Exhibition Text |
Curatorial Rational |
Full Exhibition Photos:
Curatorial Rational:
My vision for this exhibition is for my artwork to hang in the order I created it. This way people will be able to see my artistic journey throughtout high school. The artwork that I have made follows my stream of consciousness and my emotional states of progression. My art started to embody me more and more with each project. There is a transition from dark hues to lighter more colorful hues as my experiences of coming out of the pandemic started to assimilate to normal life.
My painting Life and Death is the first large scale painting I had ever done and it was a moment in my life where we were reading Murikami in english. The idea of endlessly droning on in life till death was a common theme in Murikami’s work so naturally these ideas passed over into my work but I put a slightly more positive spin on it. Looking at the last painting I made for my exhibition, Squirrels, there are many hues and the composition is dynamic contributes to a joyous theme. My acrylic painting skills had vastly improved so in Squirrels I attempted a new medium, gouache. My mindset was also less focused on the idiocracies of life but rather the beauty of nature and curiosity.
Most of the themes found in my works center around the human condition. The things that humans do/feel that are essential to life that often go unnoticed. My block print Lost in the Universe hits on the ambiguous feeling of not having place. Humans try to find meaning to life but sometimes feel lost. Similarly my Self Portrait embodies mystery and the feeling of never quite knowing someone. All of these emotions are common but my art displays them in a visual way.
With the way my exhibition is displayed one of my artworks is always staring at the viewer. This is meant to be slightly unsettling while complementing the imagery I have created. One of my most disturbing paintings is Smile, the depiction of teeth grosses many audiences out. The goal of Smile is to point out the societal pressure to always be happy. This stemmed from people always telling me “You’re always such a happy person”, while that is true I have other emotions and sometimes I do feel like the only emotion I can portray is happiness. The zoomed in nature of the teeth forces the audience to feel many emotions at once while they are confronting what is actually behind a smile. The viewer is subconsciously interacting with my art furthering my theme of the human condition.
When a viewer walks past my work I want them to wonder about me and feel like they just went on an adventure of the mind. Once again my art starts out dark with existential themes that transition into lighthearted open minded depictions of life. This transition mimics my emotional states throughout junior and senior year. The transition out of the pandemic left me closed off to the world but as time progressed I have become more of a social butterfly. In the same way my art follows this and my Hybrid Hero is the catalyst for this. My Hybrid Hero was about establishing self-confidence and power, once that project was completed I took more risks with my art. This exhibition ends on a positive note and shows my extensive progression as an artist and I can not wait to create more art.
My painting Life and Death is the first large scale painting I had ever done and it was a moment in my life where we were reading Murikami in english. The idea of endlessly droning on in life till death was a common theme in Murikami’s work so naturally these ideas passed over into my work but I put a slightly more positive spin on it. Looking at the last painting I made for my exhibition, Squirrels, there are many hues and the composition is dynamic contributes to a joyous theme. My acrylic painting skills had vastly improved so in Squirrels I attempted a new medium, gouache. My mindset was also less focused on the idiocracies of life but rather the beauty of nature and curiosity.
Most of the themes found in my works center around the human condition. The things that humans do/feel that are essential to life that often go unnoticed. My block print Lost in the Universe hits on the ambiguous feeling of not having place. Humans try to find meaning to life but sometimes feel lost. Similarly my Self Portrait embodies mystery and the feeling of never quite knowing someone. All of these emotions are common but my art displays them in a visual way.
With the way my exhibition is displayed one of my artworks is always staring at the viewer. This is meant to be slightly unsettling while complementing the imagery I have created. One of my most disturbing paintings is Smile, the depiction of teeth grosses many audiences out. The goal of Smile is to point out the societal pressure to always be happy. This stemmed from people always telling me “You’re always such a happy person”, while that is true I have other emotions and sometimes I do feel like the only emotion I can portray is happiness. The zoomed in nature of the teeth forces the audience to feel many emotions at once while they are confronting what is actually behind a smile. The viewer is subconsciously interacting with my art furthering my theme of the human condition.
When a viewer walks past my work I want them to wonder about me and feel like they just went on an adventure of the mind. Once again my art starts out dark with existential themes that transition into lighthearted open minded depictions of life. This transition mimics my emotional states throughout junior and senior year. The transition out of the pandemic left me closed off to the world but as time progressed I have become more of a social butterfly. In the same way my art follows this and my Hybrid Hero is the catalyst for this. My Hybrid Hero was about establishing self-confidence and power, once that project was completed I took more risks with my art. This exhibition ends on a positive note and shows my extensive progression as an artist and I can not wait to create more art.