Cat Village

My work this quarter is a series of portraits. They utilize a variety of methods but they carry with them a single visual similarity, the presence of a head shape. It was a personal challenge to myself to use this shape as a clear designator that this series of images were portraits, and at the same time to see how many different ways I could use this shape.

Some images that influence my own work appear with this writing. The first image is a two-panel image from a video by Krystof Wodiczko, who projects video onto large buildings. The projections are usually political or controversial in nature, in this case, victims of sexual abuse in Tijuana bare their souls as they tell their stories to the world on an architectural canvas. The element I appreciate here is the story telling, the expression of an individual’s personal story of pain and triumph. The next image is by Barbara Kruger, entitled “Your Body is a Battleground.” I appreciate her ability to re-appropriate images by adding text to existing images to use them against their original intent. I like the idea of finding images, and then modifying them to make them my own and create a symbolism with them. The next piece is a collection of simple logos, a few of my favorites. More than one classmate has commented this quarter that some of my imagery has a logo-like appeal. These logos in particular I like because they each have a quality of simplicity to them, but at the same time also have a clever twist created by repetition or negative space. The fourth image is Andre eDrain’s, “Charing Cross Bridge, London.” I never used to like Fauvism until I learned what it was about, which was in part, an experimentation with color and the emotional response that it can evoke. These artists in this movement also used simple shapes in combination with their wild color choices. The final image is from a lesser known 20th century French “ism” movement, called Orphism. This is Robert Delaunay’s, “Red Eiffel Tower.” I appreciate this image not only for it’s color use, but also it’s calculated design, and the heavy use of basic shapes and strong lines to create this image. Elements of all these images appear in my own work in various ways, however not typically to the extremes that the artists I have chosen have.

The images that I have created are all portraits, and they are all of friends who I spend time thinking about. Not all of them are doing well, and these images express to me emotions that sometimes words cannot. One of these pieces is also a self-portrait, which was discussed in an earlier critique. This piece is comprised of fortune cookie fortunes, which create a negative space shape of the head, which has inside of it two paths, blue and red, like veins which wind around inside the head. The fortunes represent wisdom that comes from many sources, and the two paths suggest that there are sometimes more than one good choice, and decisions can be difficult, especially when there is much wisdom in our world to choose from to help guide us. The first piece I began working on has the smooth curvy blue arrows leaving the head shape, while arrows of varying hard edges filled with red and yellow dots strike the outer surface of the head. This image utilizes logo-like shapes and strong lines to create negative space that is critical to interpreting the image. In this portrait, a friend is overwhelmed by the stress of a painful divorce which attack his mind but do not penetrate. Instead, the graciousness and kindness of a selfless man move outside his mind to help others amidst his own life turmoil. My next piece shows the iconic head shape filled with the colors and shapes of tree stump rings, surrounded by circles of varying shades of green that grow darker and larger the further they are from the head. This image uses bright colors and shapes to create a symbolism about my friend who has difficulty trusting anyone, including me. This friend loves trees and forestry, so the colors and shapes here are in part a tribute to him and his interests. The rings are my hope for his growth in his ability to trust people, not just internally, but to outwardly display it. The green circles are like an aerial view of a forest, dense with icons of trees, which create a maze of layers that symbolize the complexities of getting to know him and earning his trust. The next image contains a series of found images, stitched together and given power through color and symbolism. The head shape appears in the shadow of a dense and dark vine ivy, while a hand drops a pair of scissors. This friend is deluded into thinking that he is never wrong. And while he realizes that his pride blinds him like the vine that has overtaken his face and makes him a difficult person to enjoy being around, he cannot bring himself to admit his wrongs. So in response he drops the scissors, realizing the answer to freedom is too difficult, and choosing his pride instead because it is all he knows, and is therefore more comfortable to him than the love of his friends. The final image also contains re-appropriated found images, and is all black ink, with the small exception of a blue eye image center. The background is rough and ugly, while the head shape displays the large open eye gazing over two women’s faces with their eyes closed. This friend is a womanizer and an addict. He knows that he needs help, but he won’t go and get it. I hate the way that he views women, and he is hurting them and himself in the way that he treats them. His watching oversized eye looms over the women who cannot see him. His addiction is ugly, dark and evil. The eye is blue because there is yet a glimmer of color, light, and hope for him if only he will get help, and close his eyes to participating in the destruction of women, and his own soul.

With respect to the found images of influence, they relate to my own art in that they utilize the design elements of shape, color, and lines to create imagery that speaks about my own relationships. These images are stories, not about circumstances and experiences, but about these people that I care deeply about, it is the story of the condition of their souls.