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| Untitled |
Most of my work has some sort of landscape and space set in
reality. This quarter I have been focusing on using texture and organic shapes
to create drawings that will express how we see the world and interact with it.
For example in this piece the landscape in the background becomes broken into
segments. Because of the form in the fore ground with its abstract central form
the potential issues are hidden.
Although I have a primary interest in existing sceneries is
driven by a desire to record the world as realistically as possible I find
myself attracted to modern art. It is works like Aaron Douglas’s ‘Aspects of
Negro Life: From Slavery Through Reconstruction’ (pg. 1064 Stokstad) that
attract me the most. The use of color, texture, shape and form in his work
reminds me of this layering affect in breaking up the overall form in segments
that are one overall.
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| Aaron Douglas’s ‘Aspects of Negro Life: From Slavery Through Reconstruction’ |
Each space in this work is leading into another making his
work a cohesive peace. It is overall a portion of reality mixed with a fantasy
of the ease that would be created by the artist to “commemorate the
Emancipation Proclamation of 1863”(pg. 1064 Stokstad). This painting is both a commentary on a huge
social change in the United States but it is also work of fantasy.
While his work was speaking to the thought pattern and
jubilation that would have accompanied a political and social struggle, my work
is just being to try to speak to how we need to observe and respect the natural
world. Color is a huge step for me in
art and something that I am working on. I really appreciate how the warm colors
of Douglas’ work bring the piece together while representing the feeling being
expressed by the figures. We the viewer sees them dancing and playing music.
From left to right they are marching from slavery to freedom, although the
figures are layered in color making the figures seem to be fading into the
past.
You can see the world in its entirety at work as a whole in
Douglas’s painting. In my drawing you can see that parts of the world is
exposed while others are forever hidden.
This is because although we can see the world as a whole in our daily
lives we rarely if ever deal with it all at once. The world is too big to do that. That does
not mean that we should not try.
It is a modern thought that we should treat nature with the
respect it deserves and learn to look at it in a new light. Nature and man both
deserve freedom. For man freedom has come and is celebrated while for nature
that time has yet to come.
I think that Douglas' piece has a little bit of a geometric feel, especially with the yellow concentric circles included in the composition. In that sense, I can also see how this type of art relates to the piece that you included at the beginning of your post. Both pieces have an interest in shapes and geometric forms.
ReplyDelete-Prof. Bowen
I liked how your piece appears to have windows and through the windows you grasp onto another image as you related to the Douglas piece. The colors really add to the dramatic in his piece and I'm curious what yours would say if it were in color.
ReplyDeleteBoth works also have a lovely sense of movement in them. I think I have seen this other work previously in person and didn't notice the landscape effect until I saw it posted here. I like that effect you give to it.
ReplyDeleteDouglas's work, while warm, is also dark, the darker undertones allowing the viewer to remember the trauma and pain suffered by African Americans throughout history and even still today.