Sustained Investigation #3

Artist Statement

The main idea that guided this work was answering my inquiry question: How can I portray emotion/feelings through my favorite songs? For this piece, I was inspired by the song Where Is My Mind by the Pixies. This song has a very eerie vibe so I tried to match that in the art. I was inspired by a lot of work similar to this that also uses mixed media and a creepy tone. With this work, I was trying to show the feeling of dissociation which is when "one may feel disconnected from yourself and the world around you. You may feel detached from your body or feel as though the world around you is unreal." I tried to show this by creating two different faces on the same human/being that are separating from of each other and the fear that comes with that feeling.

This work was made with Oil Pastels, Acrylic paints, crayons, and Sharpies on acrylic paper. I chose to use a lot of materials because I wanted to give it a scary messy and almost psychedelic feel. The oil pastels allowed me to incorporate smudging and very bold lines. The acrylics helped me layer different colors and were better for the brighter parts of the image like the teeth and the eyes. I used a sharpie marker to make paint splatter on the background. I did this because I felt it added to the unreal and uneasy tone of the painting.

The process for creating this work started with listening to the song it was inspired by multiple times. I then began to sketch out ideas. Once I had an Idea that I liked a drew it a couple of times to see where I wanted to center the words Where Is My Mind. I chose to put the title on the actual drawing because I liked the way it portrayed the issue that the figure in the painting is facing. I then started with the background of the painting. This process was really fun because I just used every material at hand to create a messy eerie background. After the background was complete I drew the figure based on my sketch and just drew and used the materials that felt right. I didn't have a strict process for this part I just switched between materials as I felt necessary.