Line Assignment

For the line assignment, I created a piece similar to Hannah van Bart's. I focused mainly on recreating the line quality of her piece "Best Wishes" in a self-portrait. The body parts of the figure in both her piece and mine are dark, somewhat "wobbly" contour lines; they describe the form by becoming thicker or thinner (I used India ink for this). I also used a series of smaller lines throughout the piece, such as the ones scratched into the skirt and the bottom of the image with a paintbrush. Additionally, the painted background of van Bart's original piece may at first seem devoid of lines, but when the viewer looks more closely, he or she notices the lines created by the juxtaposition of different hues, values, and marks from the actual brush. I tried to achieve the same effect in the background of my image.

The composition of both pieces are structured in the same manner-- a single figure on a shallow ground. The large flat hands produce areas of contrast, thereby attracting the viewer's eye and creating movement around the page. The face of the figure plays a secondary role in the piece.
Details

Visual Storyboard

The Story Behind: "Best Wishes!" by Hannah van Bart, 2005 (found in Art in America, Sept. 2007).

A Brief Bio of the Artist:
Born 1963, Oud-Zuilen, Maassen
Lives and works in Amsterdam
Education:
1983-88 Gerrit Rietveld Academie, Amsterdam
1988-90 Rijksakademie van beeldende kunsten, Amsterdam


This piece is by Hannah van Bart, a Dutch painter. The man is depicted in a strange, almost childlike manner, with little importance placed on realism; more emphasis is placed on the awkward emotional content of the piece.

THE COMPOSITION:
The strong contrast of the whiteness of the hands compared to the rest of the piece makes them really pop out at the viewer. Additionally, the dark fur or material of the sleeves draws the viewer's attention to the pair of hands resting by the subject's sides. From here, the small fluttering ribbon on the left points upwards towards the man's third hand and face, where there is a second emphasis of sorts. The piece is somewhat monochromatic, and the line quality is very raw and unpolished. The figure is described with a combination of contour lines and outlines. This lends the piece a very fresh look; the artist has certainly tapped into her inner child to create this piece. Perhaps she was inspired by primitive art or children's drawings (examples below). It does not seem as though van Bart made a lot of preliminary drawings or sketches for the piece; it looks very spontaneous and unrehearsed.


The man has multiple hands, as well as multiple collars and ties. He is a little on the portly side, and looks like a tired middle-aged businessman.

Perhaps van Bart was inspired by the image of a balding businessman, perhaps he is someone she knows, or an image found in a newspaper or magazine.

Guerilla Art Assignment - Visual Language

Emotional Oxymoron Guerilla Art

For our first visual language assignment, we had to post non-destructive, non-toxic guerilla art on public property. Using washable tempera paint and a stencil, i created an image of a man frowning, with the text "smile." underneath it. It was meant to cause people to stop and contemplate this slightly ambiguous oxymoron.