Digital Collage
Title: K.R.
Size: 61 cm x 91 cm
Medium: Digital Manipulation
Completion: September 2018
Size: 61 cm x 91 cm
Medium: Digital Manipulation
Completion: September 2018
Exhibition Text
K.R. symbolizes the impact the toxicity of a relationship can place onto a person. This piece was intended to display the difference between who I was three years ago and who I am now due to a horrible relationship I had with someone. It is also intended to express the idea that I have grown up and matured. The entire piece is inspired by Frida Kahlo's artwork "The Two Frida's" and the conceptual ideas artists involved in the art movement , Figural Expressionism expressed throughout their artwork.
Meaning Behind Piece
K.R.
I was desperate. I just wanted a friend, a person who I could trust, talk to, and rely on. However, I ended up with a broken spirit and a multitude of insecurities/scars. I met them on August 27, 2012.
At first glance I could tell that we were going to be friends .They had the most intense eyes , they brought out my curiosity ,”What were those eyes hiding?”What I didn’t know was that those eyes were secretly harboring an abusive/manipulative personality. Everything started with a smile .That smile would be the reason why I think love is a lie. The first months were the most memorable. Everything was at its best. We had a strong connection, our personalities fit perfectly. Things soon changed, I was oblivious to the fact that things were going downhill.
They became harsh, their eyes turned into something something I didn’t recognize. They began a manipulation game.They had consumed my mind. They knew what strings to pull, and how hard to pull them. They continued to pull until I broke and until they knew that I was dependent on them. The wounds were reopened because of them but they eventually healed over time . I was dependent on them. I needed them to just survive. Realization began and I knew I was only they’re friend out of pity. But I didn’t care and at some point I thought “If I keep doing this, if I stay, they’ll like me back..” There were nights and days of anxiety. I stayed with them because of the fear that if I didn’t, I’d lose them forever. I didn’t want to lose someone I loved. That friendship took parts of me, my focus on life, my mind, and my heart. Everything I did was for them to pay a little more attention to me, nothing more. All those things that I had done for them, I had only one thought in mind “This is what love is… dedicating your whole entire being to the other person”. I lied to myself, I wasn’t important, just another piece in their puzzle. Keeping them always in my head , I’d give them every bit of myself without the favor being returned. At the end of the day I’d just tell myself“suck it up because that how life works, sweets”. Now it isn’t as important but at that time everything was brutal, I had been suffocating in honey and smoke. I couldn’t take it anymore so I put a end to it all in the fall of 2015. .They were trying to reach me asking me why .The love for them had ended . Yes, in some way I hurt them but instead of apologizing for “hurting” them, I turned around and just whispered “Let me go…” It wasn’t until three years later where I was able to breathe.
Days, weeks, months, years have passed since I last saw them and I have no idea where they are or what they’re doing with their life
.
K.R., we were young and didn’t even understand how the world worked yet, let alone how our minds worked. I hope you’re doing okay.
I was desperate. I just wanted a friend, a person who I could trust, talk to, and rely on. However, I ended up with a broken spirit and a multitude of insecurities/scars. I met them on August 27, 2012.
At first glance I could tell that we were going to be friends .They had the most intense eyes , they brought out my curiosity ,”What were those eyes hiding?”What I didn’t know was that those eyes were secretly harboring an abusive/manipulative personality. Everything started with a smile .That smile would be the reason why I think love is a lie. The first months were the most memorable. Everything was at its best. We had a strong connection, our personalities fit perfectly. Things soon changed, I was oblivious to the fact that things were going downhill.
