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I’m Free
Marina Nebro
Acrylic, collage
2012
I’ve been asked by the Macaulay Messenger, my college’s online newsletter, to write a “blurb” about this piece of artwork. How they chose this one, I have no idea, but I was extremely flattered that they thought to contact me for a little bit of an explanation.
This painting was probably one of the last ones I worked on in my senior year’s AP Studio Art class. It was my thirteenth piece in my twelve piece collection – being a very punctual student, I had some extra time to give myself multiple options for my final portfolio. It might help to understand what my concentration actually was, and then to go on and talk about this particular piece.
This is the official statement I sent into the College Board: My concentration, through the use of nature, architectural, personal, and religious motifs, tries to evoke the struggle, comfort, and final salvation that one might go through in one’s journey towards spiritual enlightenment while staying at Inisfada, a Jesuit retreat home.
Every single piece in my concentration was based on photographs that I took at Inisfada, a medieval style mansion in Manhasset. Towards the end of the year, I was more courageous in experimenting with different painting and collaging techniques. One thing that I’m not very mastered at is painting in background trees and shrubbery, and so I thought I’d try something a little more abstract and illusionary to hint at nature, but not actually have to paint it. For the background of this painting, I used a dripping technique – extreme amounts of water led to the unpredictable dripping of colors. This technique also brings the main objects into focus. I think I’m most proud of the bird house – the shading and small detail. The bird is pure white and is actually just a piece of cut out newsprint that I pasted on the canvas. I wanted the bird to be featureless and pure to represent the “final salvation that one” reaches at the end of a tough, spiritual journey. The clean white contrasts greatly with the dull colors in the rest of the picture – salvation and comfort against all odds.
Though the painting is based on a photograph I took, it is a fairly universal image – a bird house, trees, and a bird. It can represent anything to anyone.
Marina B. Nebro
Comments
Comment from Silvia Reiter - November 27, 2012 at 2:40 AM
I enjoyed seeing it and reading how you came about creating it. The bird house with the bird complement each other to convey a spiritual as well as a positive environment.
Comment from marinanebro - January 1, 2013 at 3:38 AM
If you visit my homepage, there is an envelope icon in the left sidebar. This icon will lead you to an e-mail subscription form.