Youngblood?Size : 24 inches x 36 inches (61 cm x 91 cm)
Medium : Digital Manipulation (Photoshop) Completion Date : September, 2018 |
Exhibition Text:
Youngblood? is a digital collage that revolves around the idea of adulthood and losing your innocence, or "young blood" as the title of the piece itself suggests. This collage was inspired by both of Francis Bacon's studies of a crucifixion along with his themes of existential crises and violently twisted images. The image of the teddy bear within the piece is a store bought mask and the raw meat pieces were photos that I took at a local grocery store. |
"Youngblood?"
{ My Disquisition }
Time is not waiting for me, it’s not waiting for anyone. I’m fairly young: 16 and perhaps on my prime, I wouldn’t know. However, I do know one thing for sure...I’m growing up. Coming of age, it seemed so far away but it’s now so close to tomorrow. As it comes closer, all games and fun are starting to disappear. The worries and responsibilities of tomorrow are starting to suck on my young blood, leaving me empty of euphoria.
I didn’t mind it at first. I was fine with the concept of time as another human built construct that we can’t function without because of the things we are not able to understand. I ultimately welcomed my membership into the existential crisis club with that in mind. That was of course until, you told me that I will no longer be a young blood that could enjoy the basic “childish” joys of this world. You’re the time that is fast forwarding in the present, stripping me of all the innocence that’s left in me. Just like the Caulfield boy of Catcher in the Rye, I find myself struggling to develop my life path while trying to not lose myself in the process. How does one grow up, without losing the ability to enjoy climbing trees or painting with your fingers or running barefoot through the mud in a rainy day? It’s not as easy as it sounds when you’re told that you’ll have a 12 hour shift behind a desktop and with bills to pay, while trying to not fall into addictions such as alcohol, cigarettes or the work itself. I’m afraid I’m losing my young blood. Sounds stupid because I’m just 16, yet very real because I’m edging adulthood. I dare call it a bitter adulthood, inching closer every time because Holden Caulfield and I share that in common. Both 16 and stuck in that bittersweet moment between our own innocences as young bloods and the coming of age. Such age that I do not dare to reach as I fear it can reshape me into what I will most dislike of it.
In regards to the artistic inspiration for my piece, Francis Bacon’s work seemed very alluring and tempting to flirt with on my own terms. Bacon’s art contains dark and fleshy figures that are distorted and twisted in a very violent manner to evoke strong feelings and impactful visual displays for the public. His work really puts out there the idea of human self-destruction with existential dilemmas, which is what I’m aiming for in my work. In the “Three Studies for A Crucifixion” I found a reflection of what I’m trying to convoke in my own collage, the bloody and painful images are prominent in his work to emphasize human mortality which is something I touch base on when I talked about my fresh and young blood being drained by time and adulthood. Therefore I suggest that you stop by a local retail store and buy yourself a pack of gummy bears and relive your young blooded days...or rebel against time more often and be that young blood with an existential crisis.
ARTISTIC
I N S P I R A T IO N
(A Critical Investigation)
For my inspiration, I decided to go with with both of Francis Bacon's studies for a crucifixion. Bacon's art utilizes of very disturbing and bloody figures in his work to have a very strong impact on his public.
Majority of his work revolved around the ideas of human self-destruction and existential dilemmas. His ideas tie to my own in regards of the human mortality and the whole existential dilemma of growing up and leaving the childhood behind. It's an intimidating step to take so as the inspired artistic, my piece will involve the coming of age as my personal existential dilemma while making use of Bacon's screaming and twisted art style to better evoke those ideas across to the audience. |
2/3 of the the panel pieces, "Three Studies For Figures At The Base Of A Crucifixion" by Francis Bacon
Retrieved from, https://www.francis-bacon.com/artworks/paintings/three-studies-figures-base-crucifixion |
b. the screaming figure of the elongated neck and into a screaming figure of my own (probably a teddy bear) |
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The way in which I plan to use Bacon as my inspiration is by incorporating part of his (disturbing) style in my collage. I want to also have a similar impact on my viewers just like Francis Bacon did with his. Since my collage is a personal representation of what growing up means to me, I want to show how uncomfortable and how much of a brutal change that is for 'young bloods' like me. In order to accomplish that goal as accurately as I possibly could I saw Bacon's work as the best artistic inspiration since I will try to mimic such deformed and distorted images bathed in blood and wounds in my own work. It's an exaggeration of my own feelings to somehow make people understand my thoughts about losing innocence as time goes on.
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"Three Studies for a Crucifixion" by Francis Bacon
Retrieved from,
https://www.guggenheim-bilbao.eus/en/guia-educadores/three-studies-for-a-crucifixion/
Retrieved from,
https://www.guggenheim-bilbao.eus/en/guia-educadores/three-studies-for-a-crucifixion/
P R O C E S S
&
I N T E N T I O N S
01. Creative Ideas & Brainstorms
My process began with 2 initial ideas and boiled down to one. I made simple line sketches with some color and jotted notes for each of the possible collages. I was debating on what it was that I wanted to create and how I was to execute it. Below are the two ideas that I came up while mainly brainstorming the process.
QUICK BULLET POINTS:
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QUICK BULLET POINTS:
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02. Into Planning
Slowly my second sketch evolved more and I had began to give it a deeper purpose by adding to it some graphic context of my story as a "Youngblood" as well as concepts of my critical investigation on Francis Bacon.
It was beginning to explode as a visual representation of my thoughts and feelings.
Inner Dilemmas were about to come out and be translated into a photoshop image of my own creation (influenced by Bacon's figural style, of course).
Slowly my second sketch evolved more and I had began to give it a deeper purpose by adding to it some graphic context of my story as a "Youngblood" as well as concepts of my critical investigation on Francis Bacon.
It was beginning to explode as a visual representation of my thoughts and feelings.
Inner Dilemmas were about to come out and be translated into a photoshop image of my own creation (influenced by Bacon's figural style, of course).
Planning Sketches
With the planning sketches, I had a focus on the each of the individual components that were to be incorporated in my final piece.
I began with sketches of twisted hands. The collage that I wanted to create was rather simple but twisted. Both metaphorically and literally. The main reason as to why I chose to deform the hands goes back to my previously written dilemma. I mentioned finger painting in my story and with the inspiration of Bacon's distortions, the idea was born as a fusion of both concepts.
I began with sketches of twisted hands. The collage that I wanted to create was rather simple but twisted. Both metaphorically and literally. The main reason as to why I chose to deform the hands goes back to my previously written dilemma. I mentioned finger painting in my story and with the inspiration of Bacon's distortions, the idea was born as a fusion of both concepts.
I managed to recreate my final vision, thus the sketches of the screaming teddy bear and raw pieces of meat were added to the planning sketches. There came a point in the process where I did not like how my photoshop version of my idea was coming along. It felt empty and unsatisfactory for me as the creating artist of this project.
Notes found around the sketches clearly show of my temporal displease with my work:
Notes found around the sketches clearly show of my temporal displease with my work:
- Attempted to build in photoshop...It's more complicated than it seems
- It's becoming difficult to develop my ideas
- Have lost purpose, not sure this piece satisfies me
03. Photographing Subjects Relevant To/For My Collage
After having a layout of the piece based off the planning sketches, I started to collect pictures for my digital collage that was to be created in Photoshop CS6
For some of the images I had to improvise and create artificial blood, cuts and bruised skin by using store bought paint and hot glue. I even attempted to spill red ink from a pen and onto two different materials to aim for the best and most realistic product.
For some of the images I had to improvise and create artificial blood, cuts and bruised skin by using store bought paint and hot glue. I even attempted to spill red ink from a pen and onto two different materials to aim for the best and most realistic product.
Some pictures took more that one shot as I began to experiment. My hands for an instance, I used different lights and positions to capture the best image for the collage.
04. Working With The Photoshop CS6 Program
( 1 ) First I began by opening a New File at a 170 resolution with a size of 24 inches by 36 inches
( 2 ) Then I began exploring Photoshop CS6 and started selecting my uploaded pictures from "My Computer"
( 3 ) Later, I began to Select certain portions of the images to only use the parts that I needed to compose my collage.
( 2 ) Then I began exploring Photoshop CS6 and started selecting my uploaded pictures from "My Computer"
( 3 ) Later, I began to Select certain portions of the images to only use the parts that I needed to compose my collage.
( 4 ) After the portions of the images were selected, I redefined the etches so that would be cleaner on the collage.
( 5 ) After I was satisfied with the Refined Edges and Coloration of the Images I would paste the modified images onto the file of the collage and arranged their positions where ever it was that I wanted them to be.
( 6 ) The collage was slowly coming together, piece by piece things were accumulating to the final piece
( 5 ) After I was satisfied with the Refined Edges and Coloration of the Images I would paste the modified images onto the file of the collage and arranged their positions where ever it was that I wanted them to be.
( 6 ) The collage was slowly coming together, piece by piece things were accumulating to the final piece
( 7 ) Shortly after I finished my piece I realized that I did not like it, there was something missing from it
( 8 ) I went back to sketching and recreating my vision, referenced my inspiration again and again
( 9 ) I added to the "final piece", re-edited what I had initially created
( 10 ) I decided to add more to it, changed the original plan and began working on it again. The piece will now have a screaming teddy bear and raw chunks of meat on the background
( 11 ) I explored the puppet warp tool in photoshop and experimented with it, on the fingers, mouth and structure of the bear's mask
( 8 ) I went back to sketching and recreating my vision, referenced my inspiration again and again
( 9 ) I added to the "final piece", re-edited what I had initially created
( 10 ) I decided to add more to it, changed the original plan and began working on it again. The piece will now have a screaming teddy bear and raw chunks of meat on the background
( 11 ) I explored the puppet warp tool in photoshop and experimented with it, on the fingers, mouth and structure of the bear's mask
( 12 ) The piece was finally coming together into the final collage. I finished the details on it and added the eye, faded the right hand with the meat, removed the color from the mouth
( 13 ) By the end of the process I started experimenting again with the color filters in Photoshop. I clicked on the photo filter Icon under the Essentials Bar and added a red filter. Later on added a violet color filter to the image and finished the piece with that
Experimentation With Photoshop
Majority of the experimentation in photoshop was done with the puppet warp tool, coloration of the images and the refining of images.
C R I T I Q U E
COMPARE:
CONTRAST:
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2/3 of the the panel pieces, "Three Studies For Figures At The Base Of A Crucifixion" by Francis Bacon
Retrieved from, https://www.francis-bacon.com/artworks/paintings/three-studies-figures-base-crucifixion "Three Studies for a Crucifixion" by Francis Bacon
Retrieved from, https://www.guggenheim-bilbao.eus/en/guia-educadores/three-studies-for-a-crucifixion/ |
R E F L E C T I O N
"Youngblood" was a difficult piece for me to create as I was using photoshop for the first time. Besides the introduction to a new form of creation I had problems effectively developing my ideas. It was difficult for me as the creating artist to properly define my theme and personal statement into piece in a way that I actually liked. It took some time to adjust my ideas and recreating the original piece so that it would most accurately represent what it was that I wanted it to display while using Francis Bacon as my inspiration.
ACT
R E S P O N S E S
Clearly explain how you are able to identify the cause effect relationship between your inspiration and its effect on your artwork?
Inspired by the style and subject matter of both of Bacon's studies, the effect that it had on my piece was oddly successful. Because his work had to do with a lot of distortions and screaming figures to communicate the destructive human nature, it really had an impact on me; for which I then decided to use his work as a guide for my own creations. It influenced me to display of my own existential dilemmas in regards of innocence and childhood through a not so child-friendly style.
What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
The notes from at history last years were generalizing Bacon's work in a nicely compacted and summarized texts. According to my notes on Bacon, he was a figural expressionist that relied on a dark and symbolic style to express his thoughts on most of the negative occurrences that he witnessed in the world.
What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, culture, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
As the topics that Bacon chose to illustrate became more twisted and bolder, the more of an impact it had to the viewer. There was a visual representation of how corrupt and "ugly" the world was/is. Sort of an intimidating image of what the world was through the eyes of Francis Bacon.
What is the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
Existential Dilemmas of a self imposed destruction due to what world is holding against them and then artists like Bacon manage to portray such ideas onto a blank canvas.
What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
I made the inference that Bacon's existential dilemmas were related to most of his work, however I am unable to prove that statement in regards of the specific pieces that I chose as inspirations since I focused on his style rather than his personal intentions with each piece.
Inspired by the style and subject matter of both of Bacon's studies, the effect that it had on my piece was oddly successful. Because his work had to do with a lot of distortions and screaming figures to communicate the destructive human nature, it really had an impact on me; for which I then decided to use his work as a guide for my own creations. It influenced me to display of my own existential dilemmas in regards of innocence and childhood through a not so child-friendly style.
What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
The notes from at history last years were generalizing Bacon's work in a nicely compacted and summarized texts. According to my notes on Bacon, he was a figural expressionist that relied on a dark and symbolic style to express his thoughts on most of the negative occurrences that he witnessed in the world.
What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, culture, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
As the topics that Bacon chose to illustrate became more twisted and bolder, the more of an impact it had to the viewer. There was a visual representation of how corrupt and "ugly" the world was/is. Sort of an intimidating image of what the world was through the eyes of Francis Bacon.
What is the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
Existential Dilemmas of a self imposed destruction due to what world is holding against them and then artists like Bacon manage to portray such ideas onto a blank canvas.
What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
I made the inference that Bacon's existential dilemmas were related to most of his work, however I am unable to prove that statement in regards of the specific pieces that I chose as inspirations since I focused on his style rather than his personal intentions with each piece.