Can You See Me? Can I See You?

In my Painting II class we were able to paint anything we wanted for the last three weeks of class. In an attempt to focus on composition in smaller pieces, I came to realize my composition was slow and balanced. With this piece, I unintentionally lined the figure right in the middle. This piece would have been more complex if it was an asymmetrical balanced composition.

A recent technique I became aware of was taking old oil paint scraped off of a glass palette and adding it back into a piece. When I heard of this I wanted to try it immediately. By adding these chunks, I created intense texture and incorporated magazine pieces by collaging them in. Scratching through the paint also creates texture and movement into the figure. In an attempt to display the hectic, violent world, I integrated negative space with a lot of gestural marks and no definition of a way out. By including the hands as an entry point into the painting, we are given a chance to contemplate whether we are caressing the face or hitting the face. with the violent brush marks and scratches, we may be lead to feel like we are hurting the figure even if we are not meaning to - much like we do people without thinking or seeing them. To add, I wanted this piece to implement the complimentary color scheme of blue and orange, however, my main focus was the saying “black and blue” as if the figure was harmed until they were black and blue. There is no presence of physical violence on the face, however, by engulfing the figure in a value of dark blue we are given a sense that the figure has been hurt in some way.

Can You See me? Can I see You?, was on display in a solo art show at the Galesburg Civic Art Center, “Create, Destroy”, from March 6-28th, 2020 in Galesburg, IL.