spencer

Covid-19 was a force that changed many aspects of my individual characteristics. Things like my ambitions, insecurities, aspirations, and creativity. I realised the importance of these characteristics only after Covid struck, which left me wondering what changed about myself since it started. This exhibition served as an exploration for myself to discover things that had changed about my individual characteristics; my qualities that represent who I am. I hope to show the audience that regardless of change, they are still individuals with their own set of qualities. Through acknowledgement of change, I hope the audience can reflect on what changed in their own life so that they can assess whether or not they should try to fix it. In my case, some things were changed for the better, some for the worst, and some didn’t change at all.

The theme of opposites plays a large role in showing the viewer the change I felt after Covid. In four of my pieces, they are separated into two halves; one half being the normal piece while the other half is entirely inverted and layered with a glitch. It’s purpose is to show that the particular characteristic that is being explored in that piece had been changed throughout Covid, or ‘inverted’. This can be seen in “Orion”, “Pop”, “Creative Reflection”, and “Reaching for Above and Beyond”. In “Orion”, for example, the piece is centered around my future aspirations, but the inverted half shows how Covid had a large impact so that my aspirations for the future were different. In the piece, it showed aspirations such as an architect, a garbage man, and an astronaut. In the end, these had all been inverted and I was left to rethink my future. However, the theme of opposites was explored in different ways throughout my pieces. Apart from the inversion, in my piece “Balanced Forces” a knight is contrasted with a monster. A knight and a monster are two opposite forces, but I have combined the two to create opposite but balanced forces that represent my emotions throughout life, such that the knight and monster show my positive and negative emotions respectively. Lastly, opposites play a different role in my piece “Level 3”, where a bonfire is constructed in the middle of a pitch black room surrounded by ghostly figures. It is meant to represent my comfort in video games amidst my struggles, which is clear from the pixelated image that shows that it is a video game rather than a real life setting. In addition to all of this, the mediums used within my exhibition play a significant role as well. The primary medium of my exhibition is digital, which is key aspect of my search for change throughout Covid. My choice for a digital medium for the artworks subtly shows the technological impact Covid has had on my life. Being indoors for a majority of the last couple years has impact the amount of technology I use, and with this being said it has impacted the way I create art as well. The single piece in my exhibition that is not digital, “Lone Cabin”, was done when Covid restrictions had lessened and I was able to go outside. I used acrylic on canvas to create a landscape of a cabin, not necessarily from my surroundings, but the refreshment of the outdoors helped me visualize and experience the painting from a new point of view.

The exhibition will take place in an open room, with the non-inverted pieces in the middle of the room and the inverted pieces along the wall on either side. The non-inverted pieces are the individual characteristics that didn’t change after Covid, which means that they are balanced and certain hence they are stuck in the middle. The inverted pieces, however, were bound to change so they would be constantly moving around the sides of the room. Their final place on the wall is where those characteristics fit currently in my life, unbalanced and left unknown where they might go. I hope my exploration can provide justification for the viewers to path their own journey through their changes in life and reflect on what is certain and perhaps bound to change.