Evaluation

Within my project most of my work was based from either artist research or primary source. I found two artists that really fit with my theme(s). The first artist I looked into was Ana Mendieta. Mendieta focused on displacement and its effects on a person's soul - both positive and negative. Her work consists of peoples faces pressed against glass to make it look distorted which links to my theme. I responded to her work by making a few experimental pieces of my face pressed against a window. This included making marks, using acrylic & experimentation with colour, & making a collage by cutting the photo into pieces. From my mark making piece I made a few linos prints, however they didn’t turn out very strong as I used water based which made the paint less affective. The other artist I looked at was Tsang Johnston. He's a sculptor specializing in ceramics, stainless steel sculpture and public art work. He mainly focuses on surrealism. I was instantly drawn to his work as I think there's more to his work than people think. When I look at his work I get a feeling that he's trying to portray mental health or extreme emotions through his surrealistic pieces of work which I thought was very creative. He links to both themes (behind the mask & distortion) through the hidden emotion & visual aspect of his work. I responded to him by making two 3D pieces. The first thing I made was a clay sculpture of a distressed face with a happy face melting off. The second was a bird cage with flowers wrapped around with a little clay sculpture of a distressed girl inside the cage - this was another final piece. I took a range of primary sources of my reflection in a broken mirror and made a few experimentation sketches and then later developed them into a big lino print for my final piece. (I also did a range of small life drawings from the mirror reflection.) This time, the print came out much clearer as I used oil base instead of water. I also did a drawing from life of a wine glass filled with water with a flower in it as both the water & the curved glass made the flower distorted. My main theme was behind the mask which in short is hidden emotions. I chose this because it's important to me & I think people should be more aware. I think that I portrayed my ideas in a really creative way & that the audience would understand what it is by looking at it. I briefly looked at a photographer called Nigel Henderson which specialises in distortion photography and photograms. I responded to him by creating my own photograms linking with distortion. I think that I portrayed the work in a clear way by experimenting with different methods of distortion. Throughout the project I've been planning my steps by using mind maps & moodboards which has really helped me develop my work into something better. Overall ​I was very happy with my final outcomes. If I could do it again I would make more complex lino prints including multiple colours.