Dry Point
Title: Mock-Up
Size: 12.7 x 17.8 cm
November 2016
“Mock-Up” is part of the Humanity series where I exhibit my thoughts about the way that humanity is diminishing each day. Mock-Up was inspired by The Race Blanche by Rene Magritte, due to the way that the body parts are positioned on the painting, thus “Mock-Up” exhibits perfect features used incorrectly by humanity.
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The Meaning
To continue the "Humanity" series, "Mock-Up" I decided to exhibit what I believe that the human identity has become over the years. On "Mock-Up" there are many perfect facial features that are use improperly. The meaning for all of the features is different, overall they all come together and make the piece one. Here the question marks on the hollow head represent all of the emptiness in our minds that make us question our lives, also that there is a missing brain. Then, there are two lips instead of two eyes.
Experimentation
Since this dry point is a part of the series "Humanity", I decided that I wanted to start experimenting by thinking about humanity and its behavior. The first thing that I thought about was the way that humanity speaks and how little they listen. So I started to get some inspiration and I came across with a piece by Rene Magritte which is called La Race Blanche, this piece really grabbed my attention and this is when I started to get ideas.
First I was able to sketch some rough sketches of what I wanted to do. I wanted to exhibit in my piece how humans always talk to much but never listen and that is not the way its supposed to be, we have one mouth and two ears for a reason, this means that we should listen more and talk less.
First I was able to sketch some rough sketches of what I wanted to do. I wanted to exhibit in my piece how humans always talk to much but never listen and that is not the way its supposed to be, we have one mouth and two ears for a reason, this means that we should listen more and talk less.
Just like my inspiration, I decided to take perfectly human features and put them into the places where they don't belong, but these features are still going to be close to the area where they originally are supposed to be. Placing the features on a different place was the experimentation that I started to do before doing my final sketch. I started to place the face features in random places, this did not fit my meaning, so I started to place the features on a more organized way. First I tried to put three eyes on the forehead, two pairs of lips where they eyes are supposed to be, the nose would be on the same place and finally one ear where the mouth is supposed to be. I did this after I sketched my three sketches, but them I still didn't really portray the meaning that I wanted to exhibit. This whole part of the process was one of the most time consuming experimentation because I had a lot of ideas, but my meaning was narrow and I wanted to clearly exhibit the meaning on my final sketch in order to have a meaningful final piece.
Another part of my experimentation is that when I did my final sketch I didn't realize that what ever I drew in the sketch was going to be flipped on my final piece. This didn't have any effect on the facial features, since I made them as if they were looking at you directly, the only problem were the question marks, fortunately while I was scratching on the surface I realized this and I was able to flip the way that the question marks were facing. |
The rest of my experimentation was on the inking process. Previously I was able to work with water based ink, however the ink for the dry point was oiled based ink and I never had used this type of ink before.
This ink was really hard to manage, the first mistake that I made was trying to take the ink off the plate with the thinner, and this was wrong because the thinner would just take off the ink and this was a big part of my experimentation. Then finally the last part of my experimentation was when I had to transfer the ink from the plane to the paper. I first placed the paper and then the surface and this was not good because the plate was not on the center of the paper and then the ink got all over the paper and in the places that it wasn't supposed to go.
This ink was really hard to manage, the first mistake that I made was trying to take the ink off the plate with the thinner, and this was wrong because the thinner would just take off the ink and this was a big part of my experimentation. Then finally the last part of my experimentation was when I had to transfer the ink from the plane to the paper. I first placed the paper and then the surface and this was not good because the plate was not on the center of the paper and then the ink got all over the paper and in the places that it wasn't supposed to go.
Process
1. Finding ideas and exploring sources
For this step I concluded that the series of Humanity had to keep a similar theme, so I wanted to portray another issue that humanity had throughout the theme of identity. From my research I concluded that humanity views it self as a race that is almost perfect, as a result I started to find some ideas about perfectly imperfect people. I started my research by searching basic human anatomy that was perfect, from there I found the idea to create perfect human features, with imperfect uses.
2. Finding inspiration
Before I started my sketches, I was able to go to the Art Institute of Milwaukee, here I was able to walk around galleries and found my inspiration. While I was walking around I was able to find an art piece that had perfect human features placed on a different way, this piece got my attention right away, The Race Blanche by Rene Magritte is a fascinating piece of art that would help me start my sketches.
3. Planning by drawing sketches
From my inspiration I was able to draw some sketches that would fit on my theme and meaning and at the same time portray my inspiration. I created four different initial sketches in order to get my ideas come to life.
