Recess Negative

Recess Negative, Acrylic, Chalk and Marker on paper 2m x 1.5m 

This piece is about mania and creativity. Creativity is an important element of my personality which often comes out all at once, I produced this piece in a 'manic'-like state, where I felt like going all out in a piece, working large scale with lots of colours and brushstrokes. I found this a high contrast with the more sombre isolation pieces, as this was done in a place of a mental state where I no longer felt too trapped inside my room.

It highlights the importance of 'freedom' in an artist, as creativity is usually induced by our surroundings. However, I'd be interested to see what this second lockdown will do to my pieces, whether these will return to muted colours and darker tones.

I wanted this piece to capture a sort of 'distorted reality', this piece was actually based on when I looked into the mirror and saw my reflection glitch (looking back this could have been the amount of coffee and my very weird mental state), but this still proved to be an inspiration in my work.

I used chalk to create these two dimensions of colour, with the acrylic although there were a lot of vibrant colours, it was very flat. Using the chalk it brings life to the painting by bringing forward the line work and adding depth. I used the flow of chalk to enhance the distorted effect on the faces.

As well as the impression of distorted reality, it expresses different emotions, and sides of a personality come through the piece. The main face, which is distorted, is almost fighting between these two personalities behind him, peering over his shoulder like an angel and a devil.