Final Project Artist Statement

For my final project, I chose death as my big idea. Instead of focusing on the many forms of death, I decided to illustrate death as an ever present being inside each one of us. I was very influenced by this image:

This image depicts death as almost universal, and I believe that it is. It is present somewhere inside each one of us and waits for the right moment to show itself. I liked the transparency of death because it gives the feeling that death is both present and absent at the same time. In my two images, I use this transparency to show death.

In my images, I try to show the different sides of death. In one of them, death is almost like a predator that can only be seen in the reflection, waiting inside its prey until the time is right. In the other image, I try to show death as a universal entity, as the person is only silhouetted and his identity can only be seen in the reflection. The different illustrations of death can also be seen in the colors of the images. The black and white reflection in the first image is largely inspired by Gustave Dore's works. I used the water reflection technique in both of my images.

Blog 4

My big idea for the final project is the same as for my midterm: death. I plan to continue exploring the many forms of death while focusing on changing the connotations of the images. I want to change the way people perceive certain forms of death, as there are both good and evil versions. To do this, I will use a water reflection technique in PhotoShop to display a good image of death into an evil form and vice versa. This project should communicate the meaning that death is not always good or bad. It should be perceived as an ever changing material.

Interestingly, the idea of reflection came to me when I saw Harry Potter and the scene with the Mirror of Erised came up. I'm also influenced by Gustave Dore's work on the forms of death and the anime series Death Note. To further research this idea, I will look at different forms of death by Gustave Dore and also look at how reflection is incorporated into artwork in general.



The PhotoShop technique that I will incorporate is the water reflection technique.

Quiz 4 Description

The first poster is from the movie Mean Girls. The targeted audience for this movie is teenage girls. The poster has a genrally girlish feel created by the dominant pink and purple. Also, the fact that there are only girls in this image creates a strong sense of feminism. Their poses and clothing gives the impression that they are popular girls which caters to the audience who wants to be like them. I changed the poster to make the male characters more dominant and target teenage males.
The second poster is from the movie S.W.A.T. The targeted audience for this movie is teenage males. The military clothing and weapons create a feeling of violence, something young males like. Also, the smoke and helicopter in the background makes it look like there is a war going on, which caters to young males as well. The main colors, black and brown, give a taste of the dirt in war.

Midterm Images

Blog Assignment 2

Inspirational Artists

Miron Zownir: This artists appeals to me mainly due to the dark nature in his photographs. His big idea seems to be on suffering, which relates to death because many aspects of death deal with suffering. More importantly, all of his images are in black and white, which to me contributes to darkness and fear. What intrigues me is the question of why Zownir chose to so all his images in black and white. I am liking this style a lot and may incorporate it into my final project.




http://www.mironzownir.com/


Gustave Doré: The main reason I like this artist is because he personalizes death. His big idea is the same as mine: death, and his objective is to make death life-like. He paints death in many shapes and sizes and like zownir uses black and white. I am curious about the many forms of death, and Doré has given me many new ideas to branch from. 

http://dore.artpassions.net/

Midterm Artist Statement

My big idea is death. Specifically, I chose to explore the many forms of death. So what is death? Some say it's a living, breathing being. Others say it is just a spirit, a soul. Yet there are those who claim that death is simply an obstacle in the eternal path we must all take. I believe that death is all of the above. Through my research into the big ideas, death seemed to me to be the most diverse. By looking at Gustave Dore's work and the way he portrays many forms of death, I decided that I would try to manipulate death's many forms. I have explored the relationship between life and death and have tried to form a picture of it. Death, however, is impossible to summarize with just one picture and requires multiple interpretations. Therefore, I wanted to portray death as being both good and bad. I took a good image of death, the angel, and turned it evil. I also turned an evil image of death, the reaper, and made it more pleasant. The visual cues that I use to portray death include the contrast between living things and dead ones, darkness, skulls, and fear. The idea of death is important to me because it is one of the most feared subjects. No one has experienced it and lived to tell the tale, yet we all wonder what death is like. I hope to portray my own interpretation of death through my research.