funny and random. This is a funny literal look into how you see yourself and how you translated the idea of deconstruction. The elements seem a little disjointed but I see your thought process for the most part.
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