The first initial sketch had some of the concepts of my meaning with two mouths and one ear, but this really didn't meet the requirements to portray my meaning. The second sketch I decided to try to enlarger the mouth and reduced the size of the ears, with this idea my meaning wasn't really there, so I decided to sketch another sketch. In my third sketch I decided to make it more symbolic in order to represent the meaning better, here I drew three eyes, two mouths and one ear. I really liked this idea because I felt that it exhibit my meaning in a more proper way, but it looked a little bit messy. Finally I created another sketch, just by changing where some facial features where, I thought this looked more clean and it reflected the meaning clearly.
For this step I concluded that the series of Humanity had to keep a similar theme, so I wanted to portray another issue that humanity had throughout the theme of identity. From my research I concluded that humanity views it self as a race that is almost perfect, as a result I started to find some ideas about perfectly imperfect people. I started my research by searching basic human anatomy that was perfect, from there I found the idea to create perfect human features, with imperfect uses.
2. Finding inspiration
Before I started my sketches, I was able to go to the Art Institute of Milwaukee, here I was able to walk around galleries and found my inspiration. While I was walking around I was able to find an art piece that had perfect human features placed on a different way, this piece got my attention right away, The Race Blanche by Rene Magritte is a fascinating piece of art that would help me start my sketches.
3. Planning by drawing sketches
From my inspiration I was able to draw some sketches that would fit on my theme and meaning and at the same time portray my inspiration. I created four different initial sketches in order to get my ideas come to life.
The first initial sketch had some of the concepts of my meaning with two mouths and one ear, but this really didn't meet the requirements to portray my meaning. The second sketch I decided to try to enlarger the mouth and reduced the size of the ears, with this idea my meaning wasn't really there, so I decided to sketch another sketch. In my third sketch I decided to make it more symbolic in order to represent the meaning better, here I drew three eyes, two mouths and one ear. I really liked this idea because I felt that it exhibit my meaning in a more proper way, but it looked a little bit messy. Finally I created another sketch, just by changing where some facial features where, I thought this looked more clean and it reflected the meaning clearly.
4. Creating my final sketch
Before I had created some initial sketches, but I felt that they weren't as neat and as meaningful as they should be, so I started to create a final sketch. I decided that my final sketch needed to have something from every sketch. I created this finally sketch and I really liked it because it was meaningful and the symbolism that I used was able to show the meaning of the piece. The lips are closed, like the eyes and there are multiple features that are not on the right place. Finally I added some question marks and as a result, this sketch was the one that communicated the meaning clearly. |
5. Transferring the final sketch into the surface
First I gathered all of the materials that I needed in order to start; my final sketch, the surface and the scratching tool.
In order to transfer the sketch into the surface, I needed to lay the surface neatly on top of the sketch. After this I started to scratch the outline of the sketch and then continued to scratch the rest of the sketch onto the canvas. After I was done carving the sketch into the surface I decided to make some lines deeper and create some lines that I missed.
6. Creating the final piece
When the sketch was transferred into the surface, I started the inking process. First I gathered all of the materials I needed, paper, water, clean towels, oiled based ink, proxi-glass and gloves.
First I soaked the paper into a bucket of water for around seven minutes. Then I started to put the ink into the scratches I made into the surface, with a spatula I was able to force the ink into the scratches. Then with newsprint paper I started to take off the extra ink of the surface and rubbed it carefully to force even more the ink into the scratches.
Once the ink was ready, I started to prepare the paper. After getting the paper soaked I took it out and put it on top of a towel so that the extra water would be soaked by the towel.
I placed the glass and the paper on top and then I rolled them into the compress machine one time, during the rolling the ink transferred into the paper and that was how I created my final piece.
When the sketch was transferred into the surface, I started the inking process. First I gathered all of the materials I needed, paper, water, clean towels, oiled based ink, proxi-glass and gloves.
First I soaked the paper into a bucket of water for around seven minutes. Then I started to put the ink into the scratches I made into the surface, with a spatula I was able to force the ink into the scratches. Then with newsprint paper I started to take off the extra ink of the surface and rubbed it carefully to force even more the ink into the scratches.
Once the ink was ready, I started to prepare the paper. After getting the paper soaked I took it out and put it on top of a towel so that the extra water would be soaked by the towel.
I placed the glass and the paper on top and then I rolled them into the compress machine one time, during the rolling the ink transferred into the paper and that was how I created my final piece.
Artist Inspiration
Rene Magritte
1898- 1967http://onesurrealistaday.com/post/18161699368/la-race-blanche Rene Magritte
1937 Oil on canvas 78 cm × 58 cm The Race Blanche By Rene Magritte |
While I was walking around The Art Institute of Chicago, I came across a piece that really got my attention. The Race Blanche, by Rene Magritte is an amazing painting that I chose as my inspiration because I enjoy the idea of having facial features without a face and in the imcorrect places. This piece disturbs the viewer because it is a proportionally inproportional female body, there is an eye, an ear, a mouth, and a nose that are carefully balanced (like rocks) but they lack the way that the "real" female figure looks because Magritte created a female body that is supposed to be perfect, but this piece is not perfect, however its balanced. I chose this as my inspiration because Magritte was able to bring a "perfectly balanced" female figure and demonstrate the best of a woman, and I wanted to add his meaning into my piece, with human figures that are balanced but in the wrong place.
