The Artist Statement-- "Sheep!"

I have written, edited, re-written, and labored over my artist statement for this body of work (my beloved "Sheep!"); some of the things I mention in the statement will not correspond to the work I have already produced, but to the works in progress that I am completing for my senior show. So please bear with me. Without further ado... ta-da! :)

Sheep are merely vehicles of expression. They invite you in with their cuteness and you relate to them because you, too, have felt mindless in your daily routines. Instead of drawing and painting nameless human subjects, as I have done previously to the point of discombobulation, I present you with the iconographic qualities of a sheep. The wooly little things are just so personable. My sheep are painted with Apple Barrel craft acrylic—the first paint I ever learned how to use—on twin flat sheets of varying and completely purposeful colors. Just like the stains left by a child who had too much water before bed-time, the sheep are found in their own narrative situations and examined as traces of anxiety and inevitability. They will guide you through my sensitivity, my loneliness and my exquisite joy: feelings of a child’s heart pounding away in a grown-up’s body and a child’s brain in possession of a grown-up’s hands.

Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! I spent this Thanksgiving with family and friends (a pretty big crowd), and I must say... I have to start getting used to a certain question. A certain probing question that I believe all studio art majors must face at some point: "So after you graduate... what are you going to do?" I'm going to be an artist. "But... what are you going to do?" Well, frankly, Aunt Gretta, I'm going to exploit the wealth of older people such as yourself who consider what I'm creating a worthwhile investment. Cue big smile.

No, on a serious note, I try to handle that question as best as I can; I have no qualms admitting that I'll take any job I can get until I can (cross your fingers!) support myself through my artwork, and then I further explain my pursuit of gallery representation and eventually moving my little art community to the big city. Oh New York, you haunt my dreams. After answering thusly, I still get a look of pseudo-understanding (perhaps mixed with a little pity) and then the person moves on to the next guest. C'est la vie, Aunt Gretta! I'll update you again when I've made the big time, I promise. :)

A few more days of bliss, and then I'll return to my job. I'll be sure to update as soon as I have pictures of my b&w sheep maquettes.

Sheep: Round Two

No titles as of yet, but... here are the prototypes. :) I like the colors, myself, but then I started deviating from the bi-color theme and became a little depressed with my choices. Back to the drawing board! (literally.)

Sheep!

So I've been working on my senior seminar portfolio all semester (and a good portion of last year, too!) and my ideas have morphed time and time again. I started out with the theme of fairytales and children's literature (typically portrayed through illustration), in an attempt to transfer what is typically not considered a fine art "topic" to a fine art medium and style. My piece, "Work of My Life," was actually supposed to be one of the starter pieces for this series--if you look very closely, the shadow in the foreground belongs to none other than Jack Frost, pointed elfish clothing and all (in reality, the shadow belongs to my dear friend, Brian). But as I finished that piece and began to move on to my next few that I had planned, I felt bogged down and out of sorts; to say that I have commitment issues with my artwork would be an understatement. "Work of My Life" had won Best in Show, doing what I asked of it, and I felt as if it was time to move on.

My next theme would be somewhat similar to my original, in that I would be using photorealism with a touch of fantasy and abstraction to convey my feelings on the art community I'm currently involved in and those brilliant artists who have come before me. Namely Salvador Dali--may he rest in peace and in his exquisite joy. I wanted to draw "critiques" and "tributes" of my peers, my faculty, my inspirations, and myself (the "portrait of me" was of my boyfriend, Hunter, and was one of the critiques; he looked like a proud peacock perched upon an art room table). I loved the portraiture I was using, and I was feeling very confident with my style and my compositions--until one fateful day when I dropped a microwavable pizza pie on my favorite piece. I resigned myself to cutting off and matting the offending stained area, but I think that was the day where a switch flipped in my mind: the commitment phobe in me was getting tired of this theme. Oh dear.

So I flopped...er... flip-flopped again. Mind you, this change was absolutely necessary! I had spilled meat-lovers PIZZA on my ARTWORK. I still recoil a little on the inside when I remember that clumsy moment...and what I could have done to prevent it. Anyway, the new theme was completely different than the old. Completely different style, completely different medium, completely different mindset. I was tired of focusing on the negatives in my little art world; I needed to give myself (and those poor people I targeted in my artwork) a break and a change of scenery. Aaaand here we are:

sheep.







At first I thought I would use only the two colors (cadmium red light and a mixture of titanium white and pthalocyline blue [green shade]), and I did. Six paintings came and went, and by the time I had "finished" the sixth (part of an oddly set-up tryptich), well... you guessed it. THIS COUNTRY NEEDS CHANGE! and so do I. I need it like I need my imitation-down pillows after a long day (and night?) in the studio and bouncing back and forth between classes. This time, the change hasn't been so drastic... although I did get quite the reaction from my professor. I think she was under the impression that I was revising everything. Silly professor, I'm not THAT crazy; our first huge deadline is only two weeks away!

What I have decided to do is re-design all of my compositions to be black and white. This has meant some obvious (and very difficult, at times) compositional shifts--color fields cannot appear on top of one another when one is merely using black paint. One of my biggest epiphanies thus far (in my newly revamped series) has been that...instead of changing the entire layout of my painting... I could simply have a white sheep on a black "color" field. It was absolutely mind-blowing, I kid you not.

Well, it's back to the grind--and eventually to bed--so I will update again when I have more pictures and more progress. :) Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.