This body of work is meant to exhibit technical artistic skills and to represent how artists are judged by their self expression through the subject I find most interesting: the human figure. I intend to display the aesthetic natures of the human body and face, in a way that provides representations of three main forms of self expression I’ve observed in myself and fellow artists: art, fashion, and emotion. Furthermore, my vision for this body of work is to create a stronger connection with audiences by the depiction of human figures. Since audiences will be looking at something that resembles a human, they will react to the representations of self expression in a way that is similar to if they were interacting with another person. I intend for this effect to cause audiences to reflect on their own judgement of artists.

In order to define the full scope of how artists express themselves, I’ve observed various ways fellow artists such as Norman Rockwell, Louise Black, Paul Cézanne, Joaquín Sorolla, and Salvador Dali, decide to do so. Upon these observations I was able to divide the methods of self expression into three main sections: art, fashion, and emotion. I’ve investigated through personal experience that artists often receive negative judgement for these three components. This is why each figure in my work serves the purpose of representing one of the three components of expression in a way that adds personality and character to the figure.

Under the category of art as a form of self expression, I’ve exemplified this through my self-portrait. Since art is the main component of my self expression, I thought that making a painting of myself was the most direct way to represent this idea.The pieces meant to represent fashion as a form of expression are Costume, Golden Boy, and The Fool. All of these pieces depict characters in unusual clothing or makeup to mimic the creative ways artists of all types may dress. Lastly, the pieces primarily meant to depict emotion as a form of expression are my three sculptures, Edmund, Theodore, and Dweesle, which express stoicness, content, and frustration in a way that is comical. I have taken a less comical approach to the other three emotional pieces, Portrait of a Young Woman, Sean, and Squeeze, which are meant to depict numbness, sadness, and stress.

To represent the connection between my art and the real life judgement of artists, I’ve decided to take more realistic approaches to my works. Most prominently I’ve depicted realistic facial and bodily proportions, as well as natural skin tones and lighting methods. Most of the pieces were created with mediums that offer opportunities to create works of realism, such as acrylic, watercolor, or oil. A few of my works that were not done in a realistic style were created using clay. This effect serves the purpose of turning a surrealistic idea into a three dimensional object so that it can be interacted with physically, unlike simply looking at a sketch on a flat piece of paper.

In addition to creating pieces that reflect a realistic style, I have mounted the paintings at a relative eye level so that the audience has the ability to make eye contact with figures that are looking straight forward. This offers more intimacy with the viewer. Most importantly, I have placed my self-portrait in the middle of my exhibition, surrounded by my other works. This allows for myself, the artist, to be surrounded by my own representations of self expression, and embody my artwork with the image of my own face. This was done so that when audiences react to my work, they are also reacting to the artist.