QuaranteensSize: 18in x 24in (45.7cm x 60.9cm)
Medium: Acrylic on Canvas August 2020 "Quaranteens" was a piece created to represent the shared feelings we get from being in quarantine. Like we're hostages; stuck in our homes, scared to leave them, but wanting to escape. The absence of people is meant to symbolize how the presence of the virus in our cities, drives most inhabitants to stay indoors. It was inspired by a series of short videos by a NYC photographer, who captures the emptiness of the city, and made edits of these videos to represent the possible future. |
Planning
Inspiration
Originally, I was inspired by a Tiktok video I saw by a creator known as nyclive. He creates videos and edits of New York City, showing off the beauty as well as the downfall in the city and likes to create amazing scenes out of them. In this particular video, it shows an empty scene of Times Square in NYC, accompanied by a large man in a hazmat suit looking around, possibly for anyone out of their homes. It is captioned "What happened? How did we end up here? will the world every be the same?" I was also highly inspired for the background of this piece in the style of animated, futuristic city scapes. I like the ground/eye-level angles that these scenes portray. I also wanted to keep the color scheme, with the dark, seemingly distant buildings in the background, and the main emphasis on the foreground action. I was unable to find any information on the original artist of figure 1, however it is signed and dated at the bottom. Figure 2 is an oil painting by an artist known as Leyla Aghazada, who I could not find much about either.
|
Symobolism/meaning
I wanted to make a piece revolving around the Covid-19 virus because it's something that has greatly affected not only my way of life, but the lives of those around me as well. I've known and seen people who've lost family members to Covid and how its affected them, I myself had Covid and left my job, and it changed so much in my life. Ive lost my senior year, likely graduation, communication with friends, teachers, everyone; and it's been hard. I live with my grandparents, who are both in their 60s. We take seemingly as much precaution as we can, avoiding unnecessary trips and going to buy items we don't need. We tried to leave only for groceries with an additional store here and there, mask on of course, using sanitizer before and after, sometimes gloves. Yet my grandparents and I all got the virus. It almost seems inevitable to a degree. We take travel and freedom for granted, as once it's taken away we lose a sense of privilege and power. This is what I wanted to show in my piece. The loss of power by an uncontrolled source, being the coronavirus.
Planning sketches/experimentation
painting process
I was unable to use my own created canvas, because I was unable to go to school and do so, due to Covid-19. I prefer using self-made canvas because I feel its more personalized, rather than mass-produced to a certain tension. I first drew the outline of the buildings, and made them dimensional by connecting them to a vantage or perspective point. I free-styled the heights and widths of buildings, filling up the background to give the illusion of a dense city. I then drew the large individual in the hazmat suit as a representation of power that the virus has over the city. I also added advertisements and PSAs about wearing a mask and a message on a far rotating building stating "2020, the year with a twist!". In painting, I started with the background, and the clouds, which turned out very well, using my technique from my previous painting, "The Son of Meme". I wanted the contrast in the clouds to be very subtle to appear as storm clouds, accompanied by lightning. I then proceeded to paint the buildings in dark colors as to not draw attention away from what would be a bright yellow hazmat suit. Lastly, I painted the PSAs and the hazmat suit, and added black outlines in Posca paint pen to pull it all together. I also ended up adding fog-type clouds making way through the city to add to the ambiance. Finally, I decided to seal the painting, however it ended up smearing the paint because I passed over the paint too many times. In the end I do think it looks pretty cool in this piece, but I've learned to minimize the passes I make with the brush when setting the painting.
Compare/contrast
Similarities
|
Reflection
I think this piece has a lot of personal meaning behind it. I'm glad I think I was able to capture some of the mutual feelings we are going through right now, being stuck in our heads. Its been hard for all of us, but its important to mention that this too shall pass. Its taken too many people from us to be unrecognized in time, and art is one way to preserve a moment. I think this piece really shows the power we feel we've lost to Covid, and I'm satisfied with the final product. The only thing I wish I could change is the finish over the acrylic, because of the smudging. It worked out alright because all the paint was fairly dark anyway, so it blended in better, but I will make less brush passes in the future.
act responses
Clearly explain how you are able to identify the cause-effect relationships between your inspiration and its effect upon your artwork...
I found that in my inspiration contrast and size of subject made a large difference in significance, so in my final product I made the hazmat man much larger than a person.
What is the overall Point of view the author (from research) has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
The authors of my research gave did not give a huge amount of information on the artists artistic intention, or reference to meaning/method of artworks.
What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
Nyclive's art often uses digital editing and media to add life or even fantasy to a real-time video shot.
What was the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
My central idea was to make something that represented the mutual feelings of being in quarantine and how our lives are changing due to the Covid-19 virus.
What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
After researching nyclive, I could see how much video editing can be made to look realistic and may even appear real if it is done well enough.
I found that in my inspiration contrast and size of subject made a large difference in significance, so in my final product I made the hazmat man much larger than a person.
What is the overall Point of view the author (from research) has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
The authors of my research gave did not give a huge amount of information on the artists artistic intention, or reference to meaning/method of artworks.
What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
Nyclive's art often uses digital editing and media to add life or even fantasy to a real-time video shot.
What was the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
My central idea was to make something that represented the mutual feelings of being in quarantine and how our lives are changing due to the Covid-19 virus.
What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
After researching nyclive, I could see how much video editing can be made to look realistic and may even appear real if it is done well enough.
sources
Images
Japanese City at Night Wallpaper. (n.d.). Retrieved 2020, from https://wallpaperaccess.com/japanese-anime-city
Night City. (n.d.). Retrieved 2020, from https://fineartamerica.com/featured/night-city-leyla-aghazada.html
Websites
@nyclive on Tiktok
Japanese City at Night Wallpaper. (n.d.). Retrieved 2020, from https://wallpaperaccess.com/japanese-anime-city
Night City. (n.d.). Retrieved 2020, from https://fineartamerica.com/featured/night-city-leyla-aghazada.html
Websites
@nyclive on Tiktok