Sunday, November 26, 2017
Hybrid Body
This class tends to challenge me to do art works that I never would want to do on my own. I've never been a fan of collage because it always felt too much like arts and crafts to me. Something about just gluing and pasting made it feel simple to me, even if what I was gluing on had more complex elements to it. I always felt like somehow I was skimping on the work since most of my pieces are all completely done by hand. However, I ended up really liking my piece and found it to be one of the more work intensive pieces I've done. I enjoyed working more with color and seeing where I could go with that as many of my works are in black and white. I started my research in nature as I knew I wanted to incorporate that aspect in with my body. I wasn't as concerned with the hybrid piece of it as I knew some interesting things could spring from that concept and there were many different doors I could choose from. I discovered the work of Johannes Stoetter first, examining how she manipulated the actual human body with paint to appear as animals and nature. I thought that it was an interesting take on 'hybrid' body as it technically falls under the description of meshing the two but not in the most traditional sense. I then turned my attention to Flora Borsi, an artist that uses her own body in photographs to mesh with the bodies of animals she's photographed. She actually uses makeup and photoshop to change her appearance in the likeness of whatever animal she chooses to incorporate. It was getting closer to what I was looking for but not quite. I wanted to go into more plant life for my piece in particular. I then found Nunzio Paci who paints parts of the human body in an anatomical sense but instead of using actual human anatomy replaces it with tree branches. He actually ended up being my favorite since he was the closest to the traditional form of pen-paint-paper art, so to speak. From there, Cal Redback and Liam Gerrad were the last artists I looked at, the former manipulating photographs to mesh with plants on photoshop and the latter using pen and ink to draw multiple animals meshed together as one, excluding the human body completely. I used elements from all of these artists including a few I decided on myself in order to create my piece. I started with the female body as she was going to be the main focus of the piece. I knew I wanted to add color so I decided on colored pencils to be my main medium. I knew it would be a challenge as I seldom choose to work with them. It actually ended up being a really great experience in which I learned a lot in the art of pencils. I then decided that I not only wanted to incorporate nature but also what was killing nature: the work of humans. I added in photos from National Geographic to add some more realism and then finally decided to add in a universal effect with the background. All in all, I'd say it was a success.
Hybrid Body - Andrea Oxley
For my hybrid body project, I wanted to explore the natural connection between a mother and her baby in the womb, arguably, one of the strongest forms of human connection to exist.
To begin, I researched artists or artwork in general that dealt with mother and child or pregnant women. There were a lot of pieces that used a tree and seed metaphor to explain the connection between mother and child. I kept searching, finding the same concept, and even made some preliminary drawings of pregnant women in a natural or tree-like color scheme to explore that theme. I was not happy with what I was doing, so I started over by taking mothers and children out of the picture and thinking about connectivity, what does it mean, how to we see it in our daily lives, etc.
In my public relations and advertising classes, we study A LOT about audiences and connectivity. We have to make digital marketing strategy plans or advertising campaigns that address a specific audience and come up with concepts that can be implemented in various forms within a company. We make maps to show how our content is connected, who we are reaching, and where everything is located. I think of connectivity on a regular basis in that way, a very digital way. It was then that I got the idea to represent the connection between mother and child in a digital or technological way.
I found it difficult to get all of my thoughts onto my drawing because of the strict requirements for this assignment. The piece had to be large, include collage, and include the inside of a body. I felt like a had a million ideas, but they didn't meet all of the requirements. That frustrated me. Perhaps I'll go back and create my other ideas another day. However, I did ultimately come up with a layout and plan. I decided to make linear and somewhat obscure sketches of pregnant women. I researched the work of Egon Schiele and liked his line work as well as his strange and obscure characters. To meet the collage and inside of the body requirement, I showed an inside view of the bellies of the mothers and completely removed them from the original paper so that they were their own entities. Later, I came in and connected the bodies of the mothers and the bodies of the babies with circuit board-like lines and designs. I chose to use a circuit board design because it is technological and by definition, it
mechanically supports and electrically connects electronic components using conductive tracks, pads and other features etched from copper sheets laminated onto a non-conductive substrate. It is arguably one of the most vital pieces in the creation of computers, phones, and other major pieces of technology because of its ability to connect one thing with another. In the same way, the connection between a mother and her child in the womb during pregnancy is one of the most vital times in a child and mother's life.
I decided to draw multiple bodies because I also wanted to emphasize the connectivity between pregnant mothers and women. Pregnancy (at this point) is something only a woman can experience and I find that to be something very beautiful and empowering. While the government might take away our rights and control our bodies at times, we as women still have this strength and ability that the patriarchy can't take away. The bodies in my pieces are not directly connected like the children are to their mothers, but they do overlap and exist within the same very intimate space. These bodies also do not have faces because I wanted to keep it ambiguous and relatable.
