Final Series

For my final drawing project, I have chosen to create a series of three chalk pastel, reclining nudes, a series which I have titled Blue Light. For each of the three figures, I have designated a color scheme and a variation on a bent-leg pose. Each of the figures also has a type of screen which they are looking at; one with a cell phone, one with a tablet, and one with a television. 

In my decision to create three pieces as opposed to more or less, I wanted the size of the pieces to feel approachable and documentary, while still being elevated above the level of a sketchbook drawing. This is a dichotomy I also aimed to capture in the combination of blended color and loose black and white line work. To me, three drawings felt relatable and as though the figures were independent of each other rather than the focus being on one individual or for all to be lumped into a large group. I wanted each figure to be a take on the millennial of our generation, the modern reclining nude. Where traditional paintings of the reclining figure seem to depict contentment or thought, my figures seem bored, distracted, and ordinary. There is nothing special or rich about these figures, they are the everyday person relaxed and engaged with nothing but their screen.

In my choice to use chalk pastel, I wanted to allude to the smooth blending of traditional renaissance paintings, while retaining the modern feel via the medium being used in a combination of techniques. Throughout my body of work, I tend to use a variety of vibrant colors and these drawings are no different. Done on toned gray paper, I hoped to not only offer the colors of the pastel a contrasting background to stand out on, but also isolate the figure in a space somewhere between light and dark. The figures are not in a stark white dream world but are not shrouded in or swallowed by darkness either. The colors of the figures were chosen over standard flesh tones so that any viewer may relate to one or more of the figures. They do not have identities, something which seems common on the internet of individuals being lost in the masses and being unable to be their authentic self. Ultimately, it is indeterminable to the viewer whether these are real people or the reflections which have become the avatars of real people, existing solely in a blank space between real and not.