Project Three
Sollicitudo 61cm x 61cm Mixed Media October and November 2021 This mixed media self-portrait is based off of two previous works of mine and the work of artists Auguste Rodin and Thomas Gainsborough. The plaster hands are cast from my own hands, and to me represent an extension of eyes. I wanted to create contrast through the background with texture and shade. The smooth, colorful, person next to blank, textured, space; combined with all white hands. |
Inspiration
Study of a Hand (1900s) by Auguste Rodin
|
My two artist inspirations was Auguste Rodin and Thomas Gainsborough. Rodin was a sculptor that made a multitude of works based on the human body, one being "Study of a Hand". Here Rodin used plaster to do a physical study a hand. There is rough and smooth qualities about the sculpture that advances the texture. Additionally the almost pained
Gainsborough's painting is a rendition of another artist's interpretation of Sarah Siddons. The original painting by Sir Joshua Reynolds illustrated Siddons as a damsel in distress and as a highly tragic person. Gainsborough, however, displays Siddons as a confidant person, who is sure of herself, not tragic or anything of the like. She has a content look oh her face and a strong posture, portraying how she is. The high contrast of the asymmetrical painting is something I like to achieve. The smooth blended skin against the textured background is striking. Additionally the abundance of texture makes the work come alive. |
Portrait of Sarah Siddons (1783-85) by Thomas Gainsborough
|
Additionally, I was inspired by previous work I have done. One is a digital work, part of a book, I created two summers back with UW Milwaukee's Peck School ArtsECO Pre-College program. This project utilizes typography and illustration to convey my experiences. In "Who Am I" I talk of the contradictions in my own personality, leading to confusion on what my "real" personality is. The next page is "All Eyes on Me", which describes how I often feel negative attention from my (sometimes) outgoing personality. Additionally, describing how I often dislike that attention. These two digital works are some of the most personal pieces I have done, and I wanted to continue this deep connection to my work. As I have wanted to make another self portrait since the last one I have completed
|
Who Am I?
|
All Eyes on Me
|
Planning
I started off with the idea of using casts of my hands. As someone who is partial to sculpture, I wanted to include more works this year that was, or included, sculpture. A few years back I was introduced to Alja-safe as a body safe molding material. Since then I have been doing one-use molds of my hands and casting with plaster of paris. I find that the product of this process is an even and clear replica of my hand. This, along with Rodin and Gainsborough's work, inspired this work. I first tried to synthesize how to incorporate the sculpture hands into a self portrait. I figured that I could either attach right onto the canvas, or poke the hands through the canvas for more structural support. After this I had to decide how I wanted to display myself and my interaction with the hands. I created three solid cohesive ideas: relaxed and not stressed in old garb with the hands reaching out like wings and covering my eyes; tense in plain clothing surrounded by reaching relaxed hands; blank expression in modern clothing with tense hands reaching.
|
After deciding on the last option, I created an illustration to refer back to when painting. here I decided what hue everything should be and what they add to the work. for some of the more complicated hues I added formulas on how to create them so I would not forget. This allowed me to pick the work back up at different points, and also allowed me to no struggle to decide what colors to put where when painting. |
To plan I also took a reference photo to base my painting off of. I wanted to present myself with a static and blank face as not to allude to any emotions or thoughts. After increasing the contrast of the picture I added a grid over the my main reference so I could get my proportions and features correct. I then played around with how different backgrounds and different clothes might affect the overall feel of the work. I decided to continue with the solid dark clothes with contrasting white background to match the plaster hands
|
Experimentation
Combining painting and sculpture is not something I have done. One of the struggles I came across when creating this work was making sure the plaster hands would lay how I wanted them to after attaching. As the hands are heavy compared to the canvas the weighed it down significantly when attached. To counteract this I attached the hands more at their center point of gravity closer to the attachment point of the canvas. |
Process
|
The first thing I did was make all of the plaster hands. I created them by mixing water and Alja-safe and then immediately placed my hand inside of the mixture in the pose I wanted. After 10 minutes the mold was hard and I could take my hand out. I then mixed together the plaster (outside) and poured it into the mold. After the plaster solidified I cut the mold from around it revealing my hand. |
Then for the painting I used a grid drawing to help me get all of my proportions right from my reference. I then did a light wash for all of the skin to cover the pencil marks and to give a sense of where everything should be. I then continued to layer up the paint gradually getting thicker. While in the middle of finishing the skin of the face and neck I decided to make it more pigmented as it was looking very pale. I added more red to the base skin tone and repainted the entire face. I feel that this was a needed step as, although I am going for a blank and uninterested look, I want to still have some life to me. During this I painted the solid black shirt. After this I made a wash for the hair and added the eyes. This was the second most trying step, as I feel that portraits need to get the eyes right, or they look nothing like the person they are trying to portray. Then next step was the most trying as I was having difficulty of the position of the lips. As I left if for the last part of the face to paint I lost the lines needed for its proportions. This created difficulty for me as I had little knowledge of where the lips were meant to be. Additionally I was having trouble matching the hue of the lips to my own as there is so many variants in such a small space on the face. After finishing the lips I then added texture to the background to contrast from the smooth blended face and solid shirt.
|
|
|
Lastly I connected the hand to the painting. I positioned the hands how I wanted them to be, I then cut slits into the canvas. I then connected them to the canvas with glue. At first I though I was unable to have them all bursting through canvas due to haw short some of them are and originally glued the top right and top left ones just onto the canvas. This proved to ineffective in attaching them to the work. It also did not look consistent with the other hands. I also wanted to have one more hand or some fingers on the right side. |
Reflection
Overall I am very pleased with how this work turned out. While I would have liked to add one more hand and made the lips and jaw more accurate to my own features, I am proud of my own improvement since my last self-portrait. Here I show my growth in attention to detail and accuracy. Even though I did struggle with the painting aspect with making it true to real life in proportion and hue, the final work demonstrates my own advances in art making. I also think that this work is one of my most personal ones and one that I felt very connected to while making. Additionally I think my connections to artists Rodin and
Gainsborough are faint but still apparent. Similar to Gainsborough's Portrait of Sarah Siddons I wanted to paint myself in the true way I am. In my other self-portrait I was putting myself in the place of another person not painting me, while here I was. |
Critique
Similarities:
-Both works are re-done paintings of someone. In my own piece I am repainting an old self-portrait and making it more true to life, and similarly Gainsborough is repainting a portrait of Sarah Siddons in her true light. -Gainsborough's and my own painting are done in realism, focusing on correctly portraying a person. -In the two art works focus is put on the subject and who that person is: Siddons, a confidant person and me. Differences: -Gainsborough work has a variety of hues in the background and on Siddons, while my own has a minimal color palette. -My art contains sculpture in addition to painting to represent myself, and contrasting Gainsborough's art is solely a painting to illustrate Siddons and her personality. -The painting of Siddons is almost a full body painting utilizing the objects around her on canvas, but mine is a close up focusing on the face, isolated from all other objects (excluding the hands). |
Portrait of Sarah Siddons (1783-85) by Thomas Gainsborough
|
ACT Responses
1) Clearly explain and describe how you are able to identify the cause-effect relationships between your inspiration and its effect upon your artwork.
I take Rodin's use of the human body in sculpture and use it to display my own worries, and I also use Gainsborough's styling and topics in my depiction of myself. 2) What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration? The authors look to educate and share the art. 3) What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures, etc. while you researched your inspiration? I found out that Gainsborough recreated someone else's work, just because he did not like how they portrayed Siddons. This led me to think that other artists have just made art to make another piece better. 4) What was the central idea or theme around your inspirational research? Personal connections and inspiration. 5) What kind of inferences (conclusions reached on the basis of evidence and reasoning) did you make while reading your research? I assume that Gainsborough knew Siddons personally, allowing him to illustrate her in a better, more true to life, way. |
Bibliography
The Met. “Auguste Rodin Cast after Medal of 1887.” Metmuseum.org, n.d., https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/208069?searchField=All&%3BsortBy=Relevance&%3Bft=Auguste%2BRodin&%3Boffset=0&%3Brpp=20&%3Bpos=1.
The Met. “Study of a Hand.” Metmuseum.org, n.d., https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/191862. Wilkins, David G., et al, editor. “Eighteenth-Century Portraiture.” Art Past Art Present, Pearson Education, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey, 1990, pp. 392–393. |