"Queen"
Photography August 2022 |
Exhibition Text This photography project was created using a Canon T3i Rebel DSLR camera and a flashlight. My intention for this project was to create a photograph that represented me and my personality and overall connect to my identity theme. The artist I chose as my inspiration is a Neo-expressionism artist named Jean-Michel Basquiat whose art features various abstract figures, colors, and crowns. I had the idea to create this piece to specifically express myself through an abnormal and uncommon medium.
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Critical Investigation
Inspiration
Jean-Michel Basquiat was a popular Neo-Expressionism artist who thrived in the late 1900's. His art works had a large positive and cultural impact on art in the black community. He explored his vivid and subjective painting techniques after his rise to fame as a part of a graffiti duo called SAMO. His paintings can be often read as abstract because of how difficult it is to make out the figures Basquiat creates. A notable painting that was created by Basquiat in 1984 is still being heavily debated regarding it's meaning. The painting features what appears to be a man holding a trumpet with a crown on his head and the word "DEE" written in the center of the paper. The vibrant hues are very primary and they complement the abstract nature of the art. The line work is also particularly interesting because unlike many other artists, Basquiat's line work appears very elementary. However, there is beauty in the "unintentionally meticulous" placement of every line. I honestly don't know how to interpret this piece but I appreciate it's beauty and the choices Basquiat made when creating this piece. Another notable painting done by Jean-Michel Basquiat is called Pez Dispenser. Similarly to trumpet, the painting depicts a figure wearing a crown, however in this painting a dinosaur is wearing the crown rather than a person and just like the title, the dinosaur greatly resembles a Pez dispenser. In this painting there is a wider range of different hues and because of the bright yellow, his signature crown is more prominent and noticeable. Although each painting could have many different meanings, the brights colors and line work could represent Basquiat's childhood. Just like I previously stated the use of primary colors and line work seems very elementary and childlike in a very positive way. Even the names of each painting like "Pez Dispenser" sounds childlike as Pez is usually a candy eaten by children. Although all of his paintings have different meanings, I personally think this dinosaur painting represents his childhood in some way. I felt a connection to his artwork because of the symbols he puts into his pieces and the colors that he uses. A big word in my vocabulary that I use often is queen so the abstract crown that Basquiat puts in his paintings really drew me to his art. For this project, I wanted to be able to recreate this signature crown to represent myself in a unique way just like Basquiat does in many of his paintings.
Planning
For these planning sketches I wanted to experiment with different shapes and artists that I could use for this photography project. I knew that I wanted to include a symbol that represented me and a my personality so I already had to ideas to make a crown before I even started planning however I wanted to be able to weigh out all of my options. To begin with the first planning page, I knew that I wanted to make this project all about photography and light art because a couple months back I saw this really cool video on Tiktok of an artist with the username darius_twin making art with just a camera and a light. I also knew that I didn't have access to color lights as they are pretty pricey so I knew that my color scheme was going to be black and white which fortunately matches up with the art that Basquiat makes. I also drew out a picture of the specific camera that I would be using to eventually take the photos, a Canon EOS Rebel T3i DSLR. I also planned out potential shapes I wanted to make so I sketched out a moon to represent my grandma because she would often say "I love you to the moon and back" and she is a big part of who I am today. However, I decided that I would go with my original design of a crown because it represented me as a person better. Moving onto my artist inspiration, I chose to work with the paintings created by artist Jean-Michel Basquiat. His signature crown was drawn in the exact style that I envisioned and I loved his art style. I loved how his lines weren't always clean and simplicity of most of his pieces was just really beautiful. Finally, I sketched of the shape of the crown I wanted to create and I landed on the third option listed above, however, in the final photograph I added some curve to the edges of the crown. I also knew that I wanted the crown to look a little messy just like Basquiat's paintings because I wanted to create an abstract/graffiti looking final product.
