Beauty Is Death
Location
FA-153
Department
Art
Abstract
My paintings deal with issues regarding how a woman's beauty is measured off mere appearance. More specifically, women's body image is the main emphasis of my work and how it reflects society's unattainable expectations of women. The thinner the woman, the more beautiful and the more exposure she gets for her beauty. I use my own experiences with negative self-image along with the harmful behaviors used to fit a promoted thin image. My paintings are made to criticize this definition of beauty as it allows the viewer to contemplate how they personally view and define beauty. It poses a question to determine if these definitions of beauty are tainted by what society values. My paintings have subjects of women, with myself as the main reference, along with characteristics of skeletons. The skeletal figures are exaggerated to better express the fixation western culture has on thin body sizes. I like to experiment with both acrylic and oil painting mediums in order for my painting process to be more diverse. I find that when I work with acrylic paints, I can be more expressive, but when I work with oils I focus more on the rendering of the figure. Working with both mediums widens my attention to all components of painting. I make use of preliminary drawings as a basis for what I am about to paint. Since I use myself as reference, I take photos of myself to get a clear image of the pose/composition I desire. I take my reference and tweak it so that it fits my content while still resembling myself. Having a knowledge of skeletal anatomy better expresses my intent and goals to make the figure both true to lively and deadly form. The color scheme for all my work is muted to match the lack of life expressed. I emphasize shadows with blue and green tones to further the sunken and hollow look to the bodies. My work encapsulates the grounds between realism and expressionism.
Faculty Sponsor
Nate Mathews, Northeastern Illinois University
Beauty Is Death
FA-153
My paintings deal with issues regarding how a woman's beauty is measured off mere appearance. More specifically, women's body image is the main emphasis of my work and how it reflects society's unattainable expectations of women. The thinner the woman, the more beautiful and the more exposure she gets for her beauty. I use my own experiences with negative self-image along with the harmful behaviors used to fit a promoted thin image. My paintings are made to criticize this definition of beauty as it allows the viewer to contemplate how they personally view and define beauty. It poses a question to determine if these definitions of beauty are tainted by what society values. My paintings have subjects of women, with myself as the main reference, along with characteristics of skeletons. The skeletal figures are exaggerated to better express the fixation western culture has on thin body sizes. I like to experiment with both acrylic and oil painting mediums in order for my painting process to be more diverse. I find that when I work with acrylic paints, I can be more expressive, but when I work with oils I focus more on the rendering of the figure. Working with both mediums widens my attention to all components of painting. I make use of preliminary drawings as a basis for what I am about to paint. Since I use myself as reference, I take photos of myself to get a clear image of the pose/composition I desire. I take my reference and tweak it so that it fits my content while still resembling myself. Having a knowledge of skeletal anatomy better expresses my intent and goals to make the figure both true to lively and deadly form. The color scheme for all my work is muted to match the lack of life expressed. I emphasize shadows with blue and green tones to further the sunken and hollow look to the bodies. My work encapsulates the grounds between realism and expressionism.