“The World of the Artistic
Documentation” (100 Word Statement)
In life, each individual is creating their own story threads while living out life’s events and making impactful memories. Expressing our thoughts, feelings, and memories with other individuals is something that we crave to share daily or weekly. Inspired by digital photography and the passages of weekly horoscopes, I allow observers to glimpse into my story and its memories that I recall and experience in my life through a series of illustrated paintings. The images that are symbolic to my Taurus sign are unique to the story that I aim to express through my brushstrokes and my photographic lens.
"The World of the Artistic Documentation" (Long Artist Statement)
In life, each individual is
creating their own story threads while living out life’s events and making
impactful memories. Memories (both positive and negative) are formed through
our daily actions. Based on these occurrences, we want to figure out a way to
express our emotions, preserve our thoughts, and share those memories with the
individuals that we love and follow. Expressing my daily life and sharing my
memories of past weekly occurrences is something that I enjoy recalling with my
family and close peers. Through my continuous documentation, I mentally and
physically record particular events and situations. For each photograph that I
capture with my camera or an experience that I write down in my journal, I
document feelings, emotions, and events. They are symbolic to what has occurred
within my life, whether it is an experience that occurred within the week or an
event that occurred in the past.
I gain my inspiration for my painting series by living my life. As a basis for my series, every Saturday, I pick up a copy of my weekly arts and entertainment newspaper, the Metroland, and flip to the back of the paper to read my Taurus horoscope message. As I read the passage, my mind begins to flashback to events that have occurred within that given week and I analyze how the message is significant to my life. Once I interpret the message, I look through a series of images that I’ve photographed throughout the years that best fits both the horoscope’s meaning, an emotion that I felt, and showcases the story behind the experience.
The imagery I paint in my horoscope series may seem randomized at first, but each image that I paint has its own story behind it. What I choose to replicate is symbolic to the events or emotions that I may have felt about a given situation. For example, a painting depicting a series of lobster traps floating in the Atlantic Ocean may symbolize the feeling of being overwhelmed or trapped.
Depending on its complexity, I eliminate the unnecessary details in the background and replace it with a simpler backdrop that best fits the narrative of my painting. Depending on how impactful the horoscope meaning is, I also combine symbolic imagery that I believe best fits what I’m expressing. In my recent painting, “Mentors: Week of December 26, 2013” (2014, acrylic on canvas paper, 12”x16”), I’ve included my two mentors, my piano teacher and art professor who’ve been guiding me in the right direction towards increasing my skill level in the subjects that I’m passionate about for the past few years. Behind the image, these subjects are connected by being both visual artists and musicians that share their gifts with other individuals.
Whether it’s attending a friend’s concert inside a restaurant or just recording my observations and feelings in a blog or notebook, the idea of documentation and preserving memories is a constant factor not only in my life, but also in my art. I’m allowing viewers to get a glimpse of what it’s like to live through my life through my series of paintings, digital photography, and recordings.
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