Inspiration/Theme
Faith Ringgold is a mixed media artist that excels at displaying African American culture and struggles through her work. Her work inspired me to capture different cultures in a series of masks that function in the pandemic. Ringgold essentially bring two sides together in her art work, similar to my mask making. The other inspiration pieces are authentic articles of Indian dress wear, courtesy of my friend. All three masks are inspired by each of my friends respective cultures: Scottish, Indian, and Spaniard.
.Murakami's "The Elephant Vanishes" touches on reality vs the absurd in each of the protagonists' lives. To further my theme of identities and relationships, I decided to base this last mask on his book.
Process/Experimentation
Here is my first drawing. The idea was to have "the elephant vanish" into the seam.
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Here I was mimicking the latest version of the book, but instead of polka dots, it would be parts of the elephant.
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Since the parts of the elephant looked bad, a decided to have tiny Elephants.
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Side profile of mask.
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Front view of mask.
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Here, I cut out the outside layer of the mask.
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Here, I cut the inside layer of the mask. Used as a filter.
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This is when I sewed the two outside pieces together to form the completed outside layer. Cut are made along the seam for bendability,
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here is the filter layer sewn together,
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Here is where I connected them to form the mask.
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Once sewed together, I flipped them to the right position. Then I ironed on the polka dots.
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Compare and Contrast
Similarities:
Black Light Series #12: Part Time, 1969, oil on canvas, 59 3/4 in x 84:
The Elephant Vanishes:
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Differences:
Black Light Series #12: Part Time, 1969, oil on canvas, 59 3/4 in x 84:
The Elephant Vanishes:
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Reflection/IB ACT Questions
Clearly explain how you are able to identify the cause-effect relationships between your inspiration and its effect upon your artwork:
- My theme of identity and relationships through culture and my color scheme were directly influenced by my inspirations.
- Faith Ringgold's approach to displaying the cultural aspect identities and relationships is displaying caricatures in such a way that their positions imply societal concepts.
- One generalization I made is how Murakami would make a mask if given the chance..
- My central theme for all of my projects is identities and relationships.
- I made the inference that Ringgold depicts cultural identity through her artwork.
Bibliography
Faith Ringgold. (2020). Retrieved October 15, 2020, from https://www.faithringgold.com/