Drypoint Print
Despondent
15 cm x 20 cm Drypoint Print November 2018 Exhibition Text:
A Drypoint Print on paper, Despondent reveals my disappointment in U.S. politics in the status quo. Inspired by Käthe Kollwitz's Frontal Self-Portrait, and "Self-Portrait (Selbstbildnis)" Despondent is based on my constant disappointment of today's politics.
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Meaning:
My piece represents my constant distraught of worldwide politics the past few months. The past election season has been a nightmare as I wondered why on Earth people in Washington D.C., were behaving like this. Issues like voter suppression, the Kavanaugh hearings and sometimes blatant discrimination angered me to the core. I noticed that it distracