Project #3:
Exhibition Text:
This piece, A Real Pity, was mainly influenced by the quote by George Bernard Shaw " Its a pity that youth is wasted on the young". This quote was given after asking what the most beautiful thing in the world was, which is youth. I decided to incorporate this quote into a project, purely because it would be fun to explore. I decided to use Roy Lichtenstein because I thought that this quote would look superb with a pop art aesthetic.
Meaning:
This project was influenced by the quote " Its a pity that youth is wasted on the young" by George Bernard Shaw. The meaning of this piece is that many feel that youth is something valuable and that it is unfortunate that this seemingly beautiful thing is lost and essentially wasted on the young. While in a person's youth, some can argue that youth is wasted. As one grows older, many acquire intelligence and become wise. Some argue that having youth is so much better when one is old because now one is older, more wise. A person would know how to appropriately use one's youth. I thought this theme would be interesting to explore because, as a young person, I will probably experience sadness due to losing my youth. I believe I will probably be sitting in some rocking chair somewhere thinking, "How unfair! Now that I know how to live life, I no longer can! Its a pity that youth is wasted on the young".
Artist Inspiration:
Roy Lichtenstein was an American artist, one of the few artists to achieve celebrity status with the pop art movement. Roy Lichtenstein was born in New York in 1923. He has been drawing since a young age. He began with water-coloring and took classes at Parsons School of Design. He is most famous for his pop art pieces, such as Whaam!, Drowning Girl, and Crying Girl. I decided to focus on the piece Oh, Jeff...I love you, too...but..., created in 1964. This piece is a pop art piece that depicts a woman talking on the phone to a person named Jeff, who may be her lover. I decided to use this piece for my artist inspiration because I wanted to draw an older woman talking on the phone, with the quote " It's a pity that youth is wasted on the young" in a talk bubble. I also focused on the actual quote as a piece of inspiration, being as the quote isn't actually mine. The quote is by a writer known as George Bernard Shaw. I thought that this quote was both insightful and impactful, reflecting on the impact of age on the perspective of life.
Journaling, Planning, and Process:
Experimentation:
The experimentation depicted was the trial and error process of printing. Printing for dry point is a long and arduous process, which can take multiple trials to receive a successful print. The first time I printed, there obviously wasn't enough ink on the print. I didn't put enough ink onto the roller, so when I attempted to print, there were white spaces everywhere. The second print wasn't successful because I did not work the ink in long enough. I put significantly more ink onto the piece, but I didn't press the ink into the paper long enough. I only did it for about a minute, when I normally press it for about three minutes. The last trial print was nearly successful. This still had white spaces, except there wasn't as much. I think I needed to put a little bit more ink.
Tools and Actual Process:
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Steps in the process:
1) I first drew out the picture that was similar to Lichtenstein. 2) I put the picture I drew under the plate for dry point. I cut over the lines, so I had a copy on the plate. 3) Next, I placed ink on the plate. I massaged the ink into the cracks on the plate. 4)I placed a piece of paper into a bucket of water for five minutes. I placed them on a towel and dryed them. 5) Next, I placed the paper over the plate. I made sure that the ink soothed into the paper so it would transfer the image. 6) I removed the piece of paper and had a copy of the image. 7) I repeated this process as much as necessary until I received a copy that was adequate. |
Compare and Contrast:
My piece was very similar to Roy Lichtenstein's piece. I made the old woman in my piece be in similar posture and pose to Lichtenstein's young woman. I also used the concept of the thought bubble and telephone to demonstrate my message. I also made mine look like pop art, which was generally very difficult because writing letters on dry point was very difficult. My piece differed from Lichtenstein because his was in color. My piece was not in color because I liked the way it looked, not in color.
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Reflection:
Overall, I think that my piece was very neat and clean and that it was easy enough to determine what the artist inspiration was for my piece. My piece was able to project the message that I wanted, which was the loss of youth and the yearning for it when old. I think that the position of my person also aided to the message and her appearance, which was old. I made sure the woman was old and wrinkly so it was obvious that she was old. I think that my piece was created very well. I thought that it was neat and clean, even though the letters were a little warped. I find cutting letters backwards to provide a message extremely difficult, but I knew that I wanted to do a dry point. One problem I had, besides the letters, was cutting the actual image into the board. I always struggle whether the lines are deep enough, so I frequently went back to cut them again. I also struggled with the ink being placed into the cuts on the plate. I either used too much pressure or not enough.
ACT Questions:
1) Since Lichtenstein used a woman talking on the phone with a talking bubble, I put a woman talking on the phone with a bubble.
2) Lichtenstein did not have a formal opinion on youth, but did use pop art and a speech bubble to convey messages.
3) Youth is quite frequently taken for granted and should be held special to a person.
4) My central theme was youth and the yearning for it when you are old.
5) That youth should be valued because when you lose it, you can't get it back.
2) Lichtenstein did not have a formal opinion on youth, but did use pop art and a speech bubble to convey messages.
3) Youth is quite frequently taken for granted and should be held special to a person.
4) My central theme was youth and the yearning for it when you are old.
5) That youth should be valued because when you lose it, you can't get it back.