Symbolic Self Portrait 16-08-12

First lesson of the year and we are already thrown into a new unit; this time an extension of last year's icon unit. The new unit is symbolic self portrait and will be composed of a painting of you with imagery or symbolism linked to it. In this first lesson we looked at what the unit would be about (obviously), different known artists and examples, as well as some of the previous year’s works. This entry will however be more about my ideas, as well as an artist/painting I will discuss.

Ideas so far

I have two major ideas so far which I will discuss here.

The first is a picture of a 'seigman' with my face on it playing football with different signs which float around which I associate myself with. The aspect I really like about this idea is that I can really associate myself to the picture and it is 100% my idea. The negative aspect is that it can be hard to create a realistic painting of this...

The second idea is an abstract painting with me present in a playing card. This is a good idea, but the idea is not mine: we a similar example on the slideshow Mr. Roman showed us in class. Over the next week I will have to decide on the final project, but I must say that I think I prefer the 'seigmann'. I could also do different versions of the two ideas.

Inspirational artist - Pablo Picasso

Here I will discuss Picassos and one of his self portraits. I specifically chose this artist and this painting because it is painted and made in such a way that you can get information even if the self portrait in the first view looks very ordinary. On the picture you can see a self portrait of him; the lines are bold and very straight, something which might implement his character or just his style of painting. he has played on his bold characteristics: big nose, wide open eyes etc. The background colour is orange/red and might show his anger towards a certain subject.

What do I like?

The aspect I really like with this artwork is that it is quite simplistic, but you still get a certain mood with the picture and a sense of Picasso's character. The painting is also quite accurate and you could easily see of who the picture is. This is an aspect that is very important to this unit

What don't I like?

Seen from a symbolic self portrait view there is one major thing that I do not like. This is that there are almost no symbols hidden in the picture. This could have given the painting an extra dimension. It would also give some extra meaning to the picture.

What aspects will I try to use in my own work?

There are several aspects which I will try to take into my own work. The first link I will try to make is the resemblance between the painting and him. Like Picasso, I will also try to play with the dominant traits in the persons face. The use of colour is also quite inspirational and something I will try to use in my drawing. When this is said I will try to make my painting a little less rough and with more symbols.