The color choices were very important to this piece as well. I decided to use two very different kinds of colors. I wanted to represent the circuit board-like line work in a metallic color that would stand out and give a digital vibe. However, I wanted to reinforce the "natural" aspect of the connection by implementing natural colors like tan and brown. The shades of brown to me represent natural substances like wood, dirt, skin color, etc.
I was challenged by this project, but ultimately I am proud of it to a certain extent and enjoyed exploring this topic and am considering implementing it into my final series. I think pregnant bodies are something we could address more in the art world and though I am not pregnant or never have been pregnant, I feel a connection with the topic and might want to explore it further.
References:
Artist - Leonardo DiVinci
Artist - Egon Schiele
Line Art Article
Prenatal Connection Article
Scientists Discover Children’s Cells Living in Mothers’ Brains Article
To begin, I researched artists or artwork in general that dealt with mother and child or pregnant women. There were a lot of pieces that used a tree and seed metaphor to explain the connection between mother and child. I kept searching, finding the same concept, and even made some preliminary drawings of pregnant women in a natural or tree-like color scheme to explore that theme. I was not happy with what I was doing, so I started over by taking mothers and children out of the picture and thinking about connectivity, what does it mean, how to we see it in our daily lives, etc.
In my public relations and advertising classes, we study A LOT about audiences and connectivity. We have to make digital marketing strategy plans or advertising campaigns that address a specific audience and come up with concepts that can be implemented in various forms within a company. We make maps to show how our content is connected, who we are reaching, and where everything is located. I think of connectivity on a regular basis in that way, a very digital way. It was then that I got the idea to represent the connection between mother and child in a digital or technological way.
I found it difficult to get all of my thoughts onto my drawing because of the strict requirements for this assignment. The piece had to be large, include collage, and include the inside of a body. I felt like a had a million ideas, but they didn't meet all of the requirements. That frustrated me. Perhaps I'll go back and create my other ideas another day. However, I did ultimately come up with a layout and plan. I decided to make linear and somewhat obscure sketches of pregnant women. I researched the work of Egon Schiele and liked his line work as well as his strange and obscure characters. To meet the collage and inside of the body requirement, I showed an inside view of the bellies of the mothers and completely removed them from the original paper so that they were their own entities. Later, I came in and connected the bodies of the mothers and the bodies of the babies with circuit board-like lines and designs. I chose to use a circuit board design because it is technological and by definition, it
mechanically supports and electrically connects electronic components using conductive tracks, pads and other features etched from copper sheets laminated onto a non-conductive substrate. It is arguably one of the most vital pieces in the creation of computers, phones, and other major pieces of technology because of its ability to connect one thing with another. In the same way, the connection between a mother and her child in the womb during pregnancy is one of the most vital times in a child and mother's life.
I decided to draw multiple bodies because I also wanted to emphasize the connectivity between pregnant mothers and women. Pregnancy (at this point) is something only a woman can experience and I find that to be something very beautiful and empowering. While the government might take away our rights and control our bodies at times, we as women still have this strength and ability that the patriarchy can't take away. The bodies in my pieces are not directly connected like the children are to their mothers, but they do overlap and exist within the same very intimate space. These bodies also do not have faces because I wanted to keep it ambiguous and relatable.
The color choices were very important to this piece as well. I decided to use two very different kinds of colors. I wanted to represent the circuit board-like line work in a metallic color that would stand out and give a digital vibe. However, I wanted to reinforce the "natural" aspect of the connection by implementing natural colors like tan and brown. The shades of brown to me represent natural substances like wood, dirt, skin color, etc.
I was challenged by this project, but ultimately I am proud of it to a certain extent and enjoyed exploring this topic and am considering implementing it into my final series. I think pregnant bodies are something we could address more in the art world and though I am not pregnant or never have been pregnant, I feel a connection with the topic and might want to explore it further.
References:
Artist - Leonardo DiVinci
Artist - Egon Schiele
Line Art Article
Prenatal Connection Article
Scientists Discover Children’s Cells Living in Mothers’ Brains Article
Hybrid Body
For my Hybrid Body project, I chose to draw a girls face with flowers growing out of her. I chose flowers directly coming out of her because they physically symbolize growth within a person. Throughout my life I’ve struggled through a lot of things, but it made me grow up in so many different ways and I’m so thankful for that. Due to my severe anxiety, I was in a really dark head space for a large portion of my life that I didn't think I could ever get out of, but through work and actively trying to change, I was able to get better. I fought to turn my thoughts and actions into a positive outlook; I was able to turn this darkness into beauty (ie flowers). Through it all I’ve learned that even through the darkest of times you just have to keep going and fighting and you’ll learn a lot from it in the end. Although it’s been really hard, I cherish that I now how to handle things and how to deal with different situations in a mature manner. I still have a lot of growing up to do, but I’m still proud of myself for where I am today.