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Reflection
Mock-Up was a success because because in the final piece I was able to exhibit my meaning properly. I was able to give explore many possibilities before creating my final piece and at the end I was able to create the best sketch that expressed my meaning in the best way possible. Another success was that, even though it was extremely difficult for me to do the inking process, at the end I did it and it turned out to be a success, however it did not end up how I wanted it to.
The meaning of the piece is clearly visible in Mock-Up, by featuring a head of a body and the body part, it is clear that the use of my sources was demonstrated in the creation of Mock-Up.
The thing that I would change if I were to do this piece again, would be to practice scratching the surface before actually doing it on the proxy glass. Finally I would manage my time better in order to have more trials and experience int he inking process, because the inking process was difficult for me.
Overall I am pleased with how Mock-Up looks, even though it could be a little bit cleaner, all of the ink is part of the meaning, thereofre it belongs to the final piece in order to exhibit my meaning of an imperfectly perfect human.
The meaning of the piece is clearly visible in Mock-Up, by featuring a head of a body and the body part, it is clear that the use of my sources was demonstrated in the creation of Mock-Up.
The thing that I would change if I were to do this piece again, would be to practice scratching the surface before actually doing it on the proxy glass. Finally I would manage my time better in order to have more trials and experience int he inking process, because the inking process was difficult for me.
Overall I am pleased with how Mock-Up looks, even though it could be a little bit cleaner, all of the ink is part of the meaning, thereofre it belongs to the final piece in order to exhibit my meaning of an imperfectly perfect human.
ACT Questions
1. Clearly explain how you are able to identify the cause-effect relationships between your inspiration and its effect upon your artwork.
Mock-Up was inspired by The Race Blanche by Magritte and the meaning of this piece is to show a perfect woman, a perfect woman that is perfectly balance but it does not look like a "perfect" woman. I wanted to incorporate the meaning of a perfectly imperfect human body, just like Magritte did on The Race Blanche.
2. What is the overall approach (point of view) the author (from your research) has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
The author of my reserach mostly states the facts of this piece and then when tyhe aouthor talks about the menaing his point of view of Magritte is clearlly visible, the author is amazed by the creativity and perfection that Magritte was able to axhibit in The Race Blanche.
3. What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
Some generalizations that I discovered about the ideas of people is that they see a perfect woman as a model and not as a doctor or a teacher, also depending on the culture of these people they define a perfect woman with an specific body type that is barely seen on the street. Fianlly I realized that open minded people (like artist) see the world differently, just like Magritte showing a perfect woman.
4. What was the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
The theme that I focused on was identity. Due to this my researched was absed on the identity of humanity and also about the identity of my inspiration piece.
5) What kind of inferences (conclusions reached on the basis of evidence and reasoning) did you make while reading your research?
The conclusions that I made were that there are many people that see the world in a different way, just like Magritte. These people are able to express themselfs and show the world how they see it through art. In addition to that I noticed that there are people that don't always agree with the ideas of others, because they might not be open minded.
Mock-Up was inspired by The Race Blanche by Magritte and the meaning of this piece is to show a perfect woman, a perfect woman that is perfectly balance but it does not look like a "perfect" woman. I wanted to incorporate the meaning of a perfectly imperfect human body, just like Magritte did on The Race Blanche.
2. What is the overall approach (point of view) the author (from your research) has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
The author of my reserach mostly states the facts of this piece and then when tyhe aouthor talks about the menaing his point of view of Magritte is clearlly visible, the author is amazed by the creativity and perfection that Magritte was able to axhibit in The Race Blanche.
3. What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
Some generalizations that I discovered about the ideas of people is that they see a perfect woman as a model and not as a doctor or a teacher, also depending on the culture of these people they define a perfect woman with an specific body type that is barely seen on the street. Fianlly I realized that open minded people (like artist) see the world differently, just like Magritte showing a perfect woman.
4. What was the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
The theme that I focused on was identity. Due to this my researched was absed on the identity of humanity and also about the identity of my inspiration piece.
5) What kind of inferences (conclusions reached on the basis of evidence and reasoning) did you make while reading your research?
The conclusions that I made were that there are many people that see the world in a different way, just like Magritte. These people are able to express themselfs and show the world how they see it through art. In addition to that I noticed that there are people that don't always agree with the ideas of others, because they might not be open minded.
Citations
Surrealism. "Surrealism." One Surrealist a Day. N.p., 2012. Web. 06 Nov. 2016.