Artwork: Digital Collage
Title: Hope Size: 61cm x 91cm Medium: Digital Collage Completion: September 10, 2018 Exhibition Text Hope was created based on when my family and I settled in America seven years ago. This work defines why and how I am “hope” for my parents and myself in America. It was inspired by The Son of Man created by Rene Magritte and Autumn Rhythm (Number 30) made by Jackson Pollock. I used Adobe Photoshop CS6 to produce this image and applied Royal Langnickel paints for my background to represent my experiences and journeys during the past seven years of my life.
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Digital Collage Essay
Digital Collage Essay
For my whole life, I have been told that I am “hope”. I am my parents’ hope, my country’s hope, my people’s hope, and especially my hope. I was born and raised in Burma for half of my life. At the age of nine, my parents decided to seek a better future for our family since there were fewer opportunities in Burma. It was a very difficult decision for us to make because we had to leave everything behind. Nevertheless, my parents wanted what was best for us, so we fled to Malaysia as refugees. After living for about a year and two months in Malaysia, my family and I settled in America.
My parents always have high expectations for me because I was the reason why they sacrificed so much of their time, money, jobs, lives, and so much more. They got out of their comfort zone and started a new life in America even though they knew nothing about it. When I first came here, everything was new to me. I had to start from scratch by making new friends, learning a new language, settle into a new lifestyle, adapt to new cultures and traditions, and to get a life for myself. Sometimes, I felt like the weight of my parents’ expectations was slowing killing me. I would over-stressed myself by pushing my limits to be useful because I did not want to be a disappointment to my parents and especially to myself.
When I started high school, I was insecure about how I look, dress, talk, and how I acted. In short, I was a people pleaser. I tried so hard to be someone whom others wanted me to be, instead of being myself. All my effort in school was to achieve someone else’s dreams instead of my own. I spent most of my time focusing on school work because I felt the need to work twice as hard as others. I tend to think negatively about myself because I was just a late beginner in a foreign country. Which led me to believe that school was everything. If I get straight A’s then I will be successful in life. Unfortunately, the problem is I have no idea what I want to achieve in life. Just like everyone else, I want what is best for me. I am just a “hope” without a vision, but waiting patiently for God’s plan.
Digital Collage Essay
For my whole life, I have been told that I am “hope”. I am my parents’ hope, my country’s hope, my people’s hope, and especially my hope. I was born and raised in Burma for half of my life. At the age of nine, my parents decided to seek a better future for our family since there were fewer opportunities in Burma. It was a very difficult decision for us to make because we had to leave everything behind. Nevertheless, my parents wanted what was best for us, so we fled to Malaysia as refugees. After living for about a year and two months in Malaysia, my family and I settled in America.
My parents always have high expectations for me because I was the reason why they sacrificed so much of their time, money, jobs, lives, and so much more. They got out of their comfort zone and started a new life in America even though they knew nothing about it. When I first came here, everything was new to me. I had to start from scratch by making new friends, learning a new language, settle into a new lifestyle, adapt to new cultures and traditions, and to get a life for myself. Sometimes, I felt like the weight of my parents’ expectations was slowing killing me. I would over-stressed myself by pushing my limits to be useful because I did not want to be a disappointment to my parents and especially to myself.
When I started high school, I was insecure about how I look, dress, talk, and how I acted. In short, I was a people pleaser. I tried so hard to be someone whom others wanted me to be, instead of being myself. All my effort in school was to achieve someone else’s dreams instead of my own. I spent most of my time focusing on school work because I felt the need to work twice as hard as others. I tend to think negatively about myself because I was just a late beginner in a foreign country. Which led me to believe that school was everything. If I get straight A’s then I will be successful in life. Unfortunately, the problem is I have no idea what I want to achieve in life. Just like everyone else, I want what is best for me. I am just a “hope” without a vision, but waiting patiently for God’s plan.
Planning
Inspirations
Planning Sketches
I wanted to include a picture of me in this collage because I thought this will clearly show that this digital collage is about me.
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I did some research and went through my 10th grade process journal to get inspirations. The Son of Man by Rene Magritte inspired me to use sunflower to cover my face. Sunflower symbolize success, brighter future and hope.
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This is my final piece. I added background inspired by Autumn Rhythm (Number 30) by Jackson Pollock. I wanted to make my background colorful to represent different events and experiences that shaped me a person who I am today.
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Experimentation/ Techniques and Collecting Images
I wanted my background to be colorful, so I used variety of colors of paint to produce an art work like Autumn Rhythm (Number 30) by Jackson Pollock. These images are the process that it took to complete my background for my collage. Also, I collected a few photos that I could use for my work as well.
