Time Bomb
Exhibition Text
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Planning and Artist Connection
Inspiration
Le Sommeil (Sleep) depicts a soft face skin with non-existent body. The sleeping face is being supported by crutches. The painting suggests the fragility as nothing seems to be stable on its own, and even the dog needs to be supported by the crutches. Sleep conveys a sense of vulnerability and fragility of the subconscious mind as the head is supported by crutches, which could be blown over at any moment. The painting is overshadowed by a subtle blue light, thus giving it a dreamlike quality. His work contains an essence of the Pleasure Principle by Freud, which suggests that, “all animals try to prolong their lifespan by defending all threats of death to their particular species”. The conflict between external force and destruction being directed at one's subconscious mind of survival expose our vulnerability to mortality.
I plan to incorporate the dreamlike quality from the two paintings above with subjects being illogically depicted. The medium will be in acrylic paint, which provide a smooth and realistic texture. The background will be made universal to simulate the dream world and broaden the context for interpretation. Similar to Surrealism, symbols will play a major role in the interpretation of my commentary on America’s health.
I plan to incorporate the dreamlike quality from the two paintings above with subjects being illogically depicted. The medium will be in acrylic paint, which provide a smooth and realistic texture. The background will be made universal to simulate the dream world and broaden the context for interpretation. Similar to Surrealism, symbols will play a major role in the interpretation of my commentary on America’s health.
Experimentation |
Process |
First, I gathered all of the oil and soft pastels that I have. I experimented with these pastels on different paper textures such as coated and uncoated. The coated and uncoated papers differ in its smoothness and ink absorption. The coated paper texture glossier and is less absorbent, whereas the uncoated paper texture is rough and more absorbent. I noticed that the oil pastels are richer in tone and heavier to draw with, whereas the soft pastels are chalk-like that produce powder when drawing and can be used in realistic drawing. The oil pastels will make better medium with impressionistic piece. Since I am going for a realistic look, the medium of this piece will be on soft pastel colors and uncoated paper texture. I practiced with creating color gradation using soft and oil pastels. The oil pastels create chunky texture and is harder to blend because if I press too hard when coloring, it will create excess chunks. In contrast, the soft pastels are easier to blend and fix if mistakes were made. I also experimented with blending using Q-tips and adding water. The powder turns into watercolor after using wet Q-tips and paint brushes. The soft pastels produce a vibrant colors with a flat surface, however by adding water I could darken the value of some areas to create depth. For the style of the meat grinder, I practiced with a variety of design for the meat grinder. I intend for the design to be simplistic so that it could be floating in the air without looking cumbersome.
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To begin, I gather the materials including a 24”x30” canvas panel with acrylic paints together. For this painting, I will primarily use brushes of size 2, 14, and 6. Next, I sketched my idea onto the panel using my practice drawings as reference. For the background, I used a ruler to separate the sky from the ground; the ground will be a third of length to the whole panel. First, I started with the dull blue sky by working from light blue to darker blue. Since it is spacious in the sky area, I used the size 14 flat paintbrush. The first layer of the sky looks curve and unnatural, so I shift the lighter blue another inch and randomize different shade of blue on the top. Next, I worked on the meat grinder with light shade of grey using size 6 paintbrush. After working on the grinder, I began the first layer on the heart using darker tone of red. Then I waited for the first layers to dry and take a break, so I get a new perspective on the painting to improve. I’ve noticed that the heart and the meat grinder have no shadow, therefore they seem to be floating in the painting. To bring them to the ground, I added shadows to the top right side of both objects to give a sense of placement. I also added more darker brown by the bottom to bring in more value to the ground. Finally, I added a layer of yellow oil on top of the heart.
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CritiqueThe surrealist piece Time Bomb shares numerous similarities with my inspiration from Sleep and The Persistence of Memory by Salvador Dali. Similar to Salvador Dali, my piece has an essence of surrealism movement because it portrays ideas and objects in an illogical composition to spark conceptual analysis into the piece. Time Bomb and Salvador Dali’s works both have a dreamlike setting with the usage of dull blue with the intention to blurs the line between reality and the real world. However, there are also some differences between my piece and Salvador Dali’s works as well. Sleep and The Persistence of Memory are oil paintings on canvases, whereas Time Bomb is an acrylic painting on canvas panel. Salvador Dali’s works are a commentary on the fragility of our memory and a question to our identity. In contrast, my piece is a commentary on a lifestyle of modern society in America. In another word, Dali’s works are commentary on social construct, whereas my piece could be viewed as a political and social commentary. Furthermore, in Sleep and The Persistence of Memory, many interpret them as a self-portrait of Dali, and that they are a reflection on his own vulnerability to mortality. In comparison to my work, I used symbols such as heart and meat grinder to represent the spirit of America and its influence by industrialization of fast food.
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ReflectionThroughout the process of researching and creating, I’ve learned many things about how the medium work and how to improve to projects in the future. After experiencing with different kind of pastels, I’ve learned that oil pastels are meant for an impressionistic look, while the soft and hard pastels could give a realistic drawing. Both mediums could get messy and dirty if I am not being careful with my hands, which made it easy to stain different areas of the white paper. The soft pastel bars are easily broken into piece, therefore I had to pay attention the pressure when drawing. I’ve also learned the rule of layering the soft pastels. Lighter tone pastels should be applied first before darker pastels because lighter tone pastels are hard to show up in darker background. I've experienced a setback with the project because I decided to change the medium of the project from soft pastel to acrylic. I was unskilled with the soft pastel and the water tend to be absorbed to the paper when I tried to blend the pastel together with a wet Q-tip. To start my project over, I used acrylic on canvas panel (24" x 30"). The acrylic paint took longer to blend. However, the surface of the canvas panel is water resistant, which created a smooth and wet surface when paints were applied. If I were to redo this project, I would select a different paper material that would work best with pastel chalks. I would also make sure that lighter pastels are applied first. I would also include hard pastel as a medium to heighten the detail and saturation of small edges.
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Meaning
Time Bomb is a commentary piece about diet in America its consequences. Fast food is a huge part of the American culture because it is the cheapest and most convenient option for those that do not have much time and money. It is clear that there is a strong correlation between the effect of wealth on health diet. Those who have more money would be able to afford more plant-based diet. Whereas those in the lower-class would have less time to cook or afford fresh produce. There is a serious question about ethic when it comes to the way corporations manage their animals, farms, and contracts. It would be better for the environment by reducing the animal's’ CO2 emission into the atmosphere and animal cruelty. Fast food corporations will have less power to manipulate the economy as they spend billions of dollar to lobby the government and nonprofit organizations such as the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the American Heart Association, and the American Diabetes Association. The metallic grinder could be seen as a symbol of industrialization that have led to the fast food industry. In a sense, the grinder in the piece represents the powerful corporations that have their tentacles wrapping around our lifestyles. The heart is a symbol for life and spirit of America. I made a statement by making the heart dripping in fats to comment on the unhealthy eating lifestyle in our modern society. Fast food commercials flood social and entertainment medias. The lifestyle we live represent who we are. There is much knowledge to gain about a culture from the way we eat, therefore I question if this is the culture that we want pass onto our future generations?
Connection to ACT
- My piece is inspired by the surrealist movement that emphasizes on the element of fantasy, unconscious, and Dada. I incorporated the element of dreamlike quality through dull blue tones to blur the line between reality and unconscious, so that we could approach our reality in a new perspective.
- Salvador Dali is a surrealist artist. He often makes realistic paintings that would question our reality to comment on the fragility of our memories.
- I’ve made a generalization that during the surrealism movement, artists often make social commentary and political arts with common themes such as war, industrialization, and identity.
- The Central idea around my inspirational research is surrealism that comment on social construction of reality. I was inspired to make a dreamlike piece that would blurs the line between reality and dream.
- I’ve made an inference that during the time of the Great Depression and World Wars, the elements of surrealism emerged to allow the audience and artists to portray the reality in a magical and illogical order.
Work Cited
“Salvador Dalí Biography, Art, and Analysis of Works.” The Art Story, www.theartstory.org/artist-dali-salvador.htm. Accessed 16 Sept. 2017.
“MoMA Learning.” MoMA | Salvador Dalí. The Persistence of Memory. 1931, www.moma.org/learn/moma_learning/1168-2. Accessed 16 Sept. 2017.
“The Persistence of Memory, 1931 - Salvador Dali.” Www.wikiart.org, 1 Jan. 1970, www.wikiart.org/en/salvador-dali/the-persistence-of-memory-1931. Accessed 16 Sept. 2017.
“Le Sommeil (Sleep), 1937 by Salvador Dali.” Dali Paintings, www.dalipaintings.com/sleep.jsp. Accessed 16 Sept. 2017.
“Sleep.” Sleep by Salvador Dali, salvadordaliprints.org/sleep/. Accessed 16 Sept. 2017.
“MoMA Learning.” MoMA | Salvador Dalí. The Persistence of Memory. 1931, www.moma.org/learn/moma_learning/1168-2. Accessed 16 Sept. 2017.
“The Persistence of Memory, 1931 - Salvador Dali.” Www.wikiart.org, 1 Jan. 1970, www.wikiart.org/en/salvador-dali/the-persistence-of-memory-1931. Accessed 16 Sept. 2017.
“Le Sommeil (Sleep), 1937 by Salvador Dali.” Dali Paintings, www.dalipaintings.com/sleep.jsp. Accessed 16 Sept. 2017.
“Sleep.” Sleep by Salvador Dali, salvadordaliprints.org/sleep/. Accessed 16 Sept. 2017.