13. Independent #4

Artist Statement

This piece is my fourth in our assigned independent series; an assignment where we are given no criteria to what we can create, but should start to build a common theme for what we would like to focus our art portfolio on in the future. Using magazine clippings, pen ink, and white paper, I followed a common theme compared to my last assignment, our organic paradoxes, by using these materials. While creating my organic paradox I found that I really enjoyed using the magazine clippings; especially the clean cut layering theme that I was able to obtain. So when we were assigned our forth independent project I decided I wanted to revisit the material.

Wanting my main focus to be the white arch and head that I decided to include in this piece, I structured my magazine clippings around it; layout the clippings so that they would both overlap and overlay, giving a lot of dimension to the piece. Overall the main ‘idea’ of the piece stayed the same, though the main color scheme and actual magazine clippings that I used did change along the way. Originally there wasn't supposed to be any green or blue in this piece, as when I was brainstorming this project my color scheme was supposed to match the dessert background that I still used in this piece; which consisted of browns, reds, yellows, and oranges. Though after not liking how the layered look was looking with red flowers and thorny yellow bushes, I decided to leave that main color scheme and see if i could achieve something that I more liked with some greens and blues. Switching out my original magazine clippings for green vegetation, I much better like how this color scheme turned out. The clash between the sparse desert background surprisingly appealing to me.

With this clash in both color scheme and actual environments, I feel like the white arch is dispelling vegetation (life) into the bleak and desolate desert; slowly turning it into a sort of nirvana as the plant life expands out. Though I don't really have a response to why the figure head in the piece is literally a floating head, or why he’s making that expression, but I suppose you could say that the arch is actually just the portal; while the individual in the arch is actually the one who’s expelling life out into the desert. Transporting between different realms, this individual breathes life into the environments that don't have any.

Overall I really like how this piece came out. I love the layering effect and dimension I was able to obtain along with the clash between environments with the desert and the vegetation; I also believe the white arch brings a sort of new texture with it, something i find myself also enjoying. Though if I was to return to this piece and perhaps revise, I would probably either had something to the head in the scene or add something more to the background in the desert; though I’m a bit worried about things seeming clustered, so I’ll just probably leave it as it is now.