Artist Statement
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My portfolio project explores the theme of societal standards of women, presenting this in a set of three- triptych. Within this theme, I have chosen to focus how women are negatively presented in society, for example through the media. I used a range of artists to present this view as an emotive experience for the viewer, but also to endure the impactful message about their negative representation. Both of my chosen artists use a variety of techniques, such as background to emphasise the subject in their pieces, as well as having the subject themselves distorted to depict a message to the viewer. I would like to show this in my own work but manipulate it to show the representations of women, using the impactful and emotive techniques of these artists.
I have been influenced by the artist Anthony Neil Dart, who presents his artwork in a surreal expressive way, through photography and digital media. He shows this through pieces like ‘Voyager’ in which a woman is presented in a vulnerable state, with her back exposed to the audience and her arms clenching to hide her chest. Behind her is a contrasting element, a golden sunset and a scenery of snowy mountains and trees. Beneath are a variety of lines that represent a path, or some sort of journey with numerical sequences, that seem like dates, pinpointed in certain areas of these lines- which could represent locations . I particularly like how Dart uses a single pop of colour in his piece, such as the yellow sunset, whilst the remainder of his piece is in black and white. You can see this in my work by the way I have merged photoshop and photography to recreate his inventive art pieces, with a small pop of colour in each piece. I have also been influenced by the artist Alex Contreras, who focuses more on the subject in his art piece, rather than an impactful background. Contreras uses digital media as well as photography to create his pieces. He shows this in his work through pieces such as a woman sitting in a white wedding dress, yet her appearance shows a less happy occasion. Her hair is perfectly done up with a heavy jewelled crown on her head. Her neck and shoulders are exposed by the dress and her arms are clenched close to her chest, as if she’s concealing herself from the viewer. Her hands blotched with pink and yellow marks that could represent some sort of bruising, questioning where and who they came from. Her identity is also concealed as its stretched down and melted towards the bottom of the piece. I especially like the melting, loss of identity element in Contreras piece, as it fits well with my theme. Contreras would allow me to link that distorted and identity crisis women face due to the unrealistic portrayal of women in the media, into my work. You can see this in my work through my use of photoshop, such as using the liquify tool to create that melting element from his artwork.
To further my project, I took photographs in the style of my artists. I captured photos and videos of acrylic paint in water, to create similar background to Neil Dart. I also took photos of my classmates to recreate that vulnerable state of women in Contreras work, as well as later edit them through the melting faces. The photos and videos allowed me to combine these elements to create a digital masterpiece. Photography was a big part in my project and helped me bring each component of both artists together in a sophisticated yet creative way.
For my development work, I will create around 3 pieces for each development to incorporate triptych and rule of three. I decided to merge the ink photos, videos and the photographs of my classmates. Then adding animated elements and more colours and designs to the background. I will create a purely digital piece, in which I will use photoshop to bring everything together.
My final piece will also include 3 pieces labelled “Pressure, Posture and Perception”. Words that associate with the standards of women, but will include Darts poster type backgrounds, and Contreras’ individual in the piece being impacted- through a melting face or a disconnected part of the body. This will also be done using photoshop.