Final Piece #1

For my first piece, I started off unsure of where I wanted my concentration to go. I had an idea of what I wanted the main focus to be: people. I think it is really important for us as artists to be able to weave in a deeper message into our pieces; I feel like the most powerful way to connect with an audience is to be able to provoke some sort of emotion or deeper thought process within each individual. Art is not what we put on display, but every person’s unique interpretation of our story.

Through experimenting with this piece, I was able to focus in on the identity of my overall concentration: ironically, due to my struggles trying to settle on a specific concept, my concentration became identity. I know that personal identity is something that everyone has some difficulties in finding, so I wanted to leave my art open-ended in a way that allows my viewers to choose their own interpretation of its meaning.

In this piece, I wanted to disclose a specific emotion of unrest by manipulating the paint in a looser style and being selective in my choice of color. I do admit that the background became a lot busier looking than first intended, however, I improvised in using that to help drown out the figure of the girl subject; I think it really enforced the idea of a lost identity. I made red, and the warm hues in the skin tones, the dominant color in this piece, because I wanted to portray a tormented, almost violent feel. Red can be a color of many meanings: passion, love, pain, regret, brokenness. Whatever feeling my viewers feel is completely in their hands. How they identify the color crimson, due to whatever thoughts and emotions that lie behind it, is their personal preference.

“I SEE CRIMSON”