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Kristin Thorsdottir - Curatorial Rationale
My inspiration for my exhibition was how my view on the world has changed in the past years. In 2 years I have made many new discoveries about life and that has formulated my outlook. Perspective creates everyone's outlook in life and every single person has different life experiences that create the foundation of their perspective. This was a very interesting concept to me. All humans live on the same planet but our unique circumstances affect everything around us. Through my exhibition, I wish to present the audience with my perspective on life and the things that have formulated my outlook on life.
The word “perspective” has many different interpretations. It can mean a literal visual outlook on life described by synonyms such as angle, overview, and proportion. It can also be a mental approach to life with synonyms such as bias, attitude, and mindset. The large variety this word covers inspired me to discover if I could create a bridge between these two definitions, and bring out the true meaning of the word.
The artworks I created for my exhibition reflect the different definitions of perspective.
To best show the development of my perspective, I organized my exhibition in chronological order to show how my perspective has developed over two years. I wanted to create a strong foundation for each piece to reflect how perspectives are formulated. I used a variety of different mediums to create my exhibition from different approaches. My mediums included oil pastel, acrylic paint, photography, and mixed media including cardboard, glass, and wood. I found that displaying my perspective in different mediums allowed me to better interpret what I wanted to accomplish with my exhibition and shined light on what I wanted it to represent. The photography was a great medium in terms of exploring angles, one of the definitions of the theme of my exhibition.
I used my exhibition to express the different ways perspective is approached. In my photography pieces, it focuses highly on the angle it was taken at. While the two pieces are not similar in terms of context, color, or size, they are similar in that they both rely on the lens, lighting, and focal point. In my mixed media pieces, “Northern Light” and “Moonlight Glow”, both pieces revolve around the angle it is looked at. Both pieces seem simple on the outside, but once looked at from a different angle, there is a new story to be told. In “Moonlight Glow”, one the piece is looked at from the side of the box, the audience sees a sunrise, as opposed to the dark night sky they thought they were seeing. In “Northern Light”, the piece looks simple on the outside, but once the box is opened there is broken glass everywhere. I intended to have this represent how something can seem beautiful and put together, but really broken on the inside once looked at from a different perspective. In my piece “Mindspace”, I wanted to express the idea of someone's mental state being completely different from what it appears to be. Earth and space are complete opposites, symbolizing the contrast in the meaning of the piece. This piece explores the mental perspective someone can have, while the visual perspective looks different from what it appears to be.
Overall, I think my exhibition not only explores the idea of perspective, but it gives the audience a glimpse into my perspective. With my artwork, I showed how I perceive the world and the perspective I have formulated with my life experiences. After the audience has had a chance to view my exhibition, they begin to formulate their own perspectives of me. Not only do I get to show what I see and believe, but I get to influence the way I am interpreted in people’s minds, just by letting them into mine.
Kristin Thorsdottir
Closer Look (December, 2019)
Acrylic Paint
10” x 28”
For this project, I wanted to focus on the details and how the closer you approach something, the more intricate and detailed it becomes. You might need to get closer to something to understand it better. My theme of perspective relates to this because it gives multiple perspectives to the owl. It allows the audience to feel as though they are closer and have their own perspective of the owl.
Kristin Thorsdottir
Northern Light (February, 2020)
Mixed Media- paint, glass
8” x 8” x 3”
I wanted to capture how something can look so beautiful on the outside and seem very put together, but on the outside can be broken or shattered. This is similar to a person in a way where when we meet someone we can seem simple, innocent, and beautiful. However, once you start to know someone and they open up, you can see they are broken and damaged inside.
Kristin Thorsdottir
Bird’s Eye View (October, 2020)
Mixed Media- acrylic paint, magazine collage, string
10” x 8”
This collage features cutouts of the world from magazines. I found the pair of owl eyes and thought it would be a really cool concept to show the world from a bird perspective. It features really cool images of the globe with all types of different climates, weather, landscapes, colors, and objects. This is to show the variety of beauty in our world, from the perspective a bird sees. The color scheme is sort of a rainbow and allows the eye to nicely flow throughout the piece.
Kristin Thorsdottir
Moonlight Glow (December, 2020)
Mixed Media- cardboard, paint
6” x 6”x 4”
For this piece I really wanted to capture the “perspective angle”. When looking from the top/ bird’s eye view of the piece it looks dark and just like a plain sky. But when you look through the box and let the light in, the piece illuminates and there is a whole other meaning to the dark boring box. This is supposed to show that there is a crucial difference between the outside and inside of things. It also shows that if you look at things from a different angle or perspective you can find something. It shows not everything is how it first appears.
Kristin Thorsdottir
Fisheye (January, 2021)
Photography
8” x 12”
For this piece, I really wanted to have it match my theme, perspective. My friend and I used a ‘fisheye’ lens on our camera and took photos. The lens allowed for a new fun twist on a simple photograph. We used the lighting to help brighten the colors of the piece and overall composition. I think it plays very well into my theme, given it is a new perspective that I had not yet explored.
Kristin Thorsdottir
Mindspace (January, 2021)
Mixed Media- oil pastel, acrylic paint, color pencil
10” x 15”
For this piece I wanted to capture the aspect of knowledge in perspective. The colorful planets in space match with the person representing a sunset. It gives two different dimensions. One is someone who is on earth and could be considered more grounded. While even though they appear to be grounded with their body on earth, their imagination is in space, representing the creativity and free rein of imagination. There is no limit on one’s mind. So while they appear to be ‘on earth’, their mind is filled with exploration, creativity, and expression.
Kristin Thorsdottir
Eyeshadow (February, 2021)
Pencil
15” x 10”
In this piece, our perspective really is formulated by what we see, what we think, and what we know. The eye captures the idea of perspective. We use the eye to see and learn new things, further formulating our perspective on life. However, it is also how we see life given what we know on the inside. It can be used both ways, putting out what we know and taking in what we don't.
Kristin Thorsdottir
Frost (February, 2021)
Photography
6” x 15”
This piece is a little more simple than the rest. This one is not very bright in color or has any large shape to capture the audience's attention. But there is a subtle focal point of the light at the top of the photograph that the photo meaning. I took this photograph at night when my car sunroof had frost on it. If there was not a light above it, the photograph would have been boring, dark, and hard to see. But similar to my Moonlight Glow piece, when the light is let in, there is a total new perspective and image to be seen.
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