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- All Subjects: Painting
- Creators: School of Art
This creative project examines identity, autonomy, and social hierarchy by manipulating the traditions and iconography of female figural painting. Female identity and autonomy is often marked by a tense relationship between the self and the body. Socially acceptable self-expression of one's behavior, body, and desires is strictly regulated within a set of often paradoxical parameters that repress abject, 'animal' behaviors. This series of three paintings reacts to this culture of restraint and repression by exposing the body to nature once more, finding catharsis in annihilation and the destruction of boundaries between the Self and the Other. The human body is depicted as a host for animal life cycles, exploring the duality of creating and supporting life while simultaneously being destroyed. Animals that embody socially unacceptable behaviors are brought crashing back into the human form, reuniting the idealized, contrived female figure with an expressive, imperfect nature and sense of self. Hybridized animal-human relationships in the paintings break down the falsely hierarchical distinction between 'humans' and 'animals' that distances and privileges humanity from that which is considered primitive. By releasing the human body to the uncomplicated consumptive and reproductive forces of ‘trash’ animals in these paintings, the work challenges how the worth of existence is socially defined, instead affirming that all life has some inherent value distinct from its transactional worth to society at large. This celebration of the grotesque shakes off repressive social constructs, offering a unique form of catharsis and agency.
traditional practice, is constantly challenged by new ideas, technologies, societal
currents, and people. I believe it is my role to continue this tradition and introduce
my interpretation of the disciple that is painting.
In this series titled “What Our Bountiful Mother Earth Has Given Us”, I
explore topics of materiality, sacrifice, and the relationship between artists, laborers,
and the Earth. I began this investigation with an adoration for fruit- the signal of a
successful harvest, the budding of fertile land. To capture this organic abundance, I
decided to use the actual pulp of the fruit to depict it. The sacrificial act of using the
flesh of the fruit created an artifact that strives to be, in the end, greater than the
sum of its’ parts. At its’ core, painting is the alchemy of combining natural elements.
To do so, I began by sourcing as much of my chosen fruit as possible,
specifically choosing fruits that require the labor of migrant farm workers in
California. I experimented with using tools such as a blender or food processor to
crush the fruit, but ultimately decided that using my hands and feet to pulverize the
fruit to a paintable pulp allowed me to experience being a component in the process.
Next, I reduced the liquid content by boiling it down to concentrated medium,
adding salt as a preservative measure. Testing out heavy canvases and thin
starched cottons, I eventually chose the lightest fabric I could find, cheesecloth, to
allow the medium to carry the weight of the piece, rather than the support. I
suspended this fabric between two easels and began painting my pulp concoction
onto both sides in multiple layers, allowing it to dry in between. I repeated this
process multiple times until the cloth became stiff and only a small amount of light
could filter through it. I began the same process using another fruit, until I had all
three completed.