Sustained Investigation #5

Artist's Statement:

Jillian Wight

Medsker

AP Art and Design

16 November 2021

For this piece, I was inspired by a number of ideas. First, I wanted to make a piece that reflected on the manner in which we have murdered beauty by forcing it into a mold rather than letting it grow and flourish and accepting its relativity. To do so, I created a red corset on an image of Venus which mimicked a stab wound or the dripping of blood. I also arranged Venus’s body to appear splayed out in a very unsettling manner. However, as the piece progressed, I was not happy with the outcome. So, I decided to incorporate another thought I’d been having, which was the concept of Yin and Yang, chaos and order. I began to think of beauty in such terms. There is beauty for the beholder, which typically in women’s fashion means geared towards men, submissive, pure, and docile. Then there is beauty for the wearer, which is provocative and could make the viewer uncomfortable. In other words, it is not for the beholder. I created this theme by designing a very innocent and childlike quilted dress that covered shoulders, belly, head, etc. I then overlaid it with a corset. The fabric and color clashed, but in a manner that was tasteful. I also overlaid with a robe that was influenced by Jan Van Eyck’s Arnolfini Portrait. The woman in the painting wore a garment that symbolizes wealth, which I found very intriguing. Finally, I added sheer stockings to add to this more provocative side. It’s important to note that I chose to cover the head in fabric to mimic the golden orb which often is placed behind an angel’s head in art throughout history. I made the figure flying among the clouds much like an angel, after being abused and cast out on earth. I then added images of personal significance to me, relevance to my theme, and elements of the original painting of venus such as flowers and trees to the edges of the piece.

I started with Photoshop and found images to lay the groundwork for this work of art. I then went in with a gel pen to draw highlights and add detail. I used acrylic paint to place clouds over the image and drew a blue off-centered rectangle to symbolize the sky using colored pencils.

I experimented a ton throughout this piece, as my process images show. I really wanted to build off of the critiques I’d gotten from my peers. They said they liked my previous designs, but wished there was an engaging background. I also drew a lot from my AP Art History studies. I was influenced countless times through the process by numerous different sources, including some of my own thoughts regarding beauty. I am really happy with the result because I think this piece is extremely original. I have never seen anything like it before!

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