International Baccalaureate Diploma Exhibition
My body of work has developed from a wide range of ideas and inspirations, all relating to my connecting theme of the celebration of the “sight gap.” I created this term as it draws attention to what we can and can’t see. Also what we think we see and what’s actually there. The “sight gap” is what I’m most interested in and inspired by as an artist. This so-called, “gap,” can be created due to conflicting views or opinions of what we perceive as true. The Majority of my exhibition is based on portraiture because I want to draw attention to and bridge the “gap” between the way people see themselves and others’ perception of them.
I take photographs as my main source material to capture gestures and expressions. I want the viewer to experience something unfamiliar by witnessing how I see myself and how I see other’s, and bridge the gap by comparing it to their own view of that person.
In my exhibition I emphasize the relationship between myself and the viewer. I take incidents from my own life to support my theme. I realized there’s always an element of myself in every portrait I create. In my painting “Loss of Innocence” I started out by painting a face and realized it started to have many similar features and characteristics as myself and I like the spontaneity of the piece.
I began IB art by focusing mainly on how portraiture influenced my relationship with people upon their viewing of my portrait of them. I spent much of my time drawing commissions for people and achieving someone’s likeness always seemed comfortable to me. I discovered that the “sight gap” is at the root of the relationship between the viewer and I. The relationship fundamentally changes when the viewer experiences something other than themself. Upon observing my exhibition, I want the viewer to not only experience the “sight gap” but also my process of growing as an artist. The left of my display shows more traditional and realistic pieces like “Oma and Opa” and “Gray Hair don’t Care.” These pieces show the beginning stages of discovering my artistic identity.
“Loss of Innocence,” marks a frustrating time for me as an artist in the beginning of my senior year. As I attempted to find what I wanted to do with my life, multiple art schools reviewed my portfolio. I soon found out that not many schools want to see commissioned work. But how your work communicates something about you.“Loss of Innocence,” was a coming of age piece for me. My exhibition fundamentally and aesthetically changed and from there on was directed towards my identity. For this reason I decided to base my whole exhibition around this piece as it is located in the center of my exhibition. My intent is to have the viewer's eye focus to this piece first as it has shown me what it means to be an artist, by channeling my anger and struggles and translating these emotions on a canvas using expressive colors and sporadic brushstrokes.
Having the ability to render and draw space and people tells me that there's more to be seen and considered everywhere. The way I am starting to deduce what is important and what should be prescribed into the visual practice feels far more infinite than what I’ve been using it for. Drawing isn't just trying to render someone to their exact likeness but also learning how to capture their character, and with that, creating a composition. Understanding the implications of looking at someone can create an excited and curious life. The right of my display shows more contemporary or abstract pieces such as “Hetero”, “Wake”, and “Selfie.” Where I use myself as the subject to experiment with different styles and materials.
My theme is also prevalent in “Hetero,” which is a reflection dealing with people mistaking my sexuality. I embrace the “sight gap” of how people can perceive me because it contrasts with the way I see myself which is shown through the color blue on my face. Blue is a color that I easily identify with, and occurs often in my exhibition.
A Gleam Across the Wave
A self portrait drew from a picture of myself. My hair flows into waves of blue water to symbolize my past experiences of the waters of Lake Michigan that are still with me.Those experiences play a major role in who I am today. People should never lose connection to nature. The Lake is my connection, I spent so much time staring at the waves as they fascinated me how mysterious and ominous the waters are. The blue in my eyes symbolize the gleam across the wave that I will never lose sight of.
Oma and Opa
I created this portrait of my Oma and Opa to honor them shortly after their deaths. I created a time lapse video in the process, then I animated the drawings to show them blinking and moving. This was my way of “bringing back to life.” I presented this compelling video to my school, and I captivated the audience with an expression of love emotion. I did this to visually depict that their spirits will be with me my whole life, even though I may not realize it.
Gray Hair Don't Care
My mom has resonated beauty her whole life in her own way, in today's age the features of a woman are emphasized so greatly. I created this piece to honor my strong mother and her beautiful gray hair, which represents the love for her four children, and all of her worries and struggles that she’s put behind her. My intent is to show my mother's strength through her gaze. For years she debated letting her hair go gray, I encouraged her to let it go and not to worry what people think.
Chuck
This drawing was inspired by photographer Manny Robertson, who uses a technique called “cyber mysticism” to show abstraction within a realistic drawing or photograph. My intent was to show the relation between the “abstract form” and “reality.” I also made philosophical connections from Plato’s Allegory in the Cave and how the prisoner’s idea of reality was influenced by his life within the cave. This shows the gap between what people think as “real” versus what people perceive as “true.”
Obstruction of Sight
Why is it that most high school students draw mostly eyes? If you can draw the perfect eye then you are considered an “artist” in high school. I used this notion to create a series of pen drawings that are inspired by the artwork of Adam Riches. These drawings obstruct sight one way or another. Whether it be obstructing the eyes of a figure or obstructing the view of something with different line patterns. This shows the maturity in what I am attempting to convey, to embrace what we can’t see.
Loss of Innocence
My entire life I’ve been trapped by the familiarity of drawing portraits from photographs. This painting is a realization of what has been holding me back, realizing that art is not about having the ability to make a drawing looks like a photograph. I painted this self portrait from memory. It uses primary colors, the most basic colors that we learn early on, to symbolize myself restarting a new artistic life with a blank slate and breaking free of what I have come to be so comfortable with.
Talking Trees
This sculptural assemblage piece I created a series of faces from small pieces of driftwood found on the beach. I drew inspiration from the unique pieces of wood. We can create a human likeness out of the most simple things. The most beautiful things in life are directly in front of you, looking at simple things in a new way- is the point of this project. There’s a sense of peacefulness in the freedom of opening your eyes to the wonders and elements of nature by simply walking on the beach.
Selfie
Something we can never know as humans is how we come across in the world. The selfie is a part of this investigation, it’s a validation of experience. But can we ever know this? This piece is an exploration of this yearning to know how I’m experienced, through a selfie. My face is fragmented to show how every view or picture of us is distorted with bias or illusion. I made myself look tired, sad and older in the painting, to contrast how people usually try to make themselves look in selfies.
Awake
My Intent of this piece was to try digitally adding color to a drawing of mine. I attempted to show myself undergoing an awakening. It looks as though I’m emerging from something that is made to look like my hair. I show myself looking in multiple different directions as I “awaken” to show that I am fully aware of my surroundings, so I can absorb as much as I can as I discover the road ahead of me. This is a call to stay awake and not get caught up in the habits of your everyday life.
Hetero
This piece is inspired by the artwork of Frank Lopes. It marks a time in middle school when I painted a bouquet of flowers and my peers began to mistake my sexuality. Unfortunately this is something that I’ve always had to deal with. Here I embrace what people often think about me, because no matter what, that’s not the way I see myself. The flowers in my hair symbolize the flower painting I made in contrast to my favorite color blue, which is known to be a masculine color.
Don't Touch Don't Blink
My final piece in my exhibition marks an unfortunate historical event that suddenly brought my high school career to an end. The sad look in my eyes evokes the struggles during these times. It’s a message to appreciate your health, and to “not blink.” Something can be taken from you right in front of your face. You may never be able to get those experiences back. A headband pulls my hair out of my eyes to ensure that I don’t blink and take full advantage of every moment as if it were my last.
To view the process pages of each piece visit this link