They became harsh, their eyes turned into something something I didn’t recognize. They began a manipulation game.They had consumed my mind. They knew what strings to pull, and how hard to pull them. They continued to pull until I broke and until they knew that I was dependent on them. The wounds were reopened because of them but they eventually healed over time . I was dependent on them. I needed them to just survive. Realization began and I knew I was only they’re friend out of pity. But I didn’t care and at some point I thought “If I keep doing this, if I stay, they’ll like me back..” There were nights and days of anxiety. I stayed with them because of the fear that if I didn’t, I’d lose them forever. I didn’t want to lose someone I loved. That friendship took parts of me, my focus on life, my mind, and my heart. Everything I did was for them to pay a little more attention to me, nothing more. All those things that I had done for them, I had only one thought in mind “This is what love is… dedicating your whole entire being to the other person”. I lied to myself, I wasn’t important, just another piece in their puzzle. Keeping them always in my head , I’d give them every bit of myself without the favor being returned. At the end of the day I’d just tell myself“suck it up because that how life works, sweets”. Now it isn’t as important but at that time everything was brutal, I had been suffocating in honey and smoke. I couldn’t take it anymore so I put a end to it all in the fall of 2015. .They were trying to reach me asking me why .The love for them had ended . Yes, in some way I hurt them but instead of apologizing for “hurting” them, I turned around and just whispered “Let me go…” It wasn’t until three years later where I was able to breathe.
Days, weeks, months, years have passed since I last saw them and I have no idea where they are or what they’re doing with their life
.
K.R., we were young and didn’t even understand how the world worked yet, let alone how our minds worked. I hope you’re doing okay.
PLANNING
Inspiration/Critical Investigation
I immediately knew that I wanted to center my collage around the idea of manipulation and include two versions of myself, one being who I was in the past and the other being myself in the present while also including many symbols within my piece. Having the idea of incorporating many symbols within my digital collage, I soon found myself being inspired by the movement of Figural Expressionism. Instantly, I had an artwork and artist that really took my idea a step further/inspired me, Frida Kahlo's "The Two Frida's". Although, Frida did not believe she belonged in any art movement, her works straddles many different movements (Surrealism, Figural Expressionism and Magic Realism)Within the Figural Expressionism movement, it was very common for artists to believe that figural painting was still at the time, very important and that their artworks should communicate a deeper truth beyond surface appearance. The majority of Frida's works were self portraits, often placing herself in magical or fantastical landscapes, while other portraits open her body wide to display female internal organs or the horrific medical issues she experienced throughout her lifetime. In almost all of her work, she is dressed in traditional Mexican clothing and her artistic style has roots in her heritage, folk art, and Catholicism. All of her work focused on themes of feminism, childbirth, miscarriage, abortion and menstruation.
I was really awestruck by the way Frida was able to capture herself in two different ways within her piece "The Two Frida's " one where she was dressed in traditional clothing of her country (Mexico) and one where she is dressed in modern clothing of the late 1930's. However, the one dressed in the traditional clothing is representing her marriage with Diego Rivera and the happiness that came with it but the one dressed in modern clothing represents her divorce with Diego Rivera. Still in someway there both versions of her are still connected by heart and ideals. This idea really inspired me because with the meaning behind my piece (toxic relationships) I wanted to show how much I have changed.
My artwork has some similar aspects of Frida's artwork in that I wanted to display myself as two different people, impacted by a a person I held dear in my life, but that is the only similarity within her piece and mine. In "The Two Frida's" it is clear that Frida did want to display and represent different versions of herself but in her artwork she had made both Frida's be connected by the heart strings. Meaning that in some way she still was the same person inside whether she changed her appearance or not. This idea Frida included in her piece (being the same on the inside no matter what) is something I personally chose to avoid to include in my piece because being a part of a toxic relationship three years ago, I was not the person who I am today and am not the person who I was back then. I changed drastically.
I was really awestruck by the way Frida was able to capture herself in two different ways within her piece "The Two Frida's " one where she was dressed in traditional clothing of her country (Mexico) and one where she is dressed in modern clothing of the late 1930's. However, the one dressed in the traditional clothing is representing her marriage with Diego Rivera and the happiness that came with it but the one dressed in modern clothing represents her divorce with Diego Rivera. Still in someway there both versions of her are still connected by heart and ideals. This idea really inspired me because with the meaning behind my piece (toxic relationships) I wanted to show how much I have changed.
My artwork has some similar aspects of Frida's artwork in that I wanted to display myself as two different people, impacted by a a person I held dear in my life, but that is the only similarity within her piece and mine. In "The Two Frida's" it is clear that Frida did want to display and represent different versions of herself but in her artwork she had made both Frida's be connected by the heart strings. Meaning that in some way she still was the same person inside whether she changed her appearance or not. This idea Frida included in her piece (being the same on the inside no matter what) is something I personally chose to avoid to include in my piece because being a part of a toxic relationship three years ago, I was not the person who I am today and am not the person who I was back then. I changed drastically.
