A Shifting Reality BY Wilfredo Menendez
Medium: Acrylic on Stretched Canvas
Measurements: 3ft x 3 ft (91.44cm x 91.44 cm) Completed: December, 2015 Scream by Munch: For my inspiration for this piece I used Scream by Munch to sort of show how the illusion of who we are as a person is constantly changing in time and from person to person. A certain person might know you as reserved and shy and another might know you as outgoing and loud. The sort of distorted body features portray this.
Also, this piece has a background that is colourful and sort of just flows. I used this sort of background that is shown in Munch's Scream to sort of portray my more outgoing fun side that I usually leave in the background and don't really show whether in my daily life and in my art. A difference between Munch's background and mine is that mine is more of just random lines while Munch uses his lines to portray a beautiful sunset and what appears to be a lake. |
Exhibition Text: This self portrait is an abstract representation of the shifting in a humans personality because of how we portray our self to others. This self portrait also portrays a more colorful outgoing part of me.
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Meaning: This piece is meant to show my internal self. Many people approached this project looking at themselves from the outside, and so did I. But after I mest up the proportion I decided I'd rather paint a self portrait of my inner self. In the piece I am dressed in gray and blue, which are kind of dark colors. This is meant to represent how I am on the outside. Externally I'm a very reserved person except to my close friends. Also I easily get irritated and I don't have a lot of patience for strangers. But then the background is very colorful which is meant to represent who I am on the inside. On the inside I'm a more caring and patient person. There's a very subtle difference between the way the colorful lines flow and the way the darker lines flow, this is to show how my inner and outer personality don't go together and many time this causes me trouble in my personal life.
Process & Reflection: Making this self portrait was a difficult journey. I began by trying to mimic Mucha's Papier Cigarette, however that didn't go so well because, I had never done a Art Nouveau piece. One thing that went wrong, that was also the main reason I decided to make it in abstract style was that my proportions were off. I think it was because of the way that I was sitting that made it difficult to paint. It would take a more experienced painter to get the proportions right from that angle. By the time I noticed how off my proportions were I was short on time so I decided to just base it off a painting that was in abstract style which would have the proportions be skewed on purpose.
I plan to re do this painting next year in a art nouveau style. This time I will start in the beginning of the year so that I have time to practice and refine my painting skills. One thing that I'm going to change is that instead of doing the whole body I'm just going to focus on my face and upper chest area. During the summer I'm going to use the choice of doing self portraits as the summer project as a opportunity to get more comfortable with drawing and painting my face. Not only in realist style but also in art nouveau, and other movements that I am interested in getting more comfortable in doing.
One thing that I did wrong while doing this piece is that I started of doing the art nouveau style border and spent way too much time on it instead of on the rest of the piece. Another thing I did wrong was that I didn't do enough research into art nouveau style and the principle of it. Since I didn't have a lot of knowledge about it I started doing more of a realist style piece rather than a art nouveau piece.
Even though, the piece did not end up how I initially wanted it to be I am really proud of it. I like the flow of the piece, the way the colors flow creates a harmony. Even though I like abstract style painting I'm thinking of getting out of my comfort zone and trying new painting styles.
I plan to re do this painting next year in a art nouveau style. This time I will start in the beginning of the year so that I have time to practice and refine my painting skills. One thing that I'm going to change is that instead of doing the whole body I'm just going to focus on my face and upper chest area. During the summer I'm going to use the choice of doing self portraits as the summer project as a opportunity to get more comfortable with drawing and painting my face. Not only in realist style but also in art nouveau, and other movements that I am interested in getting more comfortable in doing.
One thing that I did wrong while doing this piece is that I started of doing the art nouveau style border and spent way too much time on it instead of on the rest of the piece. Another thing I did wrong was that I didn't do enough research into art nouveau style and the principle of it. Since I didn't have a lot of knowledge about it I started doing more of a realist style piece rather than a art nouveau piece.
Even though, the piece did not end up how I initially wanted it to be I am really proud of it. I like the flow of the piece, the way the colors flow creates a harmony. Even though I like abstract style painting I'm thinking of getting out of my comfort zone and trying new painting styles.
Word Count (Not Including the Exhibition Text ): 713
Research:
Munch, Edvard. The Scream. 1910. Art and Nature, Muchmuseet. Munchmusset. Web. Nov.-Dec. 205.
Research:
Munch, Edvard. The Scream. 1910. Art and Nature, Muchmuseet. Munchmusset. Web. Nov.-Dec. 205.