I SEE LIGHT
EXHIBITION TEXT
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PLANNING SKETCHES
First step of the self-portrait "I See Light" is to create planning sketches.Since my inspiration is fauvism, I create three sketches and have different spots as to where different color will be painted in. I am still undecided as in I will have my glass on or off because it will be a big different with the glass on or off. But I think that to truly portray myself, then I should leave my glasses on because that is my identity. So my next step is to test out the poses and take portrait photos for painting reference.
ARTISTIC INSPIRATION
For my self-portrait "I See Light" painting, the inspiration came from Fauvism movement. Fauvism is the first 20th century movement in modern art roughly around 1899 to 1908. The Fauves, aka Wild Beasts, were a group of french painters that emphasize on artist's personal expression. Fauvism can be regarded as the combination of cubism and expressionism as artists tend to use bright color to express emotion. Henri Matisse became the leader of the group with painting such as "Green Line" in which he used warm colors to express the emotional state. This artwork inspired my process of self-portrait as I plan to incorporate warm intense primary color to express my emotion during painting. Fauvism inspired me to express my emotion with color. In this portrait, warm colors are being used such that they are being shown as independent element from the canvas and space. This also helped to inspired my process as I plan to incorporate the use of separating color to show its independent element but also to express myself with color. One other inspiration for my self-portrait "Sensation" is from "Sunset in Venice" by Monet from impressionism movement. During this movement, artists believe in expression through color and light. In this piece by Money, he has an adequate amount of blending from different warm color to show contrast. I took this piece as my inspiration as I plan to use the bright warm color and blending brushstroke that feather out the contrast between two independent color. These two inspiration combine would create an artwork that relies greatly on expression of emotions and the use of bright warm color with the use of blending technique from impressionism style.
EXPERIMENTATION |
PAINTING PROCESS |
For my self-portrait, I spent a decent amount of time on experimenting the style of fauvism and how my portrait would looks like. By using Adobe PS, I manipulated the photos of myself by adjusting contrast and saturation to make my piece looks a little more like fauvism for reference but it turned out that increasing saturation and contrast did not really eliminate the noises within the image so it was quite difficult to use those images as references. Fauvism was a little more flat and has no space within it. So I experimented with acrylic and water color on the fauvism painting style. I preferred the look of the water color because it resembles more of fauvism than the acrylic because colors are independently on their own. The acrylic experiment has a little more blending in certain areas and also have visually texture of brushstrokes which can be a value to my project. However with the acrylic, the hues aren't bright enough so that was something that I had to change when painting my self-portrait because with fauvism colors should be bright and warm.
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First, I had an image taken of myself in portrait style. I then begin making my canvas using materials from my art class. The process involves stapling the frame and canvas together. The size of the canvas was 3 feet by 3 feet. After putting the canvas together, I began to gesso the canvas. To avoid a messy floor, I gesso the canvas on an easel. This was an important process because I had to make sure that I gesso every part of the canvas so that it will not warp and become disproportional. When the canvas is dried from gesso and harden, I painted the canvas with a dark blue background to make sure that no canvas will show after painting my self-portrait. Next I painted the background of the fauvism portrait style with green, violet and orange. The three hues are not blended together, but rather have a rough edge against each other. After painting the general background covering the majority of the canvas, leaving only a small part in the center blank for my portrait. Using the projector, I trace my face onto the canvas using pencil and white color pencil to make it more visible. The color that I primary use were yellow, green violet and blue. Using fauvism style of patchy strokes that show texture and unfinished blend to paint my portrait. I used mostly warm and bright colors to show contrast and saturation between the colors.
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CRITIQUEMy self-portrait "I See Light" shares many similarities between my inspirations of fauvism and impressionism. My portrait show the painting style of fauvism as there is no space between the details and the portrait appears to be flat. The painting show bright and warm colors that are independent and are not completely blended in with other pigments. "I See Light" also share the same principle of impressionism which is the expression of emotions. There are also differences as well between "I See Light" and my inspirations of fauvism and impressionism. My self-portrait show a little bit more blending comparing to portrait by Henri Matisse. My work also does not capture light, whereas in impressionism it is important to capture color and light. The portrait of Madame Matisse by Henri Matisse looks like a rough pastel color. In contrast, my self-portrait has a smoother transition of color however remained independennt.
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REFLECTIONThroughout the process of self-portrait, I've learned many things from overcoming difficulties. First when gesso the canvas, I learned that it is better to lay the canvas on the ground so that it will not warp when it is drying. With the background, one thing I would change is to paint the background with brighter and warmer color such as yellow instead of dark blue. I learned that using a heavier base paint would be easier for the style of fauvism because it is thick and heavy that would help the texture to show. It is important that some of the tones are not completely blended together because the colors are independent in fauvism. Throughout the whole process of painting, I mostly used a flat 8 or 8 paintbrush. A flat brush size 8 would make wide brushstrokes that show the paint that is not completely blended together which is the style that I was aiming for. One thing I would do differently for the background is to paint a larger portion because on the right side of my neck, the background can still be seen. For the style of fauvism and impressionism, I learned that attention to details is not on the top priority but rather the expression of emotions as the artist is painting. Personally, I really like the chaos of bright hues and brushstokes because it really show personalities.
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MEANING
“I See Light” self-portrait revolves around the theme of perspective and self-expression. As Dan Brown, an American author once said “Sometimes a change of perspective is all it takes to see the light”. Two person can look at the same apple but perceive it differently. Many times I've consulted with my family and friends to ask on their opinion about me getting earrings. Quite a handful said that they wouldn't look good on me. Others said that it might be different but I should try it out. With this piece, I would like to explores the idea of understanding myself through self-expression. As a teenager, I’ve went through many phases and those are my perspective of what I wanted to be. Perspective can change, in fact it should always change. We should always alter our perspectives because nothing is permanent. By looking at things with different angles, it’s like a 3D image, you will get to see the whole picture. To apply that to my life, I always try to see things in different perspective as I often try to change things up. I believe that I will not be able to see the full version of myself if I don’t alter perspective about my life. Being able to fully understand myself, self-expression is essential because for those who are able to express themselves, they are free. I will not be able to see myself if I can’t harmonize my body and soul; this notion urges me to look at the world from the different lenses. Because tomorrow, it will be my angle and I might caught a glimpse of myself.
ACT CONNECTION
- The painting style of fauvism and principle of expression in impression had a great impact on my piece. As "I See Light" shows a color scheme that is warm and independent with no space and depth. The brushstrokes show the essence of impressionism as it is the product of my expression.
- The culture of fauvism focuses on the use of warm colors as being independent with no space. The brushstrokes are vivid and have distictive texture. Impressionism believes in the capture of light and color to express certain feeling and emotions at the moment.
- I've made a generalization that fauvism is based on the idea of expression from impressionism but instead through colors. Impressionism might be the movement during the enlightment on the important of emotions in art.
- For my inspirations, I've searched for the idea of expression and emotions. As my piece explores the theme of perspective and self-expression. I think that fauvism and impressionism would contribute to the interpretation of the self-portrait.
- I've made some inferences that the artists during impressionism came to understand the important of emotion and how to express it through element of art. Many of vivid colors were being used for painting, especially in fauvism as to maybe conveys a happy energy.
REFERENCES
"Sunset in Venice, 1908 by Claude Monet." Claude Monet. N.p., n.d. Web. Nov.-Dec. 2016.
"Fauvism." - New Possibilities for Color in Art. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Nov. 2016.
"Fauvism." - New Possibilities for Color in Art. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Nov. 2016.