Mirrored - Noah Lopez

Noah Lopez -

Within my Exhibition, I am working on the exploration of the human experience and the connections to the world around us. Although through the two years of Visual Arts, there was no intention of following any sort of “theme” or “message” in which all of my works connect, I see that through interpretation and also the connection between myself and the viewers could be seen. I also want to connect to the audience in the way of showing my opinions of the world and how each of us has our own problems, whether it is with mental health or coping with the division of people as a certain type of unity.

In the first year of my Visual Arts course, I have often made works that were just specifically to fulfill the assignment requirements that were given to us just to reach a certain number of artworks that I need. I had originally only conveyed landscapes that I saw without really thinking about what techniques or mediums I could explore. For example, in my piece “Vatican City” and “Train of the Forest”, I only use these artworks just as an observation of scenes in nature. In fact, I used “Vatican City” as my first Resolved Artwork only because I had already made the sketch before I even entered the course. I just happened to have it on hand so I decided to turn it in since I didn’t have any ideas of what I’d do for my piece. Although, in the exploration of artists such as Vik Muniz in his exploration of using found objects as a medium and Salvador Dali and his use of surrealism to convey symbolism have changed the pathway of my thinking. One such example is the piece “Night Fire” which was inspired by the research I have done for Post-Impressionism and Vincent Van Gogh for the Art Movement Project. His uses of monochromatism and brush stroke techniques had made me consider that I could use colors to convey different emotions in my works. In addition, since the main medium that I utilize is acrylic paint on canvas, the way in which I use the brush could also convey tones that can also be interpreted by the audience.

From this, I had made a dramatic shift in my works and my intentions with what to do with them. In the “Chopped” project, I was given the prompts of patterns and 2-D to make artwork. Through my study of artists that use patterns, I had run into the artist Bisa Butler. She too uses colors and patterns to convey meaning, such as Van Gogh. She often depicts the black community and how there needs to be more representation of black people in the world of art. Since Butler, Dali, Muniz, and Van Gogh have used their works to spread messages about their views to the world, I have started to do the same. I used historical knowledge to also explore more problems that existed around the time of the Civil Rights Movement such as the Cold War and the Red Scare to create “The Blind Eye” which conveys how consumerism and the flashy culture of the U.S at the time often masked the internal problems of the time. I had furthered this within the works of “Unity & Love (Danger)” which is inspired by my Comparative Study and the study of humanism and how even though we are all together, humans are usually divided either through political view or even through societal norms or not interacting with those that you are not familiar with. From the idea of human connection, I have decided that in order to truly connect with the viewers of the piece, I depicted some of the issues that I face as a person, rather than an artist. This is conveyed through the pieces “Bottled Up”, “Ace of Hearts”, “After Laughter Comes Tears”, and “Rebirth”. Within this series of works, I illustrate my journey of self-discovery, mental illness, and trauma. I try to use this in order to show vulnerability and possibly even relatability between myself and the viewers of my work.

Bottled Up, acrylic, found objects, 7" x 2"

Within this artwork, I had tried to further my exploration of humans and their connection to the world. In this particular piece, I had explored the idea of memories, learning, and negative emotions. For each of the scenes depicted, I had tried to convey when I have felt fear, anxiousness, or had to overcome something. These artworks consist of three personal experiences of mine: a car crash I was in on Valentine’s Day of 2019, giving a student government electoral speech for when I was in the 9th grade, and my current work at Peter Piper’s having to deal with numerous customers as Prize counter attendant. I tried to connect to the audience by saying that even though these feelings of trauma or anxiety were “bottled up” it is okay to open yourself up and learn from your past, like how I did/am trying to do.

Vatican City, pen, pencil, and colored pencil, 27.94cm x 22.86cm

In this piece, I explored the idea of realism. I got this idea from my grandmother who went on pilgrimages to certain churches such as St. Peter’s Basilica illustrated here. So, I sketched the piece with pencil, making sure to be very detail - oriented, then I outlined it in pen and colored it in color pencil.

Train of the Forest, acrylic paint and canvas, 45.72cm x 38.1cm

In this piece, I wanted to convey the emotion of comfort and relaxation by using vivid colors to complement each other. The point of view is from the inside of a train that is traveling through a lively forest. Also, in order to convey the emotion of “calm”, I attempted to take a minimalist approach in the trees by making the general shape of a tree, but not adding as much detail as I did in my piece Vatican City.

Ace of Hearts, watercolor, sharpie, watercolor paper, 18” x 24”

Within this piece, I wanted to focus on the use of duality of emotions. I tried to depict this through red for the positive aspects of life and black as the negative emotions that mental health correlates with. In addition, the figures in the background are covered in negative thoughts that I have had about myself or my life in general lately. The yellow path represents childhood innocence/trauma, influenced by the movie The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Lastly, the centerpiece is a tree, representing growth with the phrase “LV USELF” (love yourself) and a city burning behind it. With the extreme uses of symbolism and words, I tried to make this piece feel like layers that the audience needs to pick apart to get the whole meaning. As mental health and well-being, this piece could be complex but beautiful once learning that it makes you, you.

