Listen Twice as Much as You Speak.
Size: 27.5cm x 35cm, 30cm x 40.5cm
Medium: Acrylic on Canvas
Date: September 2017
The purpose of this piece is to express people's ability to voice their opinions yet have a difficult time listening to others and what they have to say. This stemmed from the idea of the society oversensitive in certain situation causing an over reaction from different sides. It is inspired by Van Dongen's messages and over exaggeration of facial features in women as well as Manguin's color pallet and technique of using broad lines to accentuate curves or certain features. The large mouth indication the voicing of opinions, small ears to represent the small amount of listening people do when they think their opinion is the best and the forehead wrinkles to represent the anger towards those who may think differently.
Artist and Inspiration
Manguin, Henri. Baigneuse. 1906, Pushkin Museum, Moscow.
Van Dongen, Kees . Portrait of Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler (Portrait de Kahnweiler). 1907, Musée du Petit Palais, Geneva.
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The inspiration for this piece was Fauvism, specifically the color and lack of detail. The overall goal of Fauvism was make color independent and allow it to exist on its own usually to project mood rather than realism. Henri Manguin's art for instance, used vibrant, pastel colors and strong lines which he though were crucial when communicating a meaning. For instance, Baigneuse, the intensity of some of the color help define some of the curves of the woman and the it gives off a refreshing mood with the different pastel hues. This aspect of his art I wanted to incorporate to my art piece only I would be expressing a stronger emotion and I would dilute it with the pastel and vibrant colors.
Kees Van Dongen also played a role in the inspiration for my art piece. He mainly painted the female body with exaggerated features and were a mixture of appreciation and disdain, challenging the social norms of still-life, landscapes, etc. He would paint prostitutes as someone irrelevant but a friend of the upper class. He would exaggerate features like flushed cheeks, red lips and large, darkened eyes. Skin color would also be an unnatural hue which were considered risks. The exaggerated features was something I took to heart and I decided to paint large lips as the only feature on the face and small ears represent the willingness to listen to others opinions. He would call his paintings, "the most perfect of lies." Overall, their artwork inspired me to create something where pastel and vibrant colors contradict with the actual message. The unnatural colors would represent the true colors one can show when speaking about something their passionate about to the point where they become angry. Since this happens when more than one person involved, I decided to create three separate paintings that become a triptych. |
Planning
After doing finding some inspiration I wanted to do something that would contradict pastel and vibrant colors. I thought about how someone can become very passionate about a certain issue or opinion to the point were they may become angry when someone doesn't agree. An adviser would often remind a class of mine that we should "Listen twice as much as you speak." It became a motto for us and reminded me of how often people can get caught up in their own thoughts that they forget that others think differently. To represent this I started sketching a couple of drawings of regular people, then screaming people with an exaggerated mouth and small ears. The large mouth was they're passion for their opinion and the small ears would represent how much they listen. In other words, the ratio to which they talk to how much they listen. I drew people of different ages to see if I should make it represent the different generations thinking differently. I then painted samples to see if I wanted to make them with grey skin and different undertone but it didn't look human enough to get my message across. In the end. I decided to make the mouth and ears be the only features I would include in the paintings.
Process
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This first step into creating this piece is adding a base coat to all the canvases. I used red, green and yellow for the base for the different canvases. Wait for the first coat to dry and added a second to smooth out any ridges and get rid of any white spaces I would find. After the coats were dry, I free handed the sketches onto the canvas with pencil lightly in order to get an idea of where the different colors would be. I started with the lightest color (pink) because if I were to make a mistake it would be the easiest to cover up with a darker color. Using large amounts of paint, for instance pink and white, I would bring the colors together and blend them to get a smooth transition where they were needed. I did this several times with other darker colors. To do the corners, use a thinner brush to get smaller comers which would usually be darker and fade into the lighter. pastel color. This can also be used to clean up any edges that may not be smooth. The final step in creating the faces would be using a flat brush and painting broad or thin lines on some of the curves or outlines. I used two different colors to create these lines to imitate a similar style to Manguin's. To further clean the image, I used the background color to clean the edges and get rid of any pencil that I may have drawn on or didn't cover completely. The final step for the canvas overall is to use a lighter version of the background color and blend into the corner to give it a vignette. |
Experimentation
I first drew some images that would describe the features my inspirations would do, like large eyes, mouths etc, on women and outlined the areas I would contrast such as the cheeks chin and forehead. I took swatches of colors I would see in their painting and took them as reference to the colors I would use. I then moved on and experimented with different ages to get the idea of each generation having a different opinion as well as which features I should exaggerate. I moved on with paint to see how they would turn out if I would to use a grey skin tone and different undertones to exaggerate area of the face that would turn the brightest. I didn't like the style because I felt as it didn't look human enough and I decided to only have a mouth and ears since they were the key features when someone was arguing or expressing their opinions to others.
