Inspired Collage

To make Pandemic Reaction I started by cutting out the words coronavirus, COVID-19, and Pandemic. This is because I knew from the beginning that I wanted to make a piece of art that was my reaction to coronavirus, like the Dada artists reacted to the atrocities of World War One. Next, I raided our National Geographic bin, and found a magazine on Persia, and empire that was in modern-day Iran. Iran was one of the countries hardest hit by the Coronavirus so this seemed like a good choice of material. After that, I cut out any picture that was blue in an effort to create a semi-uniform background, which I think I accomplished. I then raided our recycling bin in order to find anything else than could be of use. There I found a few magazines, one providing the hockey player seen in my collage. After finding many good snippets, I began to assemble the collage, starting with cutting out humanoid shapes from images with cool textures and gluing them on as a 'crowd.' I then finished the assembly, adding the world on top of a crumbling pillar of words associated with the pandemic.

I tried to create symbolism and meaning in this piece. For one, I crossed the eyes out of the elderly man, showing the elderly that have died, and will died. I also tried to capture how the virus felt to us, here in Maine, by placing the word 'coronavirus' twice, and 'Pandemic' in the upper left corner. The first 'coronavirus' is crossed out, showing how, though we knew about it we dismissed it as not a problem. The next 'coronavirus' is in bigger font, and is red, showing how we became aware of the problem. The final word, Pandemic, shows where we are now, and how suddenly this whole thing rushed upon us. The third, most important symbols are the arrows drawn around the Earth, they symbolize the spinning of the Earth, or the continuation of life. This is particularly important because the Earth is situated atop and crumbling pillar that is the coronavirus, while also about to be consumed by a fish, that is also the coronavirus. This symbolises how it feels as though the virus is coming at us from everywhere. The arrows around Earth promise that life will go on, no matter what is happening in everyday life.

The reproduction, in my opinion, was poorly done. I disliked the reproduction assignment immensely and therefore had trouble motivating myself to do it. I began using acrylic paints, but after hour number two and only a portion of the background finished, I gave up and switched to colored pencils. After finishing, the only thing I remember liking is the change in the hockey players jersey, but hating the actual reproduction of the hockey player.