Sustained Investigation #5

Artist Statement:

This piece was the 5th in my series of Sustained Investigations, and for this one, I specifically focused on animal cruelty (in the circus industry). I started by wanting to create an elephant of some sort, but then fell down a rabbit hole into animal cruelty. In the end, I chose a sad and depressed looking elephant as my subject with a circus tent-like background. 

I used gouache in this project for color, communicating life, vibrance, and joy, which is often associated with circuses. Then, I used charcoal pencils and sticks (both black and white) for the elephant, which was used to communicate the sadness and lifelessness behind the scenes. The Sharpie marker was used to outline and highlight parts of the elephant. 

I started out with an idea of creating an alebrije, colorful animals that are a part of Mexican culture, but I soon dropped this idea. Then, I wanted to create a charcoal image of an animal. I set my mind on an elephant. However, when I was looking at pictures of elephants online, I fell down a rabbit hole which led me to cruel treatment of animals in the circus industry. I started by developing the background to represent a circus tent, then added in the elephant to contrast it. Finally, I added small details like the "headress" on the elephant's head.