Stress and Regrets
Linoleum and Printing Ink
12 x 8 in. October 27th 2017 Exhibition Text Stress and Regrets is a piece inspired by the many challenges I had to take throughout my entire life in elementary, middle, and high school. As I moved on from grade to grade, I have taken challenges where I get hit with a high amounts of stress and have a huge workload that needs to be done in a short time period. This was inspired by the works of Roy Lichtenstein where he made work based off overly dramatic pieces that add emphasis and meaning to the piece. |
Planning
When I first planned out this piece, I wanted to create something that will allow to express this feeling of stress that I have faced throughout my life. Then I had to choose a style, at first I was planning to do an another acrylic painting, but then I have decided to do a block print since it was much more efficient with pop art like designs that Roy Liechtenstein did since his work consists of comic book like pop art that is expressed through the use of vivid hues and tones.
When I was designing the piece, I wanted to make sure that this piece expresses exactly the way how I wanted it to be expressed and not create a piece where it reaches to the point where there it is just a picture with little to no meaning or a picture with a confusing. The meaning was probably the most challenging part when it comes to designing the piece. Roy Liechtenstein has put a lot of meaning and expression into his pieces which has resulted in scenarios where there are much more drama into the piece which allows the piece to develop a much more specific meaning. |
Planning Sketches
The main theme that I wanted my piece to be was to be reflected upon my constant levels of stress, headaches, and loss of hope. How I planned to create this and have the dramatic style of Liechtenstein's work, this is the reason why the knife plays an important role in this piece, because its main purpose is to signify as the only way out which may lead to depression, self harm, or even suicide. Notes from Sketches Sketch #1 consists of the idea on how stress can lead to mental, and even physical problems with our head. Homework or other stressors such as important meetings and interviews, and life changing events like meeting admissions directors from your top college can lead to things such as insomnia, headaches, and even stress in general Sketch #2 consists of a knife that plays a significant role in which it creates an illusion like effect stating that this feeling can only be handled with one solution Cornered, trapped in constant fear. The fear of failure. |
Process
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When I was working on this project, I first had to start out with a stepping stone to layout how I create this piece. Then I started out sketching the final product. After I made the final details to the main sketch of the final product. I used the led transfer method to transfer the led sketch into the linoleum block. After carving half way through the piece. I have noticed that there was a lot of mistakes when making the piece, and so I started recreating the piece with a much more better quality, and has a much more clear meaning. Then after that I printed the linoleum on to a piece of paper by using a tray, a press, and ink. After a few trials and errors, I have successfully printed the piece in a clear black block print.
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Reflection
Overall I have felt like I have done a good job upon expressing on what I wanted, since when I have created my piece for the first time based off Sketch #1, but then later on in the piece, I have shown people the picture of the piece in the making and many of them gave me feedback stating that it lacks a meaning or the meaning is very confusing when compared to how Roy Liechtenstein expresses his pieces. My solution to this problem was to recreate the piece, but this time focus more on the meaning rather than focus on the design concept. How I improved my piece was by recreating my piece focusing on Sketch #2 and #3 combined which has resulted in the piece I was looking for and its meaning that matches exactly on how I wanted it to be. The only thing that I wished was improved was the detail and precision of my carving. There were some spots that were easy to carve and then there were some spots that were difficult to carve at certain angles which made some parts of the piece stick out, but overall I have done a good job on creating this piece and now have a strong expression on what the piece is about as a whole.
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ACT Questions
Clearly explain how you are able to identify the cause-effect relationships between your inspiration and its effect upon your artwork?
I was able to identify the cause and effect relationships due to the fact that the connections between this piece and my experience is reflected through the points of my life where my stress has lead to me to think deep and negative thoughts that were caused from mistakes in our decisions.
What is the overall approach (pov) the author (from research) has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
The overall approach to this piece and the author was that the point of how dramatic we think of our current situations of life. These things can include whether this one action could help us live a better life or cause negative impacts on our decisions. By using the over dramatic actions of Liechtenstein work, I was able to create an idea on how we humans create unnecessary situations that we are least likely to encounter.
What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
The overall generalization that I have found in this piece is that not all of us are considered the perfect person, living the perfect lives. We all make mistakes with our decisions. Even though those decisions can lead to negative impacts within our lives, there is no such thing as a perfect human. If there was one that existed, then that person would likely have mistakes of their own as well. No matter how many mistakes you make, its never too late to learn from them and do better in life.
What was the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
The general idea of this piece is the value of life and how spend it. Many people tend to give up on things and question themselves if its worth doing certain actions that can lead to possibly a positive or a negative impact on their life. This can lead to a lot of confusion weather they are doing the right thing or are they making one of the biggest mistakes of their life.
What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
The inferences that I have made was that Roy Lichtenstein had a rough life and with these many factors affecting him, these have lead up to the causes that have affected his life into his work.
I was able to identify the cause and effect relationships due to the fact that the connections between this piece and my experience is reflected through the points of my life where my stress has lead to me to think deep and negative thoughts that were caused from mistakes in our decisions.
What is the overall approach (pov) the author (from research) has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
The overall approach to this piece and the author was that the point of how dramatic we think of our current situations of life. These things can include whether this one action could help us live a better life or cause negative impacts on our decisions. By using the over dramatic actions of Liechtenstein work, I was able to create an idea on how we humans create unnecessary situations that we are least likely to encounter.
What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
The overall generalization that I have found in this piece is that not all of us are considered the perfect person, living the perfect lives. We all make mistakes with our decisions. Even though those decisions can lead to negative impacts within our lives, there is no such thing as a perfect human. If there was one that existed, then that person would likely have mistakes of their own as well. No matter how many mistakes you make, its never too late to learn from them and do better in life.
What was the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
The general idea of this piece is the value of life and how spend it. Many people tend to give up on things and question themselves if its worth doing certain actions that can lead to possibly a positive or a negative impact on their life. This can lead to a lot of confusion weather they are doing the right thing or are they making one of the biggest mistakes of their life.
What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
The inferences that I have made was that Roy Lichtenstein had a rough life and with these many factors affecting him, these have lead up to the causes that have affected his life into his work.