Blockprint
Exhibition Text
A nymph is a magical womanly creature from Greek Mythology. I created the likeness of a nymph through my blockprint piece which is meant to stand for something much broader, beauty standards. I chose to create the image of a nymph because a nymph is a mythological creature of extraordinary beauty. Although this image of a nymph that humans have created is one that exaggerates female beauty, it is of course unrealistic and just something of a fairy tale. In real life, there are such things as "nymphs" and I see them as females who wish to exhibit typical and sometimes unattainable beauty standards by altering there appearances.
Meaning Behind The Piece
The significance of physical beauty is meant to be unveiled as well as belittled by my piece that represents how vanity can corrupt the mind and perception of beauty. The image displayed is that of a womanly creature with horns, fangs and seductive, cat-like eyes. This relays the message that the urge to feel beautiful can torment a person and ruin their mind. The piece is meant to reflect my views on how vanity can tarnish the soul and create a new being born of envy, greed, and superficial desires. This sort of being is one that holds a lot of negativity in their outlook on society, and that prioritizes physical beauty above more important human traits. The creature depicted in this piece is not a human being, but some sort of monster. I attempted to create a character that obtains physical attributes that are sought after by society. These attributes include, a clear complexion, a nice facial structure with high cheek bones, bright eyes with large, voluminous eyelashes, a gorgeous smile with luscious lips, and defined eyebrows. The monstrous traits that the creature displays are it's horns, fangs, and bizarrely shaped pupils. Traits such as these are meant to represent the aspect of beauty that causes people to lose their sense of humanity by diverting from the organic, nitty-gritty reality and imperfection of it. It is a sad that many young girls aspire to look like the the unrealistic portrayals of beauty that social media, television and magazines present. This can lead to feelings of insecurity and dissatisfaction with one's exterior appearance.
Experimentation
Planning
Roy Lichtenstein
Roy Lichtenstein is known for his cartoony, comic book-like art style that really stood out as artworks of the American Pop Art movement. His most iconic work of art, Crying Girl, was used as the inspiration for my piece. I utilized a similar face structure as the one presented in the piece and I even included a hand gesture in the corner like the one in the painting.
Roy Lichtenstein is known for his cartoony, comic book-like art style that really stood out as artworks of the American Pop Art movement. His most iconic work of art, Crying Girl, was used as the inspiration for my piece. I utilized a similar face structure as the one presented in the piece and I even included a hand gesture in the corner like the one in the painting.
Alphonse Mucha
Mucha was an Art Nouveau painter whose art revolved around female beauty and presented images of females in a manner that enhanced the idea of women being like beautiful creatures. His painting also uses intricate patterns that revolve around the females that he painted to embellish the piece.
Mucha was an Art Nouveau painter whose art revolved around female beauty and presented images of females in a manner that enhanced the idea of women being like beautiful creatures. His painting also uses intricate patterns that revolve around the females that he painted to embellish the piece.
My greatest inspiration for this piece was the appearance and music of Marina Diamandis. Her music perfectly embodies vanity and issues that pertain to beauty and stereotypical femininity among adolescent girls. The songs by her that inspired me the most when creating this piece were " I am Not a Robot," "Teen Idle" and "Girls". While music was the inspiration behind the meaning of this piece, visually my piece is meant to be a combination of American pop art by Roy Lichtenstein and the works of Alphonse Mucha from the Art Nouveau movement. Both Lichtenstein and Mucha typically paint attractive females and have art that focuses on the beauty of the female figure. Lichtenstein's peculiar style is more cartoony and bold while Mucha's art possesses a touch of realism along with intricate patterns and small vivid details that surround the subject of the painting. My art piece presents a somewhat cartoony style like Lichtenstein as well as the ornamental and visually stunning aspects of Mucha's that center around the beauty of females.
Planning Sketches
Process
1. To begin the process, I first created multiple sketches to choose from for the design of my block print. I put into consideration the complexity and how compelling each idea was for me. The sketch I chose to base my block print design was a sketch of a nymph that I made during one of my classes. I liked how the design had qualities from both art nouveau paintings as well as comic book like pop art.
2. The next step was to shade the back part of the paper on which i drew my sketch with graphite from a pencil. This facilitates the process of tracing my design onto the linoleum which I had to carve. Once the back is shaded, I then place the part of the paper that is shaded facing the linoleum and then I trace along the lines of my design to make the design appear on the linoleum.
3. After the design has been traced, I carve into the linoleum using a carving tool. Once the design has been fully carved into the linoleum, it can then be used as a stencil to print onto paper.
4. To create a print I had to use the following tools: ink, ink roller, smoothing tool, newsprint, pan
First I used the ink and ink roller to spread ink evenly across the surface of a pan. Then I spread the ink onto the actual linoleum design.
After, I laid a piece of blank white paper on top of the linoleum and covered it with news print.
Finally, I used a smoothing tool to firmly smooth the paper onto the linoleum. I pressed the smoothing tool against the paper and rubbed for about four minutes. Then I removed the paper and unveiled my creation, a beautiful,fresh, new print.
2. The next step was to shade the back part of the paper on which i drew my sketch with graphite from a pencil. This facilitates the process of tracing my design onto the linoleum which I had to carve. Once the back is shaded, I then place the part of the paper that is shaded facing the linoleum and then I trace along the lines of my design to make the design appear on the linoleum.
3. After the design has been traced, I carve into the linoleum using a carving tool. Once the design has been fully carved into the linoleum, it can then be used as a stencil to print onto paper.
4. To create a print I had to use the following tools: ink, ink roller, smoothing tool, newsprint, pan
First I used the ink and ink roller to spread ink evenly across the surface of a pan. Then I spread the ink onto the actual linoleum design.
After, I laid a piece of blank white paper on top of the linoleum and covered it with news print.
Finally, I used a smoothing tool to firmly smooth the paper onto the linoleum. I pressed the smoothing tool against the paper and rubbed for about four minutes. Then I removed the paper and unveiled my creation, a beautiful,fresh, new print.
Reflection
Admittedly, working with this new medium, linoleum and relief ink, was very difficult. I had struggled a lot in carving the linoleum, and even harmed myself accidentally on several occasions throughout the process because it was quite hard to handle the sharp tools that I used to do the carving. Although the process was arduous and even frustrating to execute at times, the end result made me overall proud of my efforts.That's the great thing about working hard, the satisfaction and feeling of accomplishment that is felt once the task is complete.I was especially happy with how this piece turned out because it is beautiful and visually pleasing and interesting in the way that it inquires many intricate patterns and small significant details that work together to present the image that i foresaw at the very beginning of the process when I was planning it all out. The only aspects of my final piece that I wasn't satisfied with were the very small details that didn't turn out as clean or defined as I imagined they would be. More specifically, the mouth and eyes were the parts that could have definitely been improved. I was expecting more defined-looking lines but unfortunately, because I found carving quite difficult, especially for smaller details, was not able to deliver the high expectations that the piece had potential to meet.
Connecting to the ACT:
1. Clearly explain how you are able to identify the cause-effect relationships between your inspiration and its effect upon your artwork
2.What is the overall approach (pov) the author (from research) has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
3.What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
4.What was the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
5.What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
2.What is the overall approach (pov) the author (from research) has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
3.What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
4.What was the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
5.What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
Sources
http://www.theartstory.org/artist-mucha-alphonse.htm