I blended lemon yellow, sap green, yellow ochre, vermillion, crimson red, violet, white, deep green, burnt sienna, and black. I applied variety of paints because my life was filled with colors. I really like how each color have its own meaning such as red could represents good luck or angry. So, I wanted my background to be full of colors to symbolize my experiences and journey during the last seven years. Anyways, I blended those paints using toothpick and I randomly just create patterns. I didn't used dripping like Jackson Pollock because I did not have any brushes.
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For my first experiment, I used "quick selection tool" to select the part of the image that I wanted. Then, I copied and pasted on my canvas. After that, I applied "posterize" to give unrealistic image. Then, I "duplicate layer" and placed them in the order that I wanted to make a pattern.
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For my second experiment, I used the original image for my background but I "duplicated layer" to fill in the background. I mess around with the colors. At first, I did black and white and then used "photo filter" and changed the color to purple to give more vibration. Then, for the second layer, I added warmer tone to the skin by applying "vibrance".
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Process
Reflection
Critique
I am pleased with how my digital collage turned out and I am in love with it. Since, this was my first time using Photoshop, I was afraid that I might not get my work done. But, I learned some basic tools to get my piece done and I am proud of myself for completing this project. One of the main challenge that I faced was not knowing the tools enough. I had three pieces that I wanted to do in my mind for this digital collage, limited amount of time that was given and unfamiliar with the tools prevented me from creating what I really wanted to do. Even though I did some experiments before creating this piece, I still had difficulties using the tools. However, Hope presents my life that no one really know about and shows how some of the things about me such as my personality, perspectives, values and likes and dislikes hinds beneath something else. What you see outside is not everything. It was a success that my piece applies my main theme and explains my life.
Compare and Contrast
"The Son of Man" Rene Magritte, 1964
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"Hope" Jacinta Tial, 2018
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"Autumn Rhythm (Number 30)" Jackson Pollock, 1950
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Similarities
Autumn Rhythm (Number 30) and Hope
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Differences
Autumn Rhythm (Number 30) and Hope
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ACT Responses
Clearly explain how you are able to identify the cause effect relationship between your inspiration and its effect on your artwork?
Rene Magritte's piece portray everyday objects and him being disturbing. His illogical situation is to startle the viewer. I applied his style of painting to startle the viewer.
What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
The author of my research talks about Rene Magritte's life and how his works are thought provoking and disturbing the viewer. This portrayed an over view of who Rene was and how he challenged the people to view art in a different perspective.
What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, culture, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
While researching my inspiration, I discovered that surrealism is a cultural movement that began in the early 1920s and the two main branches are improvised art and hallucinatory scenes. Also, expressionist made paintings that were non-representational, representational through emotions.
What is the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
The central themes around my inspirational research are the power of the imagination and the unconscious mind and the emotions.
What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
While reading my research, I inferred Rene Magritte's paintings are very mysterious and give the unsettling thoughts and feelings. Also, I inferred that Jackson Pollock must physical active and he was. He moved across the the painting, dripping the paint.
Rene Magritte's piece portray everyday objects and him being disturbing. His illogical situation is to startle the viewer. I applied his style of painting to startle the viewer.
What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
The author of my research talks about Rene Magritte's life and how his works are thought provoking and disturbing the viewer. This portrayed an over view of who Rene was and how he challenged the people to view art in a different perspective.
What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, culture, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
While researching my inspiration, I discovered that surrealism is a cultural movement that began in the early 1920s and the two main branches are improvised art and hallucinatory scenes. Also, expressionist made paintings that were non-representational, representational through emotions.
What is the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
The central themes around my inspirational research are the power of the imagination and the unconscious mind and the emotions.
What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
While reading my research, I inferred Rene Magritte's paintings are very mysterious and give the unsettling thoughts and feelings. Also, I inferred that Jackson Pollock must physical active and he was. He moved across the the painting, dripping the paint.
Bibliography
Tate. (n.d.). Who is Jackson Pollock? – Who Are They? | Tate Kids. Retrieved September 16, 2018, from https://www.tate.org.uk/kids/explore/who-is/who-jackson-pollock
The Met. (n.d.). Autumn Rhythm (Number 30). Retrieved September 12, 2018, from https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/57.92/
The Son of Man by René Magritte – Facts & History about the Painting. (2013, July 17). Retrieved September 14, 2018, from http://totallyhistory.com/the-son-of-man/
Totally History. (2013, July 17). The Son of Man by René Magritte – Facts & History about the Painting. Retrieved September 12, 2018, from http://totallyhistory.com/the-son-of-man/
The Met. (n.d.). Autumn Rhythm (Number 30). Retrieved September 12, 2018, from https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/57.92/
The Son of Man by René Magritte – Facts & History about the Painting. (2013, July 17). Retrieved September 14, 2018, from http://totallyhistory.com/the-son-of-man/
Totally History. (2013, July 17). The Son of Man by René Magritte – Facts & History about the Painting. Retrieved September 12, 2018, from http://totallyhistory.com/the-son-of-man/