Wednesday, April 26, 2017

thesis

  1. I explore the pre-Raphaelite movement, which explores nature, celebrates a distinct romantic medieval aesthetic - evoking feelings of nostalgia with a Surrealistic edge – and emphasizes the fleeting beauty found in the purity of girlhood. Just as the movement advocates the return of the naturalistic era before Raphael, my art advocates for the return of the naturalistic era of youth by showing the disconnection the modern girl has with nature. Through the gradual desaturation of color in my portfolio, I display the gradual loss of connection girls have to the natural world over time.  
    2. To continue with the pre-Raphaelite theme of realism, I chose photography as a medium. My art observes the transition from girlhood to adulthood by using a symbolic shift in setting from natural to urban. From being submerged in flowers (C#2) to having a lacy shadow reflected on the face (C#10), I consistently incorporate a continuation of flowers to symbolize the purity found in youth. Through a gradual desaturation of color, my art explores the feeling of colorlessness that comes with urbanization. Beginning with spring colors of greens and pinks to emphasize elements of girlhood tied to nature, the saturation degrades into an eventual snowy whiteness with the juxtaposition of a red cape. As childlike pink fades to an adult red and fertile spring to deadly winter, the girl reaches an irreversible detachment from nature by becoming urbanized. My art warns of the dangers that urbanization brings through conveying themes of loneliness and detachment that appear in the later pieces. As I progress through the portfolio, I explore themes of death and decay: using fake/dead grass (C#9) and a digression of saturation using the element of color, ending on C#12, where I placed red against a white background. The peak of my exploration with the progression of life to death can be found in this piece's juxtaposition, (with the bloody red cloak place against an urban snowy background), using the season winter to convey the theme of death. Through the transition from spring to winter my art conveys themes of loneliness that accompany the adolescent death of girlhood.

Friday, April 14, 2017

art thesis statement

1. My concentration explores the short lived pre-raphaelite style, (which explored nature and celebrated a distinct Medieval aesthetic), and girlhood. Just as the pre-raphaelites advocated the return of the naturalistic era before Raphael, my art advocates for the return of the naturalistic era of youth. 
2. To continue with the pre-Raphaelite theme of realism, I used photography as a medium. My art is a series of images of girls in nature, from being submerged in flowers to having a shadow reflected on their face. I consistently incorporated a continuation of flowers and the color white in the beginning of my concentration (pieces 1-?) to symbolize the purity found in youth. As I progressed, I explored more with themes of death and decay: using fake/dead grass (pieces ?) and a digression of saturation, ending on #12, where I juxtaposed red against a white background. The pergression of life to death is best expressed in my final piece, where I juxtaposed a red cloak against a white background. The red cloak pays homage to the little red riding hood fairytale, where a girl was literally consumed by nature (the wolf) ending in tragedy.