The concept that I knew I wanted to do for this year would be related to Japanese art or culture. Japanese culture or art is very popular in terms of art. Japanese art covers a wide variety of art styles and media. Which includes ancient pottery, sculpture, ink painting and calligraphy on paper and silk, also ukiyo-e paintings and woodblock prints, ceramics, origami. The concept that I will do for this year is a girl who's wearing traditional Japanese clothing, also a Kitsune mask. In Japanese culture, masks are very popular and are a huge part of their culture as well. The Japanese mask is usually worn and used in theatre, festivals or rituals. These masks can either represent people, creatures, devils, ghosts, and animals. The one that I decided to go with for the rest of the year is the Kitsune mask. The setting for the artworks that I will be making will also be based around torii gates in Japan. The torii gate is a traditional gate that is most commonly found at the entrance or within a Shinto shrine - the main purpose of a Shinto shrine structure is to enshrine one or more kami. Which are the spirits or holy powers that are respected in the ethnic religion of Japan, Shinto - where it marks the transition from the earthly to the sacred. Therefore, my concept is to show the journey of a girl and also the journey of the Kitsune mask transitioning into a fox, and meeting each other along their journey. The reason that I chose to do this storyline is because I wanted to show and learn more about the Japanese culture and their religion, and I’ve always known about the masks in the Japanese culture, so I think that exploring it through painting and artworks will help me understand it better and also incorporate accurate details about the Japanese culture into my artworks. Another reason that I chose to do this concept is since I can play around with different art techniques as for example I can paint it realistically or also magically in away. The subjects in my artworks this year will be heavily influenced by Japanese culture.
As I have previously said artwork will be heavily influenced by Japanese culture. The artist model that I have looked at the start of this year are Takato Yamamoto, Aaron Bohrod and Banksy.
TAKATO YAMAMOTO - FEMINISM ARTIST
Since my artworks will revolve around Japanese culture, I have decided to research around Japanese artists that do the similar art style that I had in mind. Which was dark, gothic and creepy stuff, hence how I found out about the artist Takato Yamamoto. Takato Yamamoto is a Japanese artist, painter and manga artist. He is born in 15 of January 1960. He is known for his distinct style called Heisei Aesthetic. Heisei Aesthetic is the gothic texture by Takato Yamamoto. Ukiyo-e was originated during the Edo Period (1603 - 1868). Ukiyo-e can also be translated as “pictures of the floating world”. The term “floating world” used in Japan means the daily life interest of the common people. Which means that the artwork with an influence of ukiyo-e includes of somewhat an everyday life of the common people during the Edo period in Japan. Takato Yamamoto developed his own Heisei Aestheticism style in the early nineties while he’s still under the influence of Ukiyo-e art of style. Heisei aestheticism is a blend between the classic form of Japanese woodcut and horror and modern eroticism. One of the few reasons that I have decided to use Takato Yamamoto is the fact that he also incorporates Japanese culture into his series of artworks, such as their traditional clothing. Also, he is a feminism artist which is why I also chose him to be my artist model I think that what I will incorporate with my artworks that relates to him/his artworks is to use a woman as my main subject as he does, also including the traditional clothing of Japanese just like what he does in most of his artworks. He also does abstract in his series of artworks and also very symmetrical background which is something that I would like to look into and incorporate for my 3rd board. Here are some of his artworks:
Feminism and Art Artist
Shimmering Sky, 2007
Illustration
Pop-art, Ukiyo-e, Heisei Aesthetic
This artwork is called Shimmering Sky made in the year of 2007. The artist uses a contrast between the main subject and the background. He used a plain jet black background and vibrant colours for the clothing of the main subject which is the woman. Because the art style of the artist is horror mixed with classic form of japanese art style, this artwork also reflects that aspect and the techniques that he usually use. As we can see in the artwork, the artist made the woman as the main subject. He uses red and white to draw our eyes the most towards the girl. We can also see the main subject wearing a traditional clothing in Japan, because most of the artworks the Takato did mostly include an aspect that connects with Japan, which is where he came from. Most of artists usually do stuffs like this when their art style relates something about themselves, in the case of Takato it was his heritage.
As can be seen on the photo above, he used a black colour for the background. He did this so that the
main subject, which is the girl, will pop out more and will draw our attention into that part of the artwork.
His colour palette was very minimal, in this artwork he mostly used black, red and other neutral colours.
The fact that the main subject is expressionless, it makes the artwork more “dark” and “creepy” as a
whole, this is the type of technique that he use most of the times. It is very common in his artworks to
have an expressionless main subject. The composition of the artwork is that he placed the subjects at
the centre, vertically. He could’ve done this to make the artwork appear more longer. The artwork is a
mixed of realistic and unrealistic. In his artworks the subjects in it is realistic but his ideas is unrealistic,
for example in this artwork we can see that the girl and the man and the plants was created realistically.
But the idea of the of the artwork is not very realistic.
