What is Art?

The definition of art is the creative skills and imagination that a person uses in an artwork. In my opinion high art is when an artist uses his/her emotions, time, feelings, and experiences in their work. Low art is when someone takes something without using so much effort, or thought, and doesn't have real meaning behind what they do. I believe that Jason Mecier's crafts are low art only because I don't feel anything when I see his work. I think that he is creative in using what he does but I don't get much out of it. I understand that he views his own work as art, and he may feel something when he makes them, but initially I feel that if it is not something that can make an impact on someone then it shouldn't be considered high art.

Geometric Lines

Cross Hatched Lines

Wavy Lines

 

No Control

This painting is definitely one of my favorites, and the most unique that I have done because I hardly ever put this type of sad emotion in a piece. This painting is done with a bluish/grayish colored acrylic for the background and shades of blue for the camouflage pattern, along with India ink for the face, hair, and shirt, added with two tears running down with a light blue acrylic. I decided to title this one 'No Control' because this girl has a reason to be crying and is letting go of what might be hurting her. She's decided to let her emotions take control and that is the only way she can truly be free. My reason for using a neutral color for the girl was so the tears can be seen more, and also to add more of an emotional appeal. I feel that if I had added more colors the effect wouldn't be felt the same. I also made shadows on the face and shirt with the ink wash so the girl wouldn't be flat or without life. I hope that when people look at this painting they will feel something inside of them and have a flashback or moment of when they have felt this way. The colors and expressions of this work shows off what kind of mood is portrayed. The movement of the patterns at the bottom of the shirt create depth and texture because it pops out a little, including the drips which also create more emotion, matching the teardrops. I personally really enjoy staring at this piece because there's so much that it's saying, while saying nothing at all. This is for sure something completely different from anything else I have done before, but that is the reason why I enjoy it so much. The colors and unity of this artwork have me feeling lost but wondrous, because it's a very good and thought out piece. I enjoy looking at the camo pattern towards the lower portion of this because of the drips falling off the canvas, but I do feel like the face of the girl could have more depth and value with the wash. The purpose of this was to let the viewers feel something when looking at it, and create a mood, which in my opinion is a success because it makes the people question what the story behind this is.

Dress to Fish

This metamorphosis painting was a bit more difficult because it took a lot of thinking about how I wanted to portray my thoughts. For this project we were supposed to create an object and turn it into a living thing, with adding the whole color wheel in it. I wanted it to be different so I painted the colors of the background first, with all the shades and hues I needed. Then I went ahead and drew the dress with the mannequin bust turning into a fish, and painted those by a certain pattern but still in the correct colors of the wheel. Some elements put in this work are lines inside the three figures to create more depth and movement throughout the dress and the fish's tail. Patterns put in this would be how I used the actual colors for the background and the figures. As well as, all the different colors used in the color wheel. I think this piece has a lot of variety because there are many more colors than I would usually use on my art, and there really isn't much black or white. I do like how it turned out, however, I didn't imagine the finished product looking anything like this. It took a huge amount of my time, more than any other painting I have done for this class. But I'm still glad that I could achieve my goal, which was to use all the colors I needed and paint an object turning into a something living.

The Mask

For this pattern portrait there is a lot of line work throughout the face and suit. I decided to make it almost like a mask so that viewers can tell the difference from the neck, to skin, and ears. I also decided to match the tie with the color of the face just so it can have emphasis and balance with it. I wanted the patterns to be brighter than anything else on the painting so that that can be the main focus. I enjoyed making the background the way it turned out because everything else makes it blend in well. All I used was a Camel colored acrylic mixed with white paint, and spread it over the canvas with a palette knife. The different shapes created on the face are both geometric and organic. This painting was fun to do because they were colors and designs on the face I normally would not do on a face. It was something different and creative, and I personally really liked how it turned out because it is something unique for me that I never would've attempted if it weren't for this class.