Collecting Images
Planning Sketches
Idea #1
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Experimentation
Process
This piece was made in Photoshop. To begin, I started with developing/creating a blank canvas on Photoshop by clicking on the tab on top that says "image", clicked on "new" and set the dimensions of the canvas to 24" x 36" with the resolution of the canvas to be at 170 px. I made sure that the background would be set to white. I then, selected the "lasso tool" and began to cut out the image I had taken of two couches in a gas station and copied and pasted it onto the white canvas. Once cropping out the image, I began to erase the edges of the cropped image so that I would only have the couches be in the first layer of my piece. After making sure that the image was cropped properly, I selected the blur tool on the left hand corner and began to softly blur the edges of the image so that when I layered it on top of another image, it would blend smoothly into the other image. Next, I started to experiment with different backgrounds to my piece, and ended up choosing the background that had been in the second sketch I had drawn, a flower vase on top of a bookcase filled with CD's and a small t.v. Once choosing that image, I cropped it out by again using the "lasso tool", and then copying and pasting it onto the canvas I first created.
After pasting the images onto the canvas, I began to layer the images on top of one another but before doing that I had changed each of the cropped images's saturation to be lower and included a bit of a blur effect by using the blur filter. Once doing that, that is when I began to layer my first cropped image to the background I had chose, while placing a dark mustard yellow border around the background as well as the T.V in the right hand corner. Next, I chose to include a foreground that would contrast the very colorful background, I ended choosing a foreground that would be brown. The image I chose was a table that had words and symbols engraved into it. I, then layered this image underneath the two yellow, floral couches and background, however I did brighten and intensity the opacity of the image used for the foreground to contrast the background. Once completing that, this is when i began to add the images of myself.
I first began by cropping the image of hands around my throat by again using the "lasso tool" and then copying and pasting it onto to the canvas. However, when I cropped the image and pasted on to the canvas, I realized it was too way to big fit on the tiny T.V. what I had to next was to resize the image without distorting it or changing the proportions in any way, so in order to do that I had to make the image smaller by pressing command "t" which would automatically set up a way for you to resize the image (this is all done on a Mac book). When done pressing command "t", I began to make the image smaller. I had to make sure that I would not mess up the proportions in any so what I had to do next was hold on the shift key while I was resizing the image. After that, I layered the resized image onto the background, specially into the screen of the tiny T.V. After that, is where I began to crop out the two images of me sitting by once again using the "lasso tool".
For the first image of me sitting, I cropped out my whole entire body (using the lasso tool) and copying/pasting it onto the canvas. I then, started to erase the cropped image until it was just my body showing and none of the original picture peaking through, After cropping the image, I dulled the opacity to create a sort of transparent image. After that, I resized the image using the same steps I had used before. Hit command "t", hold shift while resizing the image and place the image where I wanted it to be placed. The same steps for the first image of me sitting down goes for the other image of me sitting with one knee up and the other one down. Cropped it using the lasso tool, dulled the opacity and resized the image. Finally, I cropped out images of my arms, and repeated the same process of the pictures of me sitting down.
After pasting the images onto the canvas, I began to layer the images on top of one another but before doing that I had changed each of the cropped images's saturation to be lower and included a bit of a blur effect by using the blur filter. Once doing that, that is when I began to layer my first cropped image to the background I had chose, while placing a dark mustard yellow border around the background as well as the T.V in the right hand corner. Next, I chose to include a foreground that would contrast the very colorful background, I ended choosing a foreground that would be brown. The image I chose was a table that had words and symbols engraved into it. I, then layered this image underneath the two yellow, floral couches and background, however I did brighten and intensity the opacity of the image used for the foreground to contrast the background. Once completing that, this is when i began to add the images of myself.
I first began by cropping the image of hands around my throat by again using the "lasso tool" and then copying and pasting it onto to the canvas. However, when I cropped the image and pasted on to the canvas, I realized it was too way to big fit on the tiny T.V. what I had to next was to resize the image without distorting it or changing the proportions in any way, so in order to do that I had to make the image smaller by pressing command "t" which would automatically set up a way for you to resize the image (this is all done on a Mac book). When done pressing command "t", I began to make the image smaller. I had to make sure that I would not mess up the proportions in any so what I had to do next was hold on the shift key while I was resizing the image. After that, I layered the resized image onto the background, specially into the screen of the tiny T.V. After that, is where I began to crop out the two images of me sitting by once again using the "lasso tool".
