Lincoln Silva -
This year one of the main things I wanted to do was change up my art style and technique. For as long as I have been doing art I always fall under working with acrylic paint. This year I wanted to stay away from that and experiment with different styles and types of art such as charcoal, water colors, pouring acrylic, print and even just working with pencil drawings and shading. Throughout the years, when I wanted to start an art project or had an idea on an art piece I had, I would just begin the art work. There would be no planning, no preparation or testing. This year I definitely started to map out what I wanted to o before begging. I believe this showed improvement within the quality of my work and how It came out. In my journal I would begin to draw a out the idea I had and then annotate around it with anything I could not express on paper and notes that I had on the work. I would also then test out the material I would be using and figure out what worked well and what didn't.
In my groups of the work, the theme connecting the works is New Orleans Jazz. Over the summer of 2021 I took a trip out to the southern states and got to experience the different culture and way of living. Something I was obsessed with was the jazz concept in New Orleans. Walking up and down Bourbon street there was constantly live music playing everywhere, and I loved it. In these art pieces I do not only depict the music but also the city of New Orleans, such as ¨New Orleans Nights¨ and ¨Skyline¨. I believe working with other types, and styles of art such as water color brings the more vibrant, colorful and warm aspect that I wanted to have.
New Orleans Night, watercolor
This piece was created in order to capture the essence of New Orleans. This piece is the first of a few works made with water coloring. One of the main focuses on this piece was the brush marks and blending of the light. The intent and purpose is to be very pleasing to look at, while feeling calm and peaceful. I personally believe a quiet night is one of the most peaceful and beautiful moments someone can experience. Experiencing the culture and area of New Orleans was a great experience which not only inspired me for this piece but for part of the theme of all my works.
SkyLine, print
After working with print pieces earlier in the school year, I enjoyed it and wanted to work on a bigger scale. Following my theme, I based the SkyLine on the skyline of downtown New Orleans. This piece was one I struggled with. The carving was not an issue but printing the piece onto paper was difficult, I found the print either not showing up or having too much paint where you could not see the actual design of the art piece. After approaching with a different technique I was able to get the piece at a place I was pleased with. My original Idea was to have four separate pieces connected as one in four different colors as a pop art piece. After my struggles with just one, I decided to drop that idea and stick with a classic black and white look.
Paint It Black, spray paint and cardboard
I did my Art Exhibition Text on the Pop Art movement and specifically the common color concept used in most of the pop arts. I really enjoyed making this piece, I really like using spray paint and making templates for it. I had to use some paint to finish it though since I ran out of spray paint and the bottom right corner looks a little brighter than the rest due to that. I used the Rolling Stones logo as a template and tilted it after my favorite song by them, Paint It Black. This piece was created over quarantine, and I wanted to find something in someone's everyday life that could be used as a platform to create art. I found that I had a lot of cardboard. Which is why I used cardboard rather than a standard canvas or paper.
Rhythm, wood and acrylic
Rhythm is the only 3D piece I have in my group of art works. I found this guitar in the art workshop and wanted to do something with it since I play guitar. Originally I painted it all gray and painted a blue flame on the corner. I did not look bad but was not exactly what I was looking for. After a classmate suggested an acrylic poor, after researching what that was and how to do it, I decided I was better then what I had. After testing and working with it, I committed and put soap in a cup with the colors of my choice and poured it all along the body of the guitar. The texture of the poor is visibly seen on the body of the guitar and along the sides.
The Choir, canvas and acrylic
The Choir was created after experimenting with paint and different materials. I created the piece by putting drops of several different colors and letting them sit for a while before taking a ruler and dragging the paint across the canvas. The colors I used were inspired from the colors used in the album cover Medicine At Midnight by the Foo FIghters. I used my technique over and over again on the canvas, which led to a darker appearance and then giving me a sinister feeling, which I thought fit the idea and the title ¨The Choir¨ also helped with that unpleasant feeling which is an opposite intention of feeling compared to my other piece ¨New Orleans Night¨.
Ghosts, watercolor
Ghosts was created after I wanted to create another piece using water coloring, and messing around in my journal and creating squiggly lines. After looking at a single line It looked like a person playing a trumpet. I outlined the line and colored it in, I then went through and did this with other lines creating a person playing guitar, piano, and drums. After reviewing the pice It looked like the rest of the people had a tail, so I then created tails for all of them and called them ¨Ghosts¨. The point of the piece is to highlight the music they are creating rather than the artists, this is why the characters are colored black while the instruments and sounds are colored. I believe people idolize artists and like them more than the music they create.