The Blind Eye, construction paper, pen, color pencil, and pencil on paper 45.72cm x 60.96cm

For my Chopped: Art Edition Project, I have gotten the element of shape (2-D Figures) and the principle of pattern. In this artwork, I have chosen to imitate a piece such as that of Bisa Butler, who in her work tries to convey a message about the black community and their representation in the world. I tried to do this by conveying the Cold War/Red Scare that had happened during the Pop Art movement and how consumerism and capitalism had hidden a lot of the corruption of society that had happened in that time. In the sunglasses, I have chosen an eye pattern to represent the watchful eyes of the media and the citizens as racial segregation, the Red Scare, and overall panic of atomic bombs unfolded in front of their eyes. But, because of Pop Culture and the flashiness of that time, many people have turned a blind eye to such atrocities. So, I then made the background like a child's bedroom wallpaper consisting of airplanes and bombs. The background is also lightly colored to the point where, using flash, it seems almost unrecognizable.

Night Fire, acrylic and canvas, 40.64 x 50.8cm

In this piece, I tried to imitate Van Gogh’s painting, Vase with Fifteen Flowers for my study on the Post-Impressionism Art Movement. From my Process Portfolio Page that I created, I listed the characteristics of the picture: it was monochromatic, the vase and wall were outlined to make the objects pop out, and the brush strokes were very much defined. So, in order to have the brush strokes pop it better, I chose to paint in a darker color since my phone camera is really great at focusing. I think that some challenges that I had when painting this was the choice of hue that I should use for everything, especially since the paint all seemed to be around the same shade. Also, the flash on the camera made the really light blue look white instead of light blue, and the blue-green looks more green than blue.

In Honor Of, acrylic on canvas, paper, 20.32cm x 30.48cm

In our 10 minute “Brain Dump” of how our 2020 went, I talked about the passing of my grandpa and how he has made a huge impact on the person that I’m trying to be. In order to illustrate that, I used a copy of the eulogy that I wrote for his funeral and cut out specific words in order to express the relationship that we had. In addition, since he, and my other grandpa, who also passed away and had such an impact on me, served in the military, I decided to create a memorial piece which incorporated red tulips, white daisies, and blue delphiniums.

After Laughter Comes Tears, colored pencil, acrylic marker, drawing paper, 18” x 24”

Within this piece, I tried to convey identity and self-worth. Lately, I feel like a lot of my artworks deal with not only self-discovery but also how grief changes a person. In order to illustrate that, the figures, loosely based on myself, are hollow shells of what they used to be. The rainbow liquid draining from their heads symbolizes identity and the idea of even though they feel hollow inside, the world around them is encouraging them to express their true selves. This then leads to the writing and the use of eyes. In Japanese, the writing states “After Laughter Comes Tears”, which represents changes, and the eyes themselves represent the outside forces telling to figures that it is okay to change.

Unity & Love (Danger), acrylic on canvas, paper, 45.72cm x 38.1cm

For my Comparative Study, I had focused on the study of Humanism and the innate inability to truly connect with one another. At least with this painting, I took the approach to an extreme to just show my thought of not being able to connect. I truly think that it is chaotic and very detrimental to us. Because of the divisions of humanity, I had also decided to use 2 mediums, one without color or detail, and the other a vivid mess. In addition to this, I wanted to also hide the message of “Danger” from the people because I wanted to also illustrate that we can be ignorant of our biases and the damage that we cause to one another. This is further illustrated by the drawing of the neighborhood being cut up so each person/family is in their own world, utterly ignoring the chaos around them and deciding to put themselves and their neighbors in harm's way. Also, something that I found interesting was that when someone viewed the painting without context, it is also pretty controversial. Therefore, the audience would need to read the Rationale of this painting to see why I made such a chaotic piece.

Rebirth, magazines, newspapers, sharpie, hot glue, 18” x 24”

Within this piece, I had tried to wrap up the idea of self-discovery. I had first started the series with the traumas of the past, coping in the present, and hope for the future. To illustrate this, I had used phrases of “Nostalgia”, “Spirit”, and “Crown” to separate each into its one section in the piece. “Nostalgia” depicts the ideas of death, sadness, and grief. “Spirit” conveys creativity, reflection, and beauty. “Crown” shows rebirth and new beginnings. Although they are all separated in the piece, they each have hands in each of the levels that are reaching out or pointing to the center. This then symbolizes how even though things may be bad in your past or present, that doesn’t mean that there can’t be potential for the future.