Dorothy Jeon

In this exhibition, I aim to illustrate the theme of a teenagers' reflection of innocence by exploring the line between emotions and memories which results in yearning. I chose to explore this because I have experienced many things and realized that most of the time I want to go back to my childhood. My childhood days represent the pureness inside myself. Once I grew up and became a teenager, I was judged and criticized by others for my appearance and personality due to jealousy. Therefore, my choice of works reflects the growth of life, emotions, innocence, adolescence, and myself. My intention is to let the audience think and recall their most alluring memories in their lifetime. I have illustrated this through expressing innocence because I think that my childhood days were the most memorable and alluring moments in my life.

When curating the exhibition, I chose to include 8 works out of 10 produced in order to match the theme. The mediums that I have used were acrylic, digital, color pencil, pen ,and 3D art. I mostly apply and explore tonal values, impasto, and gradient in my works. Among the 8 art pieces, the most significant pieces are Reality, Contrast, and Truth behind the Mask, and Innocence which represents the story outline of my life during my adolescence.

For the first piece, “Reality”, I have utilized impasto as the main technique and Acrylic as the medium. The purpose of using impasto was to represent the mixed emotions of the girl and convey a 3D look to make the work more realistic. I mixed different kinds of colors in order to render the technique in the background; I gave a contrast by balancing the side and applying distinguished tones in the artwork. This piece shows that I have low self-esteem because of judgement from others.

For the second piece, “Contrast”, I employed tonal values and utilized pen and colored pencil as the medium. I used mix media in this art piece because color pencils lack the depth that the artwork requires. In order to supplement the lack of depth, I used a pen to supplement and add impact to the work. I focused on placing tonal values because I didn’t want to lose the 3dimensional aspect of the artwork thus making the artwork more realistic. This art piece represents myself wanting to be just myself.

For the third piece, “The Truth Behind The Mask”, I used digital art as the medium. I chose this media because I wanted to create a contrast in the artwork. This was done through the use of various techniques by expressing the colors vibrantly and utilizing the colors behind the masks as the source of gradient. This piece represents “hiding the truth behind others” and further illustrating the idea of “I’m done and exhausted throughout my life I should change myself to being fake to people.”

For the fourth piece “Innocence”, I utilized the printing method as the technique and acrylic as the medium. In this piece, The main symbol of this artwork is a zebra. Zebra, in this artwork, symbolizes protection; it is illustrated by protecting one’s innocence from the damages caused by the struggles and challenges throughout life. This art piece represents my inner self and further explains that I do not want to lose my purity and want to go back to those pure days.

Overall, for the exhibition, I decided to arrange my pieces by the storyline of my artwork which shows my teenage lifetime, reflection to childhood, and realization. For instance, I will set the exhibition with the main theme of teenage and the desire to go back to the innocent days. The physical arrangement of my artworks would be arranged in a pentagon shape and with a background transition color from dark blue to light blue. This is to show the potential of each artwork. Through this exhibition, I want my audience to empathize on the natural flow of life that everyone experiences and the idea that every member of the society has the right to pursue delightment in life. With this concept, I have used various techniques and elements to convey “Innocence”, “Adolescents” “and “Myself.”