Existential #7

Reflection

9 x 11 in

Acrylic and Colored pencil

This piece was created to investigate the way water in a puddle could cause an individual existential conflict. The piece is mainly blues and grays to push a melancholy feeling and the individual's black reflection can reveal to the viewer a greater conflict going on for the subject. I wanted the subject to be peering down at the puddle, which has raindrops falling in causing little ripples. The ripples obstruct the reflection of the city which is behind the viewer, representing, expectations, and civilization itself, which is only escaped in the drops hitting the puddles. The pavement around the subject also represents civilization as the city does but the break and cracks in it reveal the puddle, giving the viewer a chance to stop and examine their life from another point of view.

This work was made with acrylic paint primarily on black canvas paper. I used colored pencil on the city and highlights and streetlight, as well as on the shoes.

I went through a lot of research doing this project because I was very unsure of how best to create a look of cracked pavement. Most the results I got of researching cracked pavement weren't what I was picturing and didn't really have a circle for a puddle so I just based my thinking off those and imagined how the cracks could form a circleish shape. I also researched a lot on the way drops ripple in the water and practiced drawing the ripples before putting them on the final piece. I researched city skylines reflected in water as well and looked up some reference for the sneakers which are Air Force 1's.