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Reflection
Throughout this process I didn't run into any issues regarding the paint or the canvases. The major issue I had in this process was with the red canvas where I kept drawing and redrawing the rough outline because it wouldn't be centered. I realized that I shouldn't be starting in the center but rather off to the right so the mouth and the neck would have space to fit on both sides of the canvas. Along with this challenge, I had to paint over any pencil markings I may have left in. This was a challenge because I had to find the right hue to match the background. In order to do this, I had to use the same brand of paint that they provide in school with had a slightly pink tone to it, so I did majority of the cleaning at school. The reds I own were harsher compared to the ones at school. Something I would have changed would have probably been the size of the canvases because I know that it would have had a bigger impact if the they were slightly larger. I came to this revelation when I compared the already painted canvases with previous canvases I've already made. Since I didn't have reference I'm assuming I chose the sizes because I was focused more on the aesthetic rather than message delivery.
My main inspiration was Henri Manguin and his used of pastel hues. He uses them in order to create a 'chromatic abstraction' and make color separate from the actual image that is on the canvas. Since he used soft pastel colors I decided to combine the soft colors to a harsher meaning. Using his technique of avoiding many details, I was able to create a chromatic piece with broad lines similar to his own. The meaning connecting back to my other inspiration Kees Van Dongen. Using exaggerated features in the women he would paint would contradict with the the higher class since those women were prostitutes. This brought on the idea of although prostitutes were seen as lower class women, they can have a good connection with the higher class. I decided to incorporate the exaggerated features into the piece by creating a large mouth to represent the ability to voice opinion and small ears to act as a reminder for people that listening is as crucial as talking. Combining both the meanings and color choice of my inspirations I was able to create a piece that would reflect the idea of people expressing their opinion or beliefs but not being able to listen to others and accepting that they may think differently.
My main inspiration was Henri Manguin and his used of pastel hues. He uses them in order to create a 'chromatic abstraction' and make color separate from the actual image that is on the canvas. Since he used soft pastel colors I decided to combine the soft colors to a harsher meaning. Using his technique of avoiding many details, I was able to create a chromatic piece with broad lines similar to his own. The meaning connecting back to my other inspiration Kees Van Dongen. Using exaggerated features in the women he would paint would contradict with the the higher class since those women were prostitutes. This brought on the idea of although prostitutes were seen as lower class women, they can have a good connection with the higher class. I decided to incorporate the exaggerated features into the piece by creating a large mouth to represent the ability to voice opinion and small ears to act as a reminder for people that listening is as crucial as talking. Combining both the meanings and color choice of my inspirations I was able to create a piece that would reflect the idea of people expressing their opinion or beliefs but not being able to listen to others and accepting that they may think differently.
ACT Questions
1) How are you able to identify the cause-effect relationships between your inspiration and its effect upon your artwork?
I am able to identify the cause and effect by looking at the exaggerated features in both art pieces to my own. The color scene is also a result of my inspiration.
2) What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
Informative and admirable because it gave a brief and informative description of my inspirations. They also praised my inspirations for taking risks that lead to the pop art movement.
3) What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
I learned that even though prostitutes and others are disregarded as terrible people, they are still in a way connected to the upper class since they are the ones who technically support them.
4) What was the central idea for theme around your inspirational research?
A central idea would be the over sensitivity to sharing ones opinions. Meaning that people are able to share their opinions with passion but have a hard time listening to a different point of view.
5) What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
I can make an inference about Van Dongen that he has met several prostitutes and higher class people in order to paint the descriptions that were given in the research.
I am able to identify the cause and effect by looking at the exaggerated features in both art pieces to my own. The color scene is also a result of my inspiration.
2) What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
Informative and admirable because it gave a brief and informative description of my inspirations. They also praised my inspirations for taking risks that lead to the pop art movement.
3) What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
I learned that even though prostitutes and others are disregarded as terrible people, they are still in a way connected to the upper class since they are the ones who technically support them.
4) What was the central idea for theme around your inspirational research?
A central idea would be the over sensitivity to sharing ones opinions. Meaning that people are able to share their opinions with passion but have a hard time listening to a different point of view.
5) What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
I can make an inference about Van Dongen that he has met several prostitutes and higher class people in order to paint the descriptions that were given in the research.
Bibliography
"Fauvism Movement, Artists and Major Works." The Art Story. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Sept. 2017
"Henri Manguin." Henri Manguin Artist. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Sept. 2017.
"Kees van Dongen Biography, Art, and Analysis of Works." The Art Story. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Sept. 2017.
Manguin, Henri. Baigneuse. 1906, Pushkin Museum, Moscow.
Van Dongen, Kees . Portrait of Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler (Portrait de Kahnweiler). 1907, Musée du Petit Palais, Geneva.
"Henri Manguin." Henri Manguin Artist. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Sept. 2017.
"Kees van Dongen Biography, Art, and Analysis of Works." The Art Story. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Sept. 2017.
Manguin, Henri. Baigneuse. 1906, Pushkin Museum, Moscow.
Van Dongen, Kees . Portrait of Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler (Portrait de Kahnweiler). 1907, Musée du Petit Palais, Geneva.