When we were first assigned this project, I had a head full of ideas. A set of paintings…a short poem…maybe even a dance if I felt brazen enough. No matter how out there I thought the idea would be, in this class I learned that art is subjective. So I had a few months to plan…
And I’ll admit I did nothing until the last few weeks. Lately, I’ve been dragged back into the music scene. Music has always been a big influence on my artwork, and after visiting the Yoshitomo Nara exhibit at the Asia Society, “Nobody’s Fool”, that I talked about in class I earnestly wanted to see how I could convey my favorite genres into my art style. I listened to almost every CD I own and came up empty. That is until I went to a punk/metal concert last Friday at Irving Plaza. The entire show was a utopia for my imagination. Posters, CD covers, sets, and even drumkits were decked out in slabs of color, lines, and designs. It was then that the idea to make my own poster came to mind. The concept of a little girl (myself?) followed soon after and I found myself pulling out old baby pictures to get the face and body looking about right.
I don’t have much of an art background other than my own personal interests, but nonetheless I have an obsession with combining realism with fantasy. Once I started sketching, the face and finger gestures (rock on, devil horns) only became all the more obvious. My blended purple, pink, and yellow background was just an experiment with backgrounds I wanted to try.
The video was honestly the hardest part of the project to create after I settled on an idea. I was so grateful to have google and some youtube tutorials at hand to help me out and from there spent a few hours playing around with the iMovie features until I came out with something I thought featured my piece the way it should. I wanted everyone to see the process first hand…somewhat. It isn’t just an idea and then BAM! A picture magically appears on paper. It takes a good amount of time and concentration. At least when I’m drawing.
Although I was confident that the video would stand for itself, I was still pretty nervous to present my project in front of the entire class. I know for a fact that my classmates all possess an insane amount of talent, and I was intimidated by that. All of these different backgrounds were bound to outshine me. When I draw, it’s for me. I’m hard on myself concerning many other things, but hardly ever art. It’s the only thing I do that can be disastrous but it still makes me happy, no matter what anyone else thinks. So, when I was presenting, unfurling my poster of a dark eyed little girl spreading the message of rock n roll with her chubby little fingers, I tried to keep in mind all of the discussions we’ve had. The only thing I can do is show you my piece and hope that someone understands it, that it speaks to someone on any level.
I haven’t drawn in months, and I was glad I could use this assignment as a way to get back into shape, so to speak.
-Laura
P.S. I was listening to this album on repeat as I sketched. It’s incredibly versatile and kept me from driving myself to utter boredom in the graphite.