Process
I decided that I wanted to take the pictures in a pitch black environment so that the light would be extremely vibrant so I waited till it was dark and at around 9:30 I went outside and started to set up my camera. Thankfully my aunt was there and was able to hold the camera while I decided what I was going to paint first. For my light source, I used a flash light that had multiple light widths so as a test run I used the thick end of the flashlight and drew a few swirls. I tried to work as fast as I could however, after this picture was taken, I realized that 2 seconds was far too short so I upped the exposure to 4 seconds. This way I would be able to add more details to my final product without having to rush through it. The extra time also allowed me to think about my design so that I wasn't rushing while trying to complete it faster.
Moving onto the final product, I started off by drawing the basic crown shape however, I drew it too slow so I wasn't able to complete the design. I also again accidentally pointed the flashlight directly at the camera so the image appeared to be over exposed in certain places. I also wasn't extremely happy with the overall shape of the crown because I wanted it to curve outward more rather than in towards the center.
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To begin with this project, I started off by borrowing my aunts Canon EOS Rebel T3i DSLR camera. I first needed to change the settings of the camera in order to up the exposure to capture a satisfactory photo. To begin, I turned the camera onto manual mode and set the exposure to two seconds. Next, I set the ISO to 100 and then finally I set the F-stop to between f/8 and f/22. After I finished changing the settings, I was ready to start taking some pictures.
The next picture I took I wanted to test out another design and decided to go with one I was already considering, a moon. During the drawing process of this moon, I accidentally pointed the flashlight directly at the camera which caused the picture to become over exposed and blurry. I learned that because of this, when I start on my final product, I would need to hold my flashlight off to the side so that the final product wouldn't distort.
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Finally, after a few attempts, I was able to achieve a few final products that I was happy with however I chose to use the one on the right as my final product because I loved how it looked similar to the graffiti art style that Jean-Michel Basquiat uses in his paintings. It also resembled his famous crown signature that he uses in his paintings the most. In the end I was extremely happy with outcome and it honestly turned out better than I expected.
Experimentation
I am extremely unfamiliar with cameras and photography so before I even started the assignment I had my aunt teach me some photography basics. I then had to get the settings correct on the camera so I could delay the capture so I looked up a YouTube tutorial which was extremely helpful in guiding me on this photography journey. After I set the camera up I started to practice doing different shaped however the camera was set to 2 seconds and it was extremely difficult to draw with my flashlight is only 2 seconds so I adjusted the settings and was able to get the camera to capture after 4 seconds. After I extended the time I was finally able to start taking pictures. I decided that I wanted to take the pictures outside at night because I wanted there to be as little light as possible however it was difficult because the various streetlights made it easy to see my surroundings. I eventually moved to a spot in my backyard where the streetlights weren't visible and I found that this lack of lighting was optimal for the kind of outcome I wanted to achieve. I started off by making basic shapes like stars and circle so I could get an understand of how much time I had to draw my crown. I also experimented with different shaped flashlights so I could test how different widths of light would affect the picture. I also realized that pointing the light at the camera would make the photo blur. After a few test runs with drawing different shapes, I moved on to making my final crown drawing. Crowns are much more intricate that stars and squares so it took a few test runs to figure out the speed I needed to draw in, in order to complete the crown however after I figured that out I got an outcome that I was extremely happy with.
Critique
This project was inspired by the works of artist Jean-Michel Basquiat and his Neo-expressionist paintings and there are many similarities and differences between our pieces. To begin, one of the biggest differences is the color or lack there of. In Basquiat's paintings there are loads of colors, most of them being primary. However, in my photograph, I chose to go with a black and white color scheme because I haven't really done anything in just black and white and I really wanted the light to stand out against the black background. Another difference is the shape. The signature crown that Basquiat paints is very straight edged and choppy. The lines are also very straight and don't have much curve. In my light drawing crown however, the lines are very curved and dramatic rather than being straight and stiff. A similarity between both pieces is the quite obvious crown shape that is present in each piece. Just like Basquiat's notable signature, I wanted to incorporate a crown into my photograph not only to represent my artist but to also represent myself. Another similarity would be the style of the crown. During the process of making my crown I wanted to be able to recreate the same graffiti appearance so I made my lines messy and a bit uneven. Also, by accident, some of the lines didn't connect fully on my drawing which made my crown look even more like my inspiration photos.
