IMAG(E)INE
"The People"
Size: 91.44 cm x 91.44 cm Medium: Screen Print Completion: October 2018 Exhibition Text "The People" is a silk screen that is inspired by Diego Rivera's art in order to portray community. This piece reflects the lives of Mexican people and how they work as a community to better their town, city, and country. |
Inspiration
My inspiration for this piece was Diego Rivera. Diego Rivera is a memorable figure in 20th century art. Earlier in his career he dabbled in cubism and later started to work with post impressionism. His work was full of political themes. He wanted his art to be reflective of the lives of Mexican people which is something that I wanted to convey in my piece. I remembered learning about Diego Rivera in art history. So I looked through my notes and wrote some ideas down.
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Planning Sketches
For the first sketch I was originally going to use the photo that was previously mentioned as the background. Then I was going to draw a child hugging their parent.
Then for the second sketch I was planning to do a more geometric background. I used the colors of Mexico's flag. I remember doing this during art history when we did our cubism self portraits. I was applying the same technique. The third sketch had a similar concept to the second sketch. This was more simplistic and abstract. |
Experimentation
These were initially going to be my backgrounds. I decided to change the background because I thought the image was too busy and I was afraid that the image would not be printed very clearly.
Process
The background was inspired from a picture I took when I went to Mexico to see family. The materials I used are watercolor paper, watercolor brushes, and gouache. I then began to sketch the image out. Then I started to paint. I first painted the mountain in the background. Then I painted the buildings. I added the final details. Then I added the people walking along the town. Once the painting was completed, I took a picture of it, and imported into Photoshop. In Photoshop, I just turned up the brightness since the image was dark and you couldn't see the details as well.
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Now I had to create a stencil. I had two different ideas for a stencil. The first option was a chain and the second option was a butterfly. I chose the butterfly. To create the stencil I used freezer paper. I traced out the image onto the paper and then used an x-acto knife to cut it out very carefully. |
Now that the background is printed and the stencil was made, it was time to head to MIAD. When we entered the room were given various materials:
- A silk screen printer
- A squeegee (this tool was used to spread the acrylic ink across the printer
- Acrylic ink
- Plastic spoons (used to mix and pour acrylic ink onto printer)
Critique
Compare and Contrast
Similarities
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Reflection
There are many differences between my piece and Rivera's piece but that's not what I was worried about. I wanted to make sure that I understood and conveyed his themes through my piece because those are statements and themes that I believe in. Some challenges were from screen printing. We first did some practice ones and those surprisingly turned out fine. But the first one that I placed on my background did not turn out the way I wanted it to, The acrylic ink was not spread out thoroughly and wasn't putting even pressure so that the ink can transfer onto the background. But through those challenges came successes. One thing that I thought was successful was my background. I really liked how that came out. Although, I didn't really how the people turned out. Another success would be that some of the stencils came out very smooth and clean. Like I said before I could have improved on the people on my background and also my technique with screen printing. A lot of the time I wasn't putting enough pressure. That resulted in some of the images looking not as smooth and patchy.
ACT Responses
Clearly explain how you are able to identify the cause effect relationship between your inspiration and its effect on your artwork.
-My inspiration was Diego Rivera. He uses more brighter hues such as red, yellow, and orange which is something that I incorporated. I also wanted to convey similar beliefs and themes that he had which was community
What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
-When Diego was creating his murals, there were more political themes involving the Mexican and Russian Revolution. His also wanted to convey the lives of Mexican people.
What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, culture, etc while you researched your inspiration?
-I discovered that not many people now what is going on in the world. There are a lot of assumptions and stereotypes.
What is the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
-Since I am Mexican, I wanted to portray the lives and atmosphere of Mexican people. I also wanted to convey the theme of community.
What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
-The inferences I created was that Diego Rivera wanted people to understand and learn on what is going on in the world specifically to Mexican people.
-My inspiration was Diego Rivera. He uses more brighter hues such as red, yellow, and orange which is something that I incorporated. I also wanted to convey similar beliefs and themes that he had which was community
What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
-When Diego was creating his murals, there were more political themes involving the Mexican and Russian Revolution. His also wanted to convey the lives of Mexican people.
What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, culture, etc while you researched your inspiration?
-I discovered that not many people now what is going on in the world. There are a lot of assumptions and stereotypes.
What is the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
-Since I am Mexican, I wanted to portray the lives and atmosphere of Mexican people. I also wanted to convey the theme of community.
What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
-The inferences I created was that Diego Rivera wanted people to understand and learn on what is going on in the world specifically to Mexican people.
Bibliography
“Diego Rivera, His Life and Art.” Diego Rivera - Paintings,Murals,Biography of Diego Rivera, www.diegorivera.org/.