Art Review PART 2 !!VIEW PART 1 FIRST!!

This piece was difficult with finding the right colour palette for each dragon and their respected landscapes but eventually, I found a suitable colour scheme for each. This contributes all the dragons into one and shows that they are connected to each other. The difference between dragons is easily despicable due to the colours. I feel like at the bottom was the epitome of my skill while it gradually faded when resuming to the top. I think this is because of the stress of not finishing this piece on time that I had only finished it to a bare minimum of what I could have done, had I stopped procrastinating and had time to finish it properly. This was the biggest piece of the board. There were no initial changes to my original layout of this piece due to no time for redoing but I was particularly happy with the design, just not the outcome. Acrylic paint was my chosen medium.

 On this piece, I think it should have been put as one of my final paintings due to the details and the efficient outcome. Unfortunately, I had to place it on the first board due to it going with the story of the board. I was truly focused on this work which is why I am happy with how it turned out. This shows the connection the dragons have with mother earth, be it a motherly bond which is shown by a traditional hōngi. The hōngi represents spreading your ‘life force’ to the other person, which intermingles the 2 breaths, making them one, and it is also a sign of respect. The setting sun indicates the end of an era transpiring to the start of a new era. I made the hills and the woman’s face the same colour to show she was one with nature or has SOME connection to it. Initially, I was going to paint a dragon curling around her, in a protective manner but this idea won the battle. Acrylic paint was my chosen medium.

 This piece took me a while to get the skin tones the right shades of what I wanted them to be. Eventually, it all came together and formed a piece I am happy with. This was based off a surrealism piece. The cage at the bottom indicating that the dragons were trapped between them (the start of the Māori creation story of Ranginui and Papatuanuku). Rangi and Papa being so immersed into one another that they do not acknowledge their sons. The crowns on their heads are references to not entirely what they control but a connection to them. Rangi being clouds (the sky) and Papa with flowers (Nature/ the earth). The cracks running up Rangi’s neck are referencing to the skin/scale on 2 of their son’s bodies. The backdrop is black due to there being nothing at the start. Te Kore translating to the nothingness. Acrylic paint was my chosen medium.

 This was a very interesting concept I put together and was happy with. At first, I didn’t use my head and tried painting everything when I could have just used coloured paper for the backdrop and so I chucked what I was doing and started again. I am almost happy with it but if I had sized it up properly it could have gone on the board properly. The lock, claws, tail, eyes and jail cell bars are cut-outs are all layered together. I really like how this piece is layered. I had not considered the size and made it too big so I had to cut the size to length to make it fit properly on my second board. The lock is detailed to show the cracks forming on it. This refers to Tanemahuta being the one to separate his parents (Ranginui and Papatuanuku). He is ‘breaking the chains’ of him and his brothers being locked away because of their parents. Acrylic paint was my chosen medium.

 This 4 piece is one concept put together. The glitch gives off a sense of what is being seen as a false reality. Something that is broken and can’t be fixed. This refers to their love and adoration for each other but now they are far apart and cannot come into contact. The dark and angry clouds being Ranginui and the falling petals in the night being Papatuanuku. They are not what they used to be. They are holding each other in an embrace while their sons are stuck between them, a reference to the beginning of the creation story. Acrylic paint was my chosen medium.

 This piece is a reference to Man Rays ‘lips’, where lips are seen above the horizon in fluorescent orange. I took that piece and made a creation of my own. Instead of lips, I chose a crying eye gazing down upon the earth. The eye being Ranginui’s because he is crying for his wahine, Papatuanuku, who is beneath him but out of reach. Using black silhouettes I incorporated the 4 dragons that are shown on board 1 to show that they are still relevant to the board. One thing I dislike about this is that the sand is too yellow and I couldn’t change it because it was too much of a hassle. Water paint and acrylic paint was my chosen mediums.

 This piece is 2 hands trying to reach each other. One from the sky (Rangi) and a tree forming a hand (Papa) with the dragons flying around the tree. This is a visual representation of Rangi and Papa trying to touch each other and gives off a sense of longing and grief. It represents how close they are yet they cannot seem to meet. The dragons hovering around their mother shows their bond to Papatuanuku. It seems as if they are protecting her, which they are. They prevent others from harming her. This was my favourite piece on my 2 boards. Contrast is shown by the hands being opposing colours. The quote “opposites attract” can apply to this since they are particularly opposite. He is air and she is solid ground. They contradict each other in a way but still love each other wholeheartedly. Acrylic paint was my medium.