Reflection
My inspiration for this project was artist Jean-Michel Basquiat. I admire Basquiat's art style and the abstract nature of his paintings. I wanted to be able to capture this abstract and graffiti like appearance for my light painting. I also wanted to incorporate a symbol that is prominent in both Jean-Michel's and my life. I loved the different colors he used as the use of only primary colors aren't seen very often in painting unless they are abstract or modern. I also loved the simplicity of the appearance of his paintings even though the actual meanings of all of his piece are unassumingly very complex. I also really enjoyed the dark or disturbing appearance of his paintings. An example of this is in his painting "Trumpet" where it appears that his the painting is covered in blood. I am usually drawn to dark and ghastly art so I think that was one of the many reasons why I was originally drawn to this artist. If I were to recreate this project, I would definitely try to paint using different colored lights because I loved the way that the colored light drawing looks I just didn't have access to colorful lighting. I would also try to find a way to up the exposure time because I would love to draw something more intricate and 4 seconds just wasn't enough time for me to achieve a more detailed drawing. My biggest struggle for this project was trying to draw the shape in the air so that the lines of the crown connected. I had no guidelines for where I needed to draw my lines so creating the crown was quite literally a shot in the dark. Overall, I really loved the outcome of the project because I have been anticipating using this technique for months now and I was really excited to experiment with photography. I am extremely happy with the final product and I loved working with this artist's work.
ACT Questions
1) Clearly explain and describe how you are able to identify the cause-effect relationships between your inspiration and its effect upon your artwork.
Jean-Michel Basquiat and his abstract paintings inspired me to create a graffiti like rendition of his signature crown that both personally represents him and I.
2) What is the overall approach (point of view) the author (from your research) has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
I think that my artist also creates his paintings to represent him and his identity just like I have represented my own identity with this project.
3) What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
A generalization that I made about my artist in particular throughout this project was that Basquiat was that his paintings represent who he was as a person and his childhood because of specific context clues and symbolism he incorporated in each painting.
4) What was the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
The central theme that surrounded my research was identity and using art and other artists to connect to my own personal identity.
5) What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
I made the inference that Basquiat wanted to represent his childhood and identity through his paintings.
Jean-Michel Basquiat and his abstract paintings inspired me to create a graffiti like rendition of his signature crown that both personally represents him and I.
2) What is the overall approach (point of view) the author (from your research) has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
I think that my artist also creates his paintings to represent him and his identity just like I have represented my own identity with this project.
3) What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
A generalization that I made about my artist in particular throughout this project was that Basquiat was that his paintings represent who he was as a person and his childhood because of specific context clues and symbolism he incorporated in each painting.
4) What was the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
The central theme that surrounded my research was identity and using art and other artists to connect to my own personal identity.
5) What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
I made the inference that Basquiat wanted to represent his childhood and identity through his paintings.
Bibliography
1.) Jean-Michel Basquiat. (2022). Retrieved 13 August 2022, from https://www.basquiat.com/
2.) Jean-Michel Basquiat: King Pleasure ©. (2022). Retrieved 13 August 2022, from https://kingpleasure.basquiat.com/
3.) What's the Meaning of Basquiat's Crown Motif? | Incredible Art. (2022). Retrieved 13 August 2022, from https://www.incredibleart.com/basquiat-crown-meaning/
2.) Jean-Michel Basquiat: King Pleasure ©. (2022). Retrieved 13 August 2022, from https://kingpleasure.basquiat.com/
3.) What's the Meaning of Basquiat's Crown Motif? | Incredible Art. (2022). Retrieved 13 August 2022, from https://www.incredibleart.com/basquiat-crown-meaning/