Sustained Investigation #4

Artist Statement

For my fourth sustained investigation I continue to explore the question,“How can I create representations of parts of the human body using imagery/materials that reflect their purpose?” After focusing my past investigations on parts of the body like the lungs, heart, and eyes, I chose to make the theme of this piece the brain. The image shows a woman’s head surrounded by a crown of decorations. The collage swirls in an upward motion and is meant to represent the subject’s imagination. The part of the body being explored is the brain/mind/head with its function being the workings and productions of the mind. Instead of creating a more anatomical image for this investigation, I wanted to have a different approach to add variety to the series. Additionally, I wanted to continue with the theme of surrealism (i.e the connection to a tree in the lung piece, the swirls of the heart, or the mirror-canvas of the eye) by making a collage of objects meant to symbolize a human function while also exploring a new aspect of function, one that is not automatically like blood flow or respiration but imagination.

For this work, I used watercolor (on watercolor paper) and collage materials from a bin of random paper scraps that’s been sitting in my closet for eight years. Some cutouts are from a book of classic American paintings from the 1800s and 1900s, others form books of patterned paper, postcards, or stickers. I first used burnt sienna and deep red watercolor to paint the face, then played with the arrangement of the collage until I could start gluing the pieces on the page. I chose to incorporate both watercolor and collage into this piece as I have used neither mediums in my sustained investigation yet, and wanted to incorporate more variety.

My original idea for this project involved making a collage entirely out of cut-up New Yorker magazines, as we usually have dozens lying around the house. The plan was to play more into the academic and political aspects of thought, using news cutouts and phrases swirling in the subject’s subconscious. When I began looking for these magazines, however, I discovered that my mom had given them all to the community center. So, I restarted. My second idea involved making the collage digitally. I got pretty far into it, too. My subject was an image of the statue of a Greek philosopher. Around his head were cutouts of random images I’d found searching online. It took about an hour of toying with photoshop to realize I hated the project and wanted to start over. I really wanted to use physical materials, but keep the concept of exploring the subconscious instead of an anatomical drawing. I ended up finding the bin of scrap paper, which worked perfectly. With these materials, I was able to use elements of shape and space to show the blossoming principle of movement of the mind. I used color and texture to include vibrance and detail in the imagery, and show what it might feel like to be imagining. My next steps might be to expand on the ideas in this piece- maybe in the future I could use different collage materials to create an aesthetically similar piece with a completely different meaning.