Scholastic #5

The subject of this piece is a human heart. I created this piece by first drawing the heart in pen, using reference images from the internet. I then used watered down acrylic paint to add the red and blue that colors and drips over the heart. I wanted to create a heart because in my time drawing the human anatomy, I haven't done very much with the heart, despite its symbolic and visually intriguing nature. I think that the strongest elements of the piece are line and color. I wanted the detailed lines of my original sketch to be visible beneath and contrast with the free-form marks of the paint. For this reason I went over them in fine-point sharpie to give them more weight. The colors of the paint are also an important element. I used red because it is the color of the blood that the heart pumps. Although the dripping effect is often characteristic of blood, I didn't mean for it to create any sort of gruesome quality; I justed wanted the paint to look natural and unconfined. I used the blue because it contrasts well with red and because blue is often used in anatomical drawings of the heart. This creates an irony in that I created detailed outlines and used the colors of an anatomical drawing but the colors are messy and contrast the usual style.

I used formal balance for my piece because I wanted the heart to be the only significant feature and make it the sole focal point. This project evolved in that I was originally going to do a detailed anatomical drawing but decided that I wanted a more gestural and less precise approach, which I accomplished through the colors.

Through this piece I wanted to represent the contrast of order and disorder in the human body. Despite the efficiency and precision of the body's mechanisms (represented by the detailed outlines), there is also a completely natural element that thrives in chaos and continues to work despite changes and stimuli (represented by the gestural colors). This piece relates to my life through my interpretations of the human body's functions and the way I combine them. I think this piece could be stronger if I had begun with a flat background color. The plain white in the background is a little harsh and I think an off-white or beige color would have been better.