Art History Collage

This collage was assigned in the aspect of representing me, my world, my view on art, and also encompass all the conditions stated in the Horowitz article.  For this particular project to embrace all of these complex themes I must say a feat in itself.

            Decision More will be explained in detail as to why the elements are where they are, what for and why, but as for an introduction I wanted the collage to subtlety present myself to the viewer without overwhelming them. The very first characteristic noticed is the dominate black Victorian frame which borders my collage. I wanted to emphasis the importance and value of my life to me and the elements which it contains.  All great classic art works are displayed with an equally impressive frame; I wanted mine to be as such.  I live my life through words that is why I chose to saturate the space with different texts.  To get an aged feel from the pages I laid them in tea.  I chose few pictures to represent the simplicity of my nature, but the few images hold intricate and weighted meanings.  The majority of the photos come from my own negatives which I developed myself.

Color I chose to keep most of the piece monochromatic to represent my outlook on life; to me things are very black and white in decision. Also keeping the theme black and white, emphasis the importance when I do use color; the green represents the growth and change in my life that I’m constantly experiencing, and the deep red symbolizes the different passions in my life ranging from art to literature to love. 

Light the ‘light’ in my collage is very contrasting I have very dark images and very light images. I chose pictures where the ‘light source’ is seemingly coming from the right of the collage representing the rising sun and optimism, though on the contrast the darker pieces are not to be thought of as derogatory.

Texture The textured elements in the collage are the ‘worn’ pages themselves, along with their torn edges. 

Volume Volume is created with the flowers but also with the different types of pictures.  The pictures with the light source contain rounded 3D figures, but the silhouettes become flatten from their darker image. 

Line I oriented my collage in a circular composition.  No matter where your eye enters in the actual collage following the pictures themselves leads you in a oval circuit. 

Space The viewer enters the piece with my perspective of my life.  I feel like I’m constantly viewing the world behind a book, thus creating my foreground.  The background becomes the diminishing figures of the people composed in the scene. 

 Scale For the way I wanted my piece to be compositionally it was hard to scale things to their importance.  Because of the simplistic theme I was after the use of few items makes each one equally important and hold a symbolic or metaphorical meaning. 

Symbolism The flowers symbolize the stage in my life in which I’m currently at.  I’m optimistic in my long future, as to why so many of the flowers are still buds.  The footsteps also symbolize the long journey I’m on for my quest of knowledge. The one ring engulfed by words symbolizes my lack of interest or want of many materials things.  The words themselves symbolize my knowledge already gained.

You(me) books make me who I am, my want of knowledge, my family, my passion for art (that is why my own prints are within the collage along with my butcher’s palette with paints up in the right hand corner).  I love flowers, I love to be constantly challenged, I love other cultures and languages especially Spanish (the two top pages are from a Spanish book, talking about food on one, and on the other it talks about college.  Every element is basically just saturated with Lizzie, fully encompassing who I am. 

Family/Friends I chose to include the three most important groups of people in my life who have helped shaped and continue to shape who I am today.  The first is my parents who have (even without my knowing sometimes) taught me important life lessons which have impacted me greatly.  The second are my niece and nephews off to the right, who have been such an important factor in my life for the last 8 years, who have helped me cling to the ingenuous nature of a child, which fades so quickly from many of our lives.  The third is my best friend Micah.  He constantly challenges me to question and learn and grown mentally as a person and for that I am forever grateful, which is also why he is the only figure facing ‘me’ or the viewer.  The other set of peoples are darker because they are like shadows not necessarily in my life physically but their presence is always noticed.

My School is featured in the diploma both in name and emblem. 

My Country and My World are both represented in the diploma in the aspect of the price of education.  It is represented as my country because of the literal ‘price’ that is attached with the degree that is why in place of where the President of the college would sign is a statement with the amount of debt Belmont students are in.  But in a worldly view the price of education is invaluable. 

Art art to me has always meant something of an aesthetic experience; I think all art works rendered as beautiful in their own respects.  And the none Spanish pages are from The History of Ancient Art by Johann Joachim Winckelmann speaking of beauty, and I find it fascinating that what is beauty and how to obtain it has been transformed through the centuries.  It is still being obsessed over no longer in the art form of beauty but the actual human form in today’s society. 

History I represented in the form of family history.  Behind my parents is a happy birthday song, but composed in Polish, which we sing every time there is a birthday.  My grandmother was one hundred percent Polish, and other traditions are passed down and still carried out.  Growing up under an influence of another culture has been the main catalyst for my interests in others, and in a sense literally making me who I am today.