As for the physical execution, I knew I wanted to incorporate nature right away, but it took some time for me to develop my final idea to execute. I created the girl's face using charcoal and created the flowers out of oil pastels. I used charcoal for the girl to represent the ‘bad’ in my life, and I made the flowers colorful to represent the good and the beautiful parts of life. I also thought the contrast between the vibrant colors against the charcoal looked nice and it draws the eyes attention. As for the background, I wasn't exactly sure what collage items I wanted to incorporate right away. It wasn't until I was looking for a certain book at my house when I stumbled upon a ‘how to draw’ book. This book centered around teaching how to draw and paint ‘the correct way’. It was so bizarre! It was explaining how to hold a pencil ‘the right way’, and how to create a piece of work ‘in the right way’. A passage from this book wrote “Art lessons should only be given to students who show talent and will pursue art in the feature”; as if there's a law that says only true artists are allowed to create art. Another passage wrote “People who can only draw abstractly aren't real artist” which completely demolishes and spits in the face of abstract artists. Another paragraph wrote “Real artist draw from their imaginations and don't need to copy things”, so apparently if you ever use an image as a reference point you're ‘not a true artist’. Anyways my point being is that this book angered me SO much because of its disrespect to art in general. My first instinct was to rip it up, so that's what I did. I shredded the pages and decided to use it as my works background. I then did the exact opposite of everything the book told me to do. I looked at pictures for reference points and I made my art abstract with this unrealistic ideal of having flowers growing out of a human body. I really liked the yellowish tone of the drawing paper behind the girl as I was drawing so I decided to shred parts of a book with a similar yellowish tone to put around her head.
I used a bunch of different artists and pieces for inspiration before even putting charcoal in my hand. The first artist that caught my attention was Brandy Kraft. Her flower paintings are stunningly peaceful in front of their dark black backgrounds. Kraft states her flower hybrid series represents human individuality along with human growth and death. Her works to me represented this sense of human metamorphosis through life. The second artist I found inspiration from was Nunzio Paci who created plant human hybrid oil paintings to demonstrate the connection between man and nature. His paintings consisted of trees growing out of a subjects face, neck, or chest. The cross between the pencil draw subjects with the dark oil painted trees are stunning and captivating. Travis Bedel, a San Francisco based collage artist created a series of anatomical collages that piece flowers and plants into organs and shapes of the body. Like Pacis, his work represents the relationship between humanity and nature. I thought his work was a unique spin on hybrid collages. The next two artists, Gesine Marwedel and Johannes Stoetter, are both performance artists who use their bodies to create animal optical illusions. They both painted their bodies a type of animal and positioned themselves to look most like that animal. I thought these were such a fun play on painting.
Sources
Hybrid Body
Jade Smith
Hybrid Project
Blog
November 27,
2017
I chose to draw a
hybrid of a hummingbird and a human being because my spirit animal is a
hummingbird, which suits me perfectly because I tend to seek out the good in
life and the beauty in everyone and everything just as they say the hummingbird
seeks out the sweetest nectar. I’m
especially drawn to the wings of the hummingbird because they flutter in a
pattern that is similar to the infinity symbol, which represents eternity,
continuity, and infinity. I decided to use the collage elements in the background of the works to bring in a different
texture and dimension into the pieces. I chose watercolor and watercolor pencils as my medium because they are softer and it make me feel calm and comfortable. I found inspiration for my hybrid work from
artists such as Ryohei Hase, Abby Diamond, Nunzio Paci, Lucien Rudaux, and
Nicholas Di Genova. The works of Ryohei
Hase, a freelance illustrator and artist from Tokyo, Japan, especially blew me
away. His work has been
featured on CD covers, magazines, games, and movies. Ryohei’s paintings evoke both darkness and
strength. I was mesmerized with his
beautiful creations because they are believable and they express so much
emotion. The background and the subjects
are extremely detailed. Abby Diamond is an illustrator from Pittsburg,
Pennsylvania whose work features imaginative creatures and beasts in ink and
paint. I was able to draw from her
beautiful watercolor birds done in pen, waterproof ink, watercolor paint and
dye. Nunzio Paci (1977) is an Italian artist
whose graphite and oil paintings combine nature and anatomy. He
draws inspiration from issues related to science and the environment and he is
especially concerned with anatomy and the relationship between man and nature. His work blends fantasy with reality and most often
features animals and plants while other pieces depict the body with several mutations. Lucien Rudaux (1874-1947) was a French
artist and astronomer who is infamous for his paintings of space themes in the
1920s and 1930s; however, some of his work features futuristic beings. I specifically like the colors and nostalgic
feel of his bizarre illustrations that feature creatures that are part human, part
animal. Nicholas Di Genova (1981)
is an artist who lives and works in Toronto who finds inspiration from anime,
comic books, and animal bodies. His work
done in ink and animation paints on Mylar is extremely detailed and powerful. I enjoyed this project because I feel most
comfortable drawing and painting animals because I connect with animals on a
spiritual level.
Ryohei Hase:
Abby Diamond:
Nunzio
Paci:
Lucian Rudaux:
Nicholas Di Genova:
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