 This introduces the new era of the world compared to when there was just pure nature. The koru in the middle is used to show this time difference. I thought it would have been appropriate to use a koru considering it is a common design nationwide because of its Maori origins. I was not happy with how this turned out because the tips of the black and blue were meant to blend into the koru also there is no detail on either side. Water paint was my chosen medium.

This was my final piece on my board which shows a landscape of the modern world with all the dragons respected lands. It shows them hiding and only tiny glimpses are seen of them since they would not want to be seen. I am not happy with this piece but this is all I could produce considering my time frame. I guess it’s passable but I am still annoyed at myself for letting myself fall to a small time frame to do my final works.

 This piece was made with Photoshop on a mac. It is like the concluding piece of the dragons being the centre of attention where the dragons bask in the light of the setting sun. Where you can see the dragons in all their glory. I really liked this digital piece and it makes me wish I experimented with Photoshop sooner so I would have more digital pieces on my boards. The colours really stand out and Tawhirimatea is the focus on the piece because he is the 'guardian' of the mountain tops considering he is the god of the winds and weather. His power relates to his father's up in the sky.

This is the final product of my year long journey on my Level 1 art portfolio;

I am happy with the way my board has turned out even though it lacks some potential to get me to the stage I wanted to go to. Considering the story of the board I should have started with the creation story and then introduce the dragons since they come after when the earth was created. But I couldn't switch the top 2 columns of the first board because then it lacks skill and colour development for the second board and I didn't have time to start over. I think maybe rethink the dimensions for some of the paintings and place them properly on the board. Other than those points I am quite happy with how it came out. Better than nothing! :)

Art history piece

Surrealism

“Anatomies” created by Man Ray (Emmanuel Radnitzky), 1929

Gelatin silver print

Art Analysis

Source: https://canvas.saatchiart.com/art/art-history-101/the-10-most-famous-works-by-man-ray

This wonderful artwork was created by Man Ray (Emmanuel Radnitzky), in 1929. 

Composition

In this photograph there is a female posing with her head leaned back and her neck exposed.
Lee Miller, an American photographer and Man Ray's former lover, is believed to be the model.
Having the backdrop and the rest of her head blacked out is a great effect which solely directs the
audience's attention to her neck. With the neck being one of the most intimate places on a woman, it
makes her vulnerable. Intimacy is a gesture shown between two physically close people. It also
shows she is submissive. Also, this position is expressed when in a state of intense pleasure but
can also be expressed when in overwhelming pain. He is also converting the human body to show
an animalistic desire. He often likes working with concepts that contrast each other all in one
composition so for this piece, Man Ray is forcing the audience to balance the tension between
desire and pain. Also, the focal point of her chin forces your eye to follow from the neck down to
the collarbone. This personally, makes me feel a kind of need to mark it because of her flawless
porcelain skin. 

Colour

The photograph is coloured in black and white, considering that colour processing with film had not
been accessible yet, black and white film is all that artists, in particular, had access to. This gives
the image the effect of high contrast highlighting the light and dark zones on her neck more boldly
to draw the viewer’s eye towards her neck.

Techniques

Man Ray has captured this piece using gelatin silver print as his medium. The photograph
has 22.6cm x 17.2cm as its dimensions, which is just smaller than an A4 piece of paper.
The camera is positioned a bit lower than her collarbone and angled up so we can see the entirety
of the front of her bare neck. Using this, Man Ray has caught our attention and we can interpret
just what he is trying to get across to us. Vulnerability, intimateness and expression.

Art history thoughts

Since my portfolio is focussed on surrealism I chose Man Ray as one of my influences and I like his style. I really like his artworks when his points come across quite solidly. He has a unique technique like all the other famous artists. The body and face of women are frequently used in his art. While I was going through many different artists that focus on surrealism, Man Ray was one of the only artists where I could find accurate info on when it comes to his art, and he intrigued me. And so I used one of his arts, named "Anatomies", as my analysing subjects for my art history.

Imagery

It means to use our thoughts and ideas and paint it out into a visual representation. It is to further impact an idea.

2 examples of Imagery:

"I wandered lonely as a cloud. That floats on high o'er vales and hills. When all at once I saw a crowd, a host of golden daffodils. Beside the lake, beneath the trees, fluttering and dancing in the breeze" -William Wordsworth

"The woods are lovely, dark and deep, but I have promises to keep..."-Robert Frost

My own example:

My heart is beating, red and alive but my brain thinks I should die.