For the first image of me sitting, I cropped out my whole entire body (using the lasso tool) and copying/pasting it onto the canvas. I then, started to erase the cropped image until it was just my body showing and none of the original picture peaking through, After cropping the image, I dulled the opacity to create a sort of transparent image. After that, I resized the image using the same steps I had used before. Hit command "t", hold shift while resizing the image and place the image where I wanted it to be placed. The same steps for the first image of me sitting down goes for the other image of me sitting with one knee up and the other one down. Cropped it using the lasso tool, dulled the opacity and resized the image. Finally, I cropped out images of my arms, and repeated the same process of the pictures of me sitting down.
Reflection
My artwork does display some of the elements of the inspiration I used, As stated before, I did note that there was very few similarities within my piece and Kahlo's "The Two Frida's" but I do believe that there is a vast difference between the two. Overall, I do believe I could have done more regarding using the tools in Photoshop. I feel as though my piece is not as strong as I had conceptualized it in the very beginning. There could be some tweaks added here and there but the piece is not the best I could have done or even the worst.
ACT Questions
Clearly explain how you are able to identify the cause effect relationship between your inspiration and its effect on your artwork?
- When comparing my digital collage to my inspiration, there is a connection between how it is seen visually. Previously, I had stated that within the movement of Figural Expressionism the artists wanted to create a deeper meaning beyond the truth. I believe that I had accomplished that. I also explained how I incorporated the ideas of the artwork of Frida within my piece.
What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
- Overall, I wanted to have my piece replicate the key idea of my essay, such as manipulation and losing oneself, which really tied into the idea of Figural Expressionism (deeper meaning beyond the truth).
What kind of generalization and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, culture, ect. while you researched your inspiration?
- I have come to the conclusion that art has a deeper meaning for others and each meaning can be interpreted differently by everyone. Figural Expressionism is meant to show the viewer an artwork that from a glance is a regular piece of art but in fact, the art work means something more for the artist.
What is the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
- The central idea around my inspirational research was to connect to the ideas of the artists (most specifically Frida) within the movement of Figural Expressionism.
What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
-Artists within this movement really wanted to hone into having a more meaningful meaning to be the main focus of the piece rather than the artwork.
- When comparing my digital collage to my inspiration, there is a connection between how it is seen visually. Previously, I had stated that within the movement of Figural Expressionism the artists wanted to create a deeper meaning beyond the truth. I believe that I had accomplished that. I also explained how I incorporated the ideas of the artwork of Frida within my piece.
What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
- Overall, I wanted to have my piece replicate the key idea of my essay, such as manipulation and losing oneself, which really tied into the idea of Figural Expressionism (deeper meaning beyond the truth).
What kind of generalization and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, culture, ect. while you researched your inspiration?
- I have come to the conclusion that art has a deeper meaning for others and each meaning can be interpreted differently by everyone. Figural Expressionism is meant to show the viewer an artwork that from a glance is a regular piece of art but in fact, the art work means something more for the artist.
What is the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
- The central idea around my inspirational research was to connect to the ideas of the artists (most specifically Frida) within the movement of Figural Expressionism.
What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
-Artists within this movement really wanted to hone into having a more meaningful meaning to be the main focus of the piece rather than the artwork.
Bibliography
“Nickolas Muray - Frida Painting ‘The Two Fridas.’” At 1stdibs, www.1stdibs.com/art/photography/portrait-photography/nickolas-muray-frida-painting-two-fridas/id-a_1601133/.
“The Two Fridas, 1939 by Frida Kahlo.” Frida Kahlo: 100 Famous Paintings, Complete Works, & Biography, www.fridakahlo.org/the-two-fridas.jsp#prettyPhoto[image1]/0/
“The Two Fridas, 1939 by Frida Kahlo.” Frida Kahlo: 100 Famous Paintings, Complete Works, & Biography, www.fridakahlo.org/the-two-fridas.jsp#prettyPhoto[image1]/0/