This project was about how social context is used in fine art. From the original presentation and list making, I discovered I wanted to look at the thought of escaping reality, as opposed to being inspired by things such as politics, media and people. I have always had an interest in this subject and how people escape in different ways.The piece I chose to present was a mask I had made using simple materials such as cardboard and paper mache. I also painted it with acrylic and feel I successfully combined both making and painting together. I attatched it to the wall with clear thread to one nail tack in the wall, this makes the mask stand out from the wall with no other distractions.
I started looking at various ways of 'escaping reality' and came across the culture of The Shamans. I have had an intrest in this culture and it was a perfect opportunity to research this more. They are a community of people who believe in contacting animal spirits to help them answer questions about everyday life, something that we would use the internet for or even just watching the news. This fascinated me and so I focussed on the animal side of things even more. My first idea was to simply draw people with animal heads, with the head relating to whatever their apparent animal spirit is. I liked this idea and so decided to experiment with different ways of drawing and painting, using mixed media and thinking about my technique and skill.
Carrying on with the theme of animal spirits and animal heads on people, I started to research both animals and taking photos of people with animal masks on in different positions. Me and my friend wore boar and elephant masks, experimenting with angles, colour and movement which actually relates to Shaman rituals. Looking into the meanings of each animal and an animal spirit was really interesting and actually found out that the Boar is the most important animal in the Shaman world, so I started to focus on that mask.
This was one of the successsful images from experimenting with the masks. I used this to draw from numerous times, improving each time. The pose is not straight on and gives a slighty eerie feel to it, escpecially with the head facing downwards. I feel this image says a lot about what I am researching as well as having elements of humour and social context.
I went out to various locations around my home town and took photos of animals to draw from. This was to imrpove my drawing technique and get as accurate to the animal as possible. I could have started to look at skulls and the actual form of various animals, bone and muscle structure. This is something I could look into further after the project.
At this point I started to concentrate on painting after the research I had done. I tried painting on different surfaces, using various types of paints. I found practicing really helped my technique and so painted and drew as many heads/ people with animal heads as I could. I started to worry at this point that I was losing touch with what it was I was trying to say with the painting and so decided that if I was adamant to stick with painting I would paint a person with an animal head so the audience would have more of an understanding of what it was I was trying to get across.
Using my favourite image from the photographs I painted it on a bought canvas, large scale. I enjoyed painting this and spending time on the detail. I do find it difficult to know when to stop adding that detail, but with every time I draw/paint I get better. A tip I got told was to make the canvas myself as then I have control on every aspect and a nicer quailty surface to paint on. A challenge was getting the texture of the velvet dress right, to get the effect I did I used white emulsion paint. I ended up using the emulsion a lot as it gives a dream-like effect on the colours which fits in well with the strange concept of having an animal head. There wasn't much else for me to develop further using this idea as this painting was my favourite but I felt it wasn't strong enough to put up for assessment.
I took a step back and looked at what it was that I actually liked about the images I took and was painting and the main thing was the mask. So I decided to try make a mask. Another thing I like to do is make and craft so combining this with my love of painting could work. The Boar is an important animal in the Shaman world so stuck with that as a starting point. I wanted to use simple and easily accessable materials as I didn't have much money and time. I really enjoyed using cardboard and paper mache, sculpting and creating a form with such simple materials. Making my own mask linked to the artist Marcus Coates who was a major influence for me during this project. I could develop this idea further by making more masks and even spreading out into performance like Coates, dressing up as animals and 'connecting with spirits'.
This was a major change in what I wanted to do originally and I think it really helped me with my work and the piece I chose to present. It combined both 3D craft with my skill of painting.
Strengths-
Painting, drawing, craft, time management
Weaknesses-
Deciding which direction to go, stubborn on what media to use but then to discover it was better to go with 3D.
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