Theme 1: Corporeality

Because Melissa and I are switching off on themes every two weeks, I got to choose the first one -which, as previously mentioned, is CORPOREALITY.

I usually read magazines and visit galleries for inspiration, and so this theme draws on what I loved in the latest issue of Hi-Fructose - a magazine about contemporary art, with a focus on pop surrealism. This issue is honestly my favorite so far -I discovered a new artist whose work and concepts reflect the depth and complexity I hope my own art will have someday. His name is Antonio Santin and his pieces are just absolutely gorgeous in how their depictions of life. My favorite is a 2008 work, Carne De Kanone, and the first word that popped into my head was 'corporeality' when I came across it.

Anyways, here is my interpretation of CORPOREALITY. For me, CORPOREALITY can be depicted as something transient and also imperfect in the way that it is vulnerable to time, which eats away at its beauty. What better manner could this be represented than with the human body, especially the female form? The breasts are gorgeous and the object of attraction in youth but sag and hang with age.

The stomach, the waistline, the thighs -everything loosens, loses shape and eventually rots. This was what I strove to show through my response to the theme of CORPOREALITY. It can be interpreted as the reality we try to avoid, the specter that haunts us in our youth, but it is always present. And so though the definition of CORPOREALITY incorporates life, death and aging play a significant role in what this concept means.

Below: left image is ink on cardboard; right image is ink and gesso on cardboard

So because I'm also a poor college student, I only have ink at my disposal from an old drawing class. I had to leave my spray paint and oils/acrylics/watercolors at home because I both didn't have enough room to pack them in and I don't have space in my dorm to store a million art supplies. Thus, for the painting on the right, I substituted paint with white gesso from the print-making room. I would have been able to incorporate some tempera paints but I forgot to bring them to the studio and was too lazy to go back.

The texture of the gesso was completely different from paint, so it was an experience trying to manipulate the thick gesso with the watery transparent ink. I ended up trying to smooth up the former so it wouldn't clump and layering the latter.

I also don't have any canvases lying around so I scavenged for some old cardboard. I found a canvas someone threw out in the studio so I might do something with that later on. It's a manageable size, maybe 12x16.

Anyways, the poses are taken from personal photographs but everything else is based on imagination. I'm tempted to name the pieces. Maybe something alluding to Renoir's Odalisque?