In this mind as, you can see my initial thoughts. Now, some of the keywords have other links but the basis is there, and the most important words are circled. For me, the main subthemes here are "identity" and "anonymity" as the true face of man is only shown to certain individuals and we put up a mask when we go out into the world. Throughout this project, I am keen to explore the theme of duality as well as this.
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This is the link to my Pinterest board with images which inspired me, and most will be in the slideshow here or just click this button:
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1. Key facts
- he was a "modernist without portfolio" - American artist, born in Romania in 1914 (died in 1999) - worked mainly with The New Yorker 2. Quote Steinberg defined drawing as "a way of reasoning on paper". 3. Examples of work on the right 4. Key words and concepts People, portraiture, face, emotion, expression, hidden, anonymity 5. Written analysis In his work, Steinberg experiments with mask and identity as he photographs people wearing his creations. He makes these using paper bags, upon which he draws a face or an expression, and he then uses this to compose a scenery to capture in a photograph. I chose this artist because his exploration of anonymity and our "true identity" made his photographs appear very enticing as they conveyed a powerful message of us as a humanity hiding our true intentions behind man mad contraptions. What I like the most about his work is this use of the different emotions as his art style for the different faces is quite aesthetically pleasing yet a little haunting. His pieces were made during the 20th century so the images seem to be influenced by the style period as can be seen by the style and clothing. As well as this, the black and white filter and the composition create a portraiture feel and typically, if you were to have your portrait taken, you would be keen to show the best side of you. The idea of disguise is central to Steinberg’s art. In the world as he saw it, everyone wears a mask, whether real or metaphorical. People invent personas through clothing, hairstyles, furniture, and posture; cities define themselves by their architecture, nations by their icons. Key words: identity, emotion, geometric
In my artist response, I was trying to create a geometric mask portraying a quite cold emotion. I was inspired my Steinberg's work and his style when drawing on the faces, and I was particularly interested in the more minimalistic designs and I tried to emulate those when creating my mask. The process was fairly simple as I started with 4 A3 sheets of card/paper and measured all sides so that the papers would fit together into a regular cuboid. I also took into consideration the head size of my model to make sure it fit. I glued all sides together with multiple layers of glue just to be safe it stuck together. After the mask was made, I photographed it being worn, adding balloons later for a different feeling to the photos. Personally, I like the emotion that the mask portrays but to improve, I could've made the facial structure much more defined with darker lines and taken the photo against a background of a contrasting color. To develop this further, rather than the head be just a cuboid, I could have dents in it or maybe make it a different shape entirely. I would also make the expression much more defined.
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Artist practical response |
1. KEY FACTS
- French sculptor whose work was influenced by Abstract Expressionism, Pop Art, and many other artistic movements - she started as a painter yet moved to sculpture after seeing Colombian artifacts 2. QUOTES - the artist feels that she doesn't "have much to say." 3. EXAMPLES OF WORK - (to the right) 4. KEY WORDS AND CONCEPTS - figure, identity, color 5. WRITTEN ANALYSIS - in her artwork, I can see sculptures which are made out of resembling people and figures. However, instead of creating actual bodies, the whole body except for the head is simply a box most of the time. In certain sculptures, she uses bright colors, typically primary colors. The lighting is very simplistic, except for some photos where a spotlight is used. She used wood, acrylic and random found objects. Her technique is unknown as she hadn't disclosed it. She's inflected by abstract expressionism as well as artifacts and other memorabilia from her ancestry and other similar places such as Colombia. The work makes me feel slightly uncomfortable as the expressions are rather eerie. I think the artists wants us to think about how us as humans, we're simply blocks which can be carved into individuals with thoughts and feelings. Yet we most of the time appease what others are doing and don't change ourselves. From exploring her work, I've been influenced to create wooden structures of people or figures, and I've learned that colors work well with this kind of work. |
Artist practical responseIn my response, I used off-cut pieces of wood that I found and created figures that were a very abstract take on the human body. I painted some of the parts following a maroon-beige colour pallet which is quite different from the one used by Escobar, as she typically used primary colours, which is something I'm interested in exploring. I also glued on fabric to certain pieces in order to bring a different vibe to the sculpture because I wanted to make it appear more interesting than just pieces of wood stuck together. For the faces, I drew on two different expressions on two sides. However, I used a fine liner on slightly wet paint which was a bad idea as I couldn't draw all too well on it. To build on this, I am interested in carving the wood to create facial expressions.
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Step 1For my first draft, I wanted to create a miniature version of a mask I could potentially make. This was to practice not only the process but also to improve my woodwork skills. This mask was made out of a single piece of cut-off wood which I then carved into to create features, mostly excentuating the nose. I learned that carving straight, precise lines was quite challenging and a mistake I had made was using too by of a chisel for my sculpture.
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Step 2After I had created my mask, the next step was painting. I wanted to make this piece personal, which is why I chose signs and symbols from the Latvian culture, as it's the one I relate to the most. I wanted to include these signs in my final piece so I researched plenty of reference images. I really enjoyed this process as it reminded me of the depth and beauty of traditional Latvian culture and symbology.
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Step 3This is the final painted product of my prototype mask. Personally, I like how it turned out as it looks very detailed and it reminds me a lot of certain Latvian festivities. One thing I realised while painting was how meticulous I had to be while a mistake I had made was accidentally using wood glue for the white base rather than paint, but it turned out fine in the end.
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Step 4Here, you can see the beginning stages of my second draft. I used a much bigger piece of wood this time to resemble a more realistic looking mask. I assembled two cut-off pieces of wood together using wood glue to create the size that I wanted. In the image, I was cutting down a filing the piece of wood to make it more symmetrical and even.
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Step 5 These are the beginning stages of my painting process. I was using my pro type mask as reference throughout but later I turned to images. I mixed red paint and maroon to get the right shade of 'Latvian' red, which is meant to resemble the shade of blood. I added the features and 'accessories' on top of the bigger piece of wood; these features were off-cut pieces I found.
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Step 6As the different symbols and patterns I was creating were very intricate and specific, I tried to emulate them as much as possible using tape, which I cut into strips to create the symbols. Some of the painting was messy but I fixed this later with white paint. Next time, I would draw all patterns on first and then put on the features as they got in the way occasionally.
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Step 7This is the finished painted product. The mask is clearly not symmetrical and some of the painting is rough and messy, however it did turn out how I expected it to. If I was to do this mask again, I would measure the wood exactly, ensuring it is symmetrical and I would paint the patterns on first.
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Step 8This is the photo of the finished product. I placed the mask on a block of wood which was made up of smaller cubes, all of which were left unpainted. This was to show how no matter was kind of person someone is, they still bare their traditions and culture upon them.
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