Antithesis

Antithesis is a literary technique where two ideas are put together in one sentence and they contradict each other. Antithesis literally translates to 'opposite'. The effect this has is to emphasise the contrast of the two ideas. This is used for the readers to clearly see the opposing ideas and why they are so contradicting from each other.

2 well-known uses for Antithesis.
"To err is human: to forgive is divine" -Alexander Pope
"Better to reign in hell than serve in heav'n" -John Milton

My own example:
The sun is a symbol of happiness but the rain is sadness. Why is that? Some people find joy in the plundering rain while others find the glimmering sun to be the cause of happiness.

Anaphora

Anaphora is a deliberate repetition at the start of consecutive sentences to create an emotional effect. The effect this language feature provides is to emphasise the said text. This is used for the author to emotionally connect to his/her readers.

2 well-known examples of Anaphora:
"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair." Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities

"It is too rash, too unadvised, too sudden, too like the lightning." Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet

My own example:
"It is feeding on my thoughts. It is scratching and crawling it's way to my very soul. It is creating an improving facade of a walking daydream just to grasp my heart tighter. It is making me a mindless zombie, obeying it's every command. It is controlling me. This thing called love."

Art Review PART 1

This my plan for my first board. A representation of where my papers are going to be placed and how big or small they are. The dimensions of every paper are recorded to size as well.

Then I cut out all the needed paper for my boards.

Next, are all my ideas of what I am going to put on my board. A brainstorm of every idea I had and colour palettes ill be using. I ended up coming up with the idea of dragons but manipulated into something to do with the Maori gods. For example, Tanemahuta, the god of the forests, will be a dragon with bark-like skin and ferocious gold eyes. I have 4 gods I want to focus on throughout my boards.

Next are just practise drawings and paintings for my boards.

And by the end of the practice phase, I finalised my decision and started on my first paintings for my board. Using Indian ink and charcoal I created a background texture on all four paintings. Obviously, each colour represents a god. Red for Ruaumoko, yellow for Tanemahuta, blue for Tawhirimatea and purple for Tangaroa. Then using white pastel I added highlights to each piece. This is the work I did in term 1.

 A lot of planning and sketching occurred during producing my art works for my boards. On the left are sketches of dragons I possibly could have used and also familiarising myself with dragon anatomy. On the right are my perceptions of Ranginui and Papatuanuku. They are in humanoid form because it is easier to understand my story by using this form yet they can come in many different ways.

On the left is my final planning for the ends of my boards. Using space to calculate the possibilities of my future pieces and to somewhat give me an idea of what I want. To the right is a quick sketch of a face that shows the tone of a humans face. Or presumably of where some of the shadows would go.

 These are used to show my understanding of tone.

News report

Rumours had been floating around for several months. Our prideful Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, had been spotted frequently at underground clubs but the government and herself were denying all claims. There are only a small amount of blurry pictures from bystanders but they only catch small features that resemble her. So we couldn't be sure. Well, now we can. One drunken night she posted pictures of her in a silk red dress holding a martini and dancing on a man on the dancefloor. The scandalous pictures were immediately taken down but it was too late. Several of her followers had viewed it. An apology is set for next Monday for her scandalous doings. She just has to hope that no one will remember this event.

I, Robot.

I, robot reflection:

Did you enjoy this film? Why/ why not?
I enjoyed this film because I had not seen it before so everything was new to me.

Who was your favourite and least favourite character and why?
My favourite was Detective Spooner (Will Smith) because he never gave up on his personal opinion and didn't let others persuade him otherwise. And he was determined to figure out why Doctor Lanning took his life because there was an underlying reason behind it.
My least favourite is Lt. John Bergin (Chi McBride) because even though there were clues as to why the robots were acting out and proof for Detective Spooners "accusations", he still chose to ignore the signs and only believe in the 3 laws.

What did you think of the ending?
The ending covered up everything and tied up all the unanswered questions throughout the film but I just wonder what Sonny will do with the remaining NS-5's.

How would you have ended it differently?
Not taking anything out but adding on to the end. Like the police departments reactions to Detective Spooners correct claims and what Sonny does in the future. Also if Detective Spooner and Doctor Calvin become an item.

What themes/messages/ideas do you think the director was trying to get across?
Everyone's got a reason for their prejudice against something.
Sometimes unbelievable accusations can become reality.
That environment could be our society in a couple of decades.
Always consider the impossible.