Three artworks, Three plans
I wanted to separate this from my last post because it is more technical and I wanted for it to focus solely on the pieces and what I’m trying to do with them. I’m trying a new style of preparing paintings, something I never had time for in school and thought they would always improve my work if I did, so here is the little update on what I'm working through.
My plan for these paintings is to make them large, but the larger the painting the more space and technicalities need to be worked out: color pallets, perspective, writing, etc.
Digital self self portrait
My most exciting and text reliant piece to date (also my largest at a canvas stretched 40 × 30 ). I really like this idea of mixed media including computer parts and exploring what my digital self meant when I was feeling unhuman. Pretty straight forward painting wise; I just need to take references photos and edit. The thing that’s taking me the longest is the text I want to paint on the piece.
I’m including text and directly referencing Against the Written Word by Ian F. Svenonius, No Cop City, No Cop World, and research from Fictionesque; a youtuber I’ve started watching who’s doing a very helpful and informative journey of digital defiance. I want this piece to be more political, a focus on how corporations use us, how technology uses us, how we surveil ourselves in a heavily militarized surveillance state. Also included topics on individuality, loss of empathy, and worsening attention spans / less critical thinking and engagement.
I’m also trying to figure out how I want to include a reference sheet or even a further reading to take this research further. I thought of using a painted QR code that leads to a bibliography but it runs the risk of becoming obsolete in the future. still need to explore how I want to do it: footnotes? QR? this might take some editing in photoshop.
Doppelganger in the backseat
I have been trying to blend driving in America and liminality and for awhile I was trying an approach through billboards and miniatures, but it wasn’t blending how I wanted it to; to try again in the future. This one came to me constantly when I would drive I would think I would see a person sitting in my backseat through my rear view window and it would fill me with dread like I would feel when I would encounter my doppelganger.
This one is still in the early stages and I’m trying to figure out how I want to develop it further; specifically the style and what I want the view outside of the windows to be. But I do know how I want to position the viewer: like they’re the doppelganger/ interloper playing a part in it.
Trees / Pillars
My most sketched out idea; this one relies a lot on perspective. I want to make them very large. I’m trying to make a focus on Americas car dependent capitalist society with a full replace of nature for capitol gain un owned by the working class. A big focus on the lack and disconnect from the earth.
Focusing on color and contrast the top with be bland, neutral, and grey, with large contrast compared to the bottom of the trees full of life and color saturation. maybe even orange tone vs blue tone.
More recently I’ve been toying with the idea of including a painted poem on either side to describe more. I feel the two paintings on their own may not do enough to convey the ideas I want to. I’m loving the art movement of pairing text and painting; more specifically painted text. It would be one continuous poem broken up into two half’s to fit both sides of the main painting. Ideally splitting into the personal (left side of painting) that leads into the political (right side of the painting). I want to direct the poem to being back to nature.
I need to read more poetry and explore some writing before I can develop the poem further. Next will be a basic color study and getting the perspective right.
