Curatorial Rationale
Throughout my art class experiences at Shortridge, especially DP art, my skills and mindset about art have grown. Before my DP art class, I usually made art without any meaning or just for fun, but when working on pieces for my exhibition, I have realized that I enjoy giving purpose to my art and making people think and feel something when they look at it. My big idea is about Hollywood, films, and actors around the 1950s and 60s. I want my artworks to give the vintage sort of feel, while still being somewhat modern to add the fun element to it. I wanted the audience to feel like they were in the 1950s and 60s, as if they were looking at the elements of Hollywood. I am very inspired by my other interests outside of art, and I love to include them in what I create. I wanted to focus my exhibition on film, which is one of my biggest passions. I am interested in the style of movies, and how things looked around the golden age. I did a lot of research when figuring out what sort of buildings or actors I wanted to make artwork of for this show. I looked at what actors and buildings would look best together in a collection of pieces, and then figured out what it would all mean when put together. The idea behind my exhibition is to put the audience into a different time and let them see how film and Hollywood in the 60s compared to today. Some people that have seen movies from the 50s and 60s might have wondered what it was like to live in those times and see the movie stars. The portrait I created of Frank Sinatra’s mug shot was given a rougher look and done in graphite, as it was when he was in jail and didn’t look as pristine as usual. The portrait of Elizabeth Taylor was far neater, and also done in acrylic paint, as she was seen as a beautiful and perfect actress. These portraits that I created can connect to my overall collection because of how they represent the excitement of Hollywood in the 1950s and 60s. After I worked more on my big idea, and created artworks for it, I became more confident in it. I narrowed down what I wanted to make for my pieces, and what I wanted to convey within them. Once I could figure out my personal connection, which was how my love of film could influence my artwork, I knew what I wanted to tell the viewer. Along with the idea of recreating buildings and actors from them, I wanted to add my style to the artworks, to make it my own. Most of the artworks I created were precise and very neat, especially when doing buildings, or letters. I love creating artwork in a style such as this, as well as a style that is perhaps not as neat, shown in the pieces that weren’t painted. A neat style is shown in my artwork called Theatre. It is very precise in all of the lines, and it shows the fun and bright style of Hollywood from that time period. One of my artworks called Hollywood Movie Poster is a good representation of what I want to showcase in my exhibition. It is a combination of old movie posters and modern Hollywood, and I wanted this to be the theme that my artworks surrounded. I think combining old and new ideas about film represents me as a person living in the 21st century, and my love for film and Hollywood from the 60s. I put the title letters against a night sky to show the contrast between the calm background and the exciting title. With this piece, I want the viewer to feel like they are looking at an old poster, but also be intrigued by the fact that it’s not of a movie. I feel this artwork gives the most nostalgic feel out of the ones I have created, because of how much it looks like an old movie poster. With the added white border, it lets the viewer know that there was thought put into the details, and it makes it look somehow familiar, and new at the same time. I want to put the viewer in a state of mind as if they were watching a movie. I want them to see that all of the elements in my artworks for the whole collection come together to create something exciting, that makes them feel like they’re in Hollywood looking at all of the sights. The artworks can also give them a sense of nostalgia for a time that perhaps they didn’t live in. They can see how life was then, and how life is today, and see how both of the times can come together to create a very interesting breadth of work. |
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