Artist Statement - Brittney Shaffer

I did my shoes based on Van Gogh’s famous pieces. I did Van Gogh’s Starry Night to resemble the dark parts of life and while the dark shoe represents the sadness in life there’s always the bright side. This goes onto the other shoe where you are met with a bright sunny day with hot air balloons resembling the highs in life and the weights on your shoulders are lifted. You may ask about the depressed man on the blue shoe and ask what is his purpose? This is actually Van Gogh’s piece At Eternity’s Gate. Van Gogh painted Eternity’s Gate when he was in a very depressive state in his life. Van Gogh used color to express his emotions through his work. Yellow is what Van Gogh saw as his happy color. That's why the soles of the bright shoe are yellow. The sole of the dark shoe is a mixture of blues because blue was Van Gogh’s sad/depressed color.

I believe there was once a time in everyone’s life where they felt like giving up. For me in my life, there have been many. I found ways to pull myself out of the gutter through art and that's why Van Gogh means so much to me. As he did the same but sadly it wasn’t enough for him to survive. As Van Gogh would agree scars remind us where we have been - but they don't have to dictate where we are going.