AARON BOHROD - TROMPE L'OEIL ARTIST
Another artist model that I looked into was a Trompe L’oeil artist Aaron Bohrod.Trompe L’oeil is a french word which is translated into “deceive the eye”. Trompe L’oeil uses realistic imagery to create optical illusion effect. Aaron Bohrod was an American artist that lived from 21 November 1907 - 3 April 1992, at the age of 84. He’s well known for his trompe-l’oeil paintings. Aaron developed the Trompe-l’oeil style during the 1950s. Because of this style, he became more known internationally. He also chose themes that involve his surroundings, perhaps why he uses the Trompe-l’oeil style. I chose him as one of my artist models due to the fact that he paints realistically. The way that he uses his brush is one of the things that I would like to incorporate with my artworks. As can be seen in the pictures, it can be seen that it is very well blended and smooth which is a technique that I would like to use.
Aaron made this artwork called "Devil and Deep” in 1977 on panel using oils. The grotesque devil mask makes the whole artwork itself look a bit more
“dark”. His palette selection was also very neutral, except for the letter C which is blue. He may have done
this so that it will be the main focus of the artwork, and our eyes will be more drawn into it. As we can see,
there are nails pushed through the mask, a portrait of a man and the letter C, which suggests that they are
pinned into a wood. I think that the way he painted this was very realistic, just like his usual style.
The artwork itself is very high in contrast. Which makes it appear more realistic and maybe to make it look
more like a “darker” artwork. As I previously stated, He usually choose themes that involves his
surroundings. Which makes an impact on his artwork and helped him to paint more realistically.
BANKSY - GUERILLA ARTIST
Lastly, another art model that I will be taking ideas and inspiration from is Banksy. Banksy is an anonymous
artist that’s based in England. He’s a street artist, vandal, political activist, and film director, and has been
active since the 1990s. I chose him as one of my artist models in order to incorporate the guerilla art style
in my series of artworks. Guerilla art is a fun method to show your vision with the world, it is also a street
art that is environmental. This art method includes leaving anonymous art on public places for various
reasons, this could be either just for fun, to leave a powerful message and to share your thoughts through
artwork. What I am thinking so far is that I would like my artworks to leave a powerful message and to share
my thoughts through the artworks that I will be creating. The simplicity of each artwork that Banksy has done
my thoughts through the artworks that I will be creating. The simplicity of each artwork that Banksy has done
is definitely something I would like to incorporate for my artworks in the future, also artworks that holds a
powerful message and that he gets his thoughts across the audience clearly.
BANKSY - Love is in the Bin, 2018
This artwork is called Love is in the Bin, he just recently did this art intervention last year (2018). The medium that he used for this is aerosol paint and acrylic paint. Before it was shredded, it was originally called Girl with a balloon which is a painting that he did way back in 2006, but the original mural that he did for the Girl with a balloon was done in 2002. The painting was sold by Sotheby’s London at an auction on 5 October 2018 at the price of £1,042,000.
INITIAL DRAWINGS (Around the week 1 - 4 of term 1)
Term 1 Week 5
Term 1 Week 6
Term 1 Week 7
Term 1 Week 8
Term 1 Week 9
Term 1 Week 10
For this term, I managed to finish half of my first board which I think is great progress so far as in terms of deciding and making my board layout I am very indecisive which makes it harder for me to start a new painting which I do not have in mind or what I planned to make.
Term 2 Week 1
Term 2 Week 2
Term 2 Week 3
Term 2 Week 4
Term 2 Week 5
27 May - 30 May
Term 2 Week 6
3 June - 6 June
Term 2 Week 7
10 June - 13 June
I finished the artwork of the entrance of the torii gates which is what I have been working on for 2 weeks as I did a lot of layers on it and also for the reason that I wasn't that productive for the past few weeks which resulted with me not finishing my first board mid-term, meaning that I have not started my second board nor any ideas that I will be putting on it too although as of now I will just finish doing what I have planned out for my first board and just plan the rest of the 2 boards as I go along. I managed to finish it just on time and for next week I'd like to start a new piece so that I can go through my board and fill it in with my artwork as soon as possible.
Term 2 Week 8
17 June - 20 June
For this week I will start a new painting, most likely the girl with the umbrella on its' shoulder and I would also like to finish as soon as possible so that I can finish my first board quickly. I only have a few paintings left to fill up my first board. I am also planning to paint at home whilst also painting at school which will make my pace faster and to also fills up my first board quickly. I also wanted to start my second board before this term ends, I'd also like to have a board layout sketch for my second board - even if just half of it yet - before this term ends.
Term 2 Week 9
24 June - 27 June
This week is a very short week for me, as I also got sick. However, I managed to finish my plan for my second board. For my second panel, I'm planning to introduce the fox in the picture. I will also start using oil paint and acrylics for my mediums to achieve something more realistic. I will also include an A2 oil paint where the fox and the woman crossed paths, I decided for it to be in an A2 paper as I think it is a very important and a symbolic piece and it plays a huge role in my overall board.
Here is the board layout for my second board:
Term 2 Week 10
1 July - 4 July
For the last week of term, I plan to prepare the papers that I need for my second board, such as putting gesso on an A2 paper, so that I can start the oil paint during the holidays. I will mostly spend my last week preparing the kinds of stuff that I need during the holidays because I'm planning to start my second board and hope to finish it before term 3 starts if I work hard enough.
Term 3 Week 1
I ended up not using the planned oil painting on A2 paper since I don't have any idea
Term 3 Week 2
Term 3 Week 3
Term 3 Week 4
Term 3 Week 5
Term 3 Week 6
Term 3 Week 7
Term 3 Week 8
Term 3 Week 9
Term 3 Week 10
Term 4 Week 1
Term 4 Week 2
