Liam Sacal (HL)

Curatorial Rationale

Through investigation and discovery, Visual Arts has allowed me to understand my feelings and reflect on my performance to better prepare myself for the future. The entire experience has allowed me to develop the overall theme of my works as “Illusion”, which I intend to demonstrate during the exhibition. The purpose of my artworks is to show how easily an individual can be deceived by someone else or by themselves. Moreover, illusions can be broken down into different categories with each evoking a distinct reaction in viewers’ minds. Each work has an element of illusion and the variety of approaches an audience member can use in their attempt to understand the pieces will allow them to comprehend the symbols, metaphors, and minor details from a unique perspective.

Personally, I like works that utilize unconventional materials, apply dedication during the creation process, and embrace bold and vibrant colors. My pieces used a variety of mediums; acrylic, oil, string, gouache, photography, videography, and wood as I wanted to experiment and discover which methods I preferred to use the most. The first artwork I created was Confusing Squares and it demonstrates what happens when we fixate on our surroundings and lose track of our central focus. The vibrant strings capture your attention and distance you from the diamond in the center which acts as a symbol of a person’s dreams and aspirations. The 2C’s (commitment and change) is a collection of photographs with a disposable camera effect that I captured over one year. The piece taught me the importance of commitment and each image depicts how time is fleeting. The box illusion was created around my fascination with works that utilize optical illusions to deceive viewers. The cubes employed in the artwork overlap one another at specific points forcing viewers to question the shape of the painting. However, the star in the center of the work acts as a metaphor that if we continually focus our time on trying to understand the world around us we’ll never be able to reach the stars. Deception was created after I realized the importance of perspective in the comprehension of a variety of concepts in my theory of knowledge class. The installation piece has been arranged in such a way that it is difficult to comprehend what is being portrayed by the different sections of wood. Although, when viewed from a specific viewpoint the pieces align and present the word Deception. Four seasons was an artwork where I wanted to convey the passing of time in an abstract way. The medium I used for the artwork was acrylic but I mixed it with acrylic emulsion to make the paints more fluid. This allowed me to pour the paints onto the canvas to represent the rhythm and movement of the four seasons. The sculpture Society was influenced by the growing trend of e-cigarettes. The sculpture consists of primarily wood pieces and I learned how to make clean cuts into the wood with a cutter by using one designed specifically for the material. Perspective is a collection of videos and photographs that show the beauty of different sceneries. For this artwork, I used 360° photography to show viewers what can be seen when you look at a scenery from different perspectives. I wanted to use oil for Sunsets and since I never used the medium before, I learned how to use a pallet knife to mix and blend the different colors together.

My exhibition will be arranged from newest to oldest (2018/Grade 11 to 2020/Grade 12) to show viewers how I have grown through the IB Visual Arts program. Furthermore, there will be instructions on the floor directing the audience where to go to see the order of the pieces correctly. Each artwork will have their own individual spaces and lighting enabling the audience to see the pieces independently. My ultimate goal is to have viewers exit my exhibition realizing the different forms of deceptions present in life and how art is the best platform to inform individuals about such illusions. Furthermore, when the audience views Society they should reflect on their perceptions of vaping and hopefully review their ideologies of the topic.