(btw>>> All of the stuff written in red are irrelevant comments I'm making to myself so skip those!! It's so that in the future I can look back at these posts and remember my thought process.)
Artist statement:
I am interested in exploring negative space, symbolism, and hidden meanings through painting by literally concealing certain parts in my art. I aspire to blend realism and abstraction in an intriguing manner so that the viewer must actively engage/participate in the works to understand the conceptual aspects that are instilled in the piece.
Pictures of my piece:
Front:
Back:
I was inspired by Cristina Troufa, a Portuguese artist and teacher. In many of her works, she deals with negative space and portraits. She blends realism with abstraction and gains her inspiration from her culture.
“My work is always looked upon the world of women in Portugal. This is because each country has its customs even though there is always some resemblances. I paint the popular wisdom of sayings, the conversations I heard as a child among women, the folklore, stories of my life and my family. In most of my paintings I also paint animals because there is always an animal that represents certain situation or human character in the folklore. The purpose of my job is to show how I see the mentality and customs of the Portuguese society. I do not want to do a criticism but rather an exhibition. All the elements that appear in my paintings have always a meaning and a purpose.”
– Cristina Troufa
Here are some of her pieces: (By the way, not all of her works look like this! Some of her pieces are actually very very different, I just chose these because they're the ones I got inspiration from.)
1.
ahahAHAHA I JUST NOTICED THE TEENY WOMAN NEXT TO THE BIG ONE
OMG I've seen this picture a tHOUSAND TIMES AND I DIDN'T NOTICE IT TILL NOW
AHAHAHA
2.
Fun Fact I Forgot To Mention: I'm pretty sure these are all self-portraits!!
3.
The woman on the left looks like she's stealing the color from
the women on the right through the string.
4.
This is the photo that I found on Tumblr / How I found the
artist in the first place.
5.
Here's the artist next to the painting. I put this picture here so you
could see the painting in perspective. Because the first time I saw
her paintings next to other things/people it really tripped me out
because honestly her works are so realistic, vivid, and intricate that I
forget they are actual tangible paintings; it looks like she just took
some photos and modified them using photoshop.
This artist connects to what I'm investigating because I am also looking to deal with negative space and abstraction blended in with realism (warped reality). In addition, I would like to paint a lot of portraits but I'm not sure if I want my investigation to be limited to portraits only. I'm also going to put a twist on my future paintings that are inspired by her by painting in concealed places (ie. the back of the painting) to add to the mainly visible part of the work.
PS: I emailed her! Honestly I'm not expecting a reply because she's kind of big and also because I'm not sure if she speaks English but if she does, I'll add it here.
Links for more information:
- http://cristina-troufa.blogspot.com
- http://lucybdmuga.blogspot.com/2014/04/inspiration-cristina-troufa.html << analyzes Troufa's paintings (like the color, etc.).. wish I had this when I was making my painting.
- http://belopotosky.com/2012/07/04/cristina-troufa-paints-stories/ << where the quote came from
- http://www.ignant.de/2014/05/05/self-portraits-by-cristina-troufa/
Shalom, This is so great! You really have your interests in line! Also, wow! I'm excited to see how your work progresses over the semester. You are so talented and have a great direction already in line for this semester. It's interesting to see how you've taken your inspiration from Cristina Troufa and used it in your own piece in such a beautiful way!
ReplyDeletewow. honestly you are so good at this blog. i think you work is amazing and you are extremely talented. i really liked the artists work and the painting that you did of your friend looks a lot like what she could paint so thats really cool.
ReplyDeleteThis is so cool Shalom! I loved your piece at the art show! Watercolor is beyond frustrating to me, so I have no idea how your work is so detailed! (I almost want to say congrats??) I like the scale of the artist's work... would you be painting at the same scale, or smaller?
ReplyDeleteThanks! Regarding the question about the scale, I'm trying to paint on a bigger scale than I normally do, but I'm not sure if I want to make them as big as Troufa's paintings. Maybe close to her scale, though. I've actually thought about this a lot! For example, the piece that I did last semester (the picture I posted above) is 18x24 inches. Obviously, this is a lot smaller than Troufa's painting but it is the biggest piece I've ever done so far. I am planning on gradually enlarging my pieces because I am really only used to making generally small paintings. I'm trying to slowly pull myself out of my comfort zone.
DeleteGood question, Mary V. Shalom, I think that scale is to be considered when you are intending to ...". I'm also going to put a twist on my future paintings that are inspired by her by painting in concealed places (ie. the back of the painting) to add to the mainly visible part of the work.” Imagine both sides when thinking about a large scale piece vs. a small (i.e. 18 x 24 or larger as opposed to an 8 x 10 or smaller. Hum....food for thought.
DeleteMy favorite part about your work (other than how pretty and intricate it is) is the conceptuality of it. The idea of creating a warped reality is not only interesting to us, as classmates, but will also be impressive to AP readers! This is a great thought process. Is your work a 3D portfolio since it has a "back"? Also, would you do a piece where the majority of the piece is concealed, leaving small elements that might not fully disclose who or what the subject is?
ReplyDeleteThanks! And yes, My work is 3D because it is front and back. And regarding your second question>> Yes! That's a brilliant idea. I had several ideas of making paintings where the main idea (conceptual-wise, that is) of the painting is concealed, but I never thought about concealing the MAJORITY of the piece (as in subject matter). That's crazy good. I'm keeping that idea thanks Jenna.
DeleteGood suggestion, Jenna. Keep this conversation going. This is how work evolves...and its the beauty of the blog...chatting with other people and having fresh eyes/mind on a work or idea.
DeleteI really love your art work! It is so cool to see how you work and the positive and negative spaces and the way you mix your colors.
ReplyDeleteOkay Shalom this is seriously such a well written post. I LOVE this! I am interested in the fascination and interest you have with space. What made you first want to experiment with space?
ReplyDeleteThanks! The idea of experimenting with space actually didn't come to me initially. The main idea I was trying to convey with the painting I did was the hidden meaning that was in separating two parts of the painting, but still keeping them together in the same piece (if that makes sense). The negative space just came with the idea that I was trying to accomplish, and then I realized negative space itself is an intriguing concept, so I decided to explore it.
DeleteShalom,check out this artist: may or may not be of interest to you:
Deletehttp://elizabethalexanderstudio.com/index.php?/statement/
Shalom, excellent post, model example. Keep up the thorough work, citations, etc. It will pay off ... it will just make you hungry for more - which is one of my goals.:) Enjoy and make, make more.
Delete