Death
Exhibition TextDeath is the end, or is it a new beginning? Nobody knows where you'll end up after you die whether it be Heaven, Hell, or somewhere else. This is the depiction of one man's judgement after death, stuck in the somewhere else. Heaven is within his reach but he is being held down with ease. Death is merely the beginning to a whole new story.
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Death
Acrylic on Canvas 61cm x 91cm November - December 2017 |
Planning
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The overarching theme for my work has been my life and experiences. As this is the last project my goal was to depict the end... Death. Death is the end, literally. These drawings are my attempts to depict death. The first two drawings are focused on death more literally by taking a living hand and having it decay into just bones. This seemed too zombie like which wasn't my goal. It could be viewed as an end and a new beginning, but zombies aren't the new beginning I was going for. The final sketch is a depiction of heaven and hell during judgement. This is a much better depiction of the end and hits the message I was trying to depict much better.
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Inspiration
https://www.artbible.info/art/large/309.html
http://www.italianrenaissance.org/a-closer-look-michelangelos-painting-of-the-sistine-chapel-ceiling/ http://www.history.com/topics/renaissance-art |
Inspiration for this piece came from the Renaissance era. Many of the works of this era have a focus on religious subjects. They were often paintings created for churches or other important buildings. Some depicted religious figures while others depict important religious events such as judgement day.
One of the most famous painting being Michelangelo's painting of the Sistine Chapel. This massive work depicted everything from the creation story all the way to the story of Noah's Ark. As he worked he decided he needed to make the figures larger and more expressive in their movement. these changes are definitely apparent within his work. Another Renaissance work that I drew inspiration from was The Last Judgement by Hans Melming. This tryptic depicts the final judgement of the human race where everyone is sent to heaven or hell. This is an event that is believed to one day happen which is different from the stories told through Michelangelo's mural. |
Process
ReflectionThis painting has a mix between realism and abstraction. The foreground is realistic while the background is abstract. This creates an odd contrast but the piece still seems unified. The hardest part was trying to paint a detailed body in such a small space. If I could redo it, I'd make the figure slightly larger and maybe exaggerate some of the features in order to get more detail in the work. My favorite part is the hand. It is bent is such a way that it looks like the creature is messing with the man or "pulling his leg".
CritiqueMy work and my inspiration are similar. I focused slightly less literally on the religious aspects. My inspiration came from pieces much larger than mine which allowed for more detail and a larger focus. My work focuses on the judgement of one man whereas my inspiration had the judgement and prosecution of many people. This doesn't take away from my piece though. The single man brings focus towards the idea of the end and death on a more personal level rather than a group event.
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I started this painting by sketching the hand. I drew a hand in the shape I needed and then drew in the bones. This kept the dimensions of the hand accurate and proportional without using the grid method. I then used a grid in order to get the dimensions of the body correct. I have never drawn or painted a full body before which made this a bit of challenge. Once these were finished, I began painting. The skeleton hand was created using a gradation from dark gray to white. This allowed for it to become more three dimensional rather than flatly laying on the canvas. I then created a skin tone and worked solely with that tone to create the center figure. It was challenging to get extremely detailed because the figure is only about 30 cm tall. I focused on shading areas of contour in order to bring the figure more to life. I found that he highlights and shadows are what show the detail rather than using line. These two subjects were the focus of the work.
In order to clean up the edges and freely paint the background I placed painters tape over the hand and figure. I then proceeded to paint the background as I wished. I mostly free handed this part of the work. I started with the mountains and blended the dark black into the bright red creating a boundary between the heaven and hell backdrops. I left the sky red and cut off straight into the clouded sky. The clouds were created by putting a thick layer of white over the blue background and shading the bottom into the background. The heavenly rays were created by blending yellow into pure white to create a highlight. This gave the appearance of the light intensity being extremely high. ACT Connection1. Clearly explain how you are able to identify the cause-effect relationships between you inspiration and its effect upon your work.
My inspiration lead to my choice in subject matter, religion/judgement day, and the more realistic style. 2. What is the overall approach (point of view) the author (from your research) has regarding the topic of your inspiration? The overall viewpoint was religious and the depiction of the end of time. It is seen as a good thing for some and a bad thing for others. 3. What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures, ect. while you researched your inspiration? Through the belief and understanding of religion there is a generally accepted understanding of situations which can be considered true beliefs. 4. What was the central idea or theme around your inspirational research? The central idea was judgement day and the end. It was focused on the beginning of the end as that is where we are in our high school career. 5. What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research? I had to make inferences on the style and understanding of the final judgement as I only know the story a little bit. I had inferred that there are some that look forward to it and there are others that fear the day to come. |