"Soft Self-Portrait with Grilled Bacon" by Salvador Dali shows how a face can be interpreted in ways that are almost so abstract, you wonder if they can still be considered portraits. Dali is famous for his surrealism, and with this painting he showed that even the most straight forward topics can be completely manipulated. It conveys a message that a normal portrait would not have been able to.
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Jenny Saville is notorious for her paintings that defy normal standards of beauty. I admire the way she stepped out of the box with her self portrait, by not conveying the most "pretty" version of herself. Her style of painting is also one I enjoy, with larger brush strokes creating a blurred but still very realistic look.
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My Self Portrait
I went through A LOT of trial and error to get to my final product. When i started,i wanted to paint one realistic representation of me with normal skin tones. It wasnt going well and i didn't think there was enough interest. From i knew i wanted there to be more than one focus, and i wanted to incorporate primary colors. After painting the two faces, i had to figure out how to unify them but not take away focus from them. I started to block out colors for my hair, but it took too much attention away from the faces. I restarted the background, this time with a lighter color and more subtle lines. It unified the faces while not taking away too much attention. I took risks by having an idea and going for it, but not really knowing what was going to work out. Luckily i found an idea i liked in the end.
Metamorphosis
This piece by Octavio Ocampo uses two different objects to
create one face in the negative space. I like how it isn't the classic idea of metamorphosis with one object transforming into another. The first thing i noticed was the face, which is surprising because there isn't actually a fact there, just birds as features and horses as hair. |
This image by Margaret Switala is a more traditional metamorphosis, but is very well done. The peel in between the frog and the clementine make the transformation seamless, and connect two things you would never think look alike.
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My Metamorphosis
I began this project with the intent of using paper and creating a sculpture that transformed the paper back into a tree. As i went along with the project, my ideas changed as i saw what was possible for me to do, and what was the best way to execute my idea. The idea of having the face as the base of the tree is meant to show human consumption of trees. I used wire and plaster to create the structure of the face, and paper pulp to add detail. After adding the branches to the head as hair, all of the different colors were harshly contrasted. I solved this by spray painting everything white to unify it and make it look more like plain white paper. I really enjoying how this project came together, as well as being able to make a social statement at the same time.
Social Commentary
Both of these social commentary images are by the same artist, Pawel Kuczynski. They play on the ideas of global warming and social media consumption. The first image shows that social media can be the only connection we have to the outside world. It can make us feel close to people even when were completely cut off and have no idea whats really happening. The next is a depiction of global warming that shows the destruction of habitats. Its an ironic image that shows how far species have to go to survive. I admire how Pawel could portray these large concepts with relatively simple images, but make the story very clear.
My Social Commentary
When thinking of ideas for this project, the concept of trash and its effect o the environment was very important to me. Creating an ocean out of trash was a way to symbolize the toll that human waste has put on the environment, and it also allowed my to upcycle in the process. I completed the project by using only plastic materials. The background is a plastic sign covered in plastic bags. I then used a mesh material to weave plastic bags and create definition for the waves. I then places bottle caps in a wave like pattern that you could see at the surface of the water. The image does not come through as clearly as i had hoped, but it does still serve the purpose of drawing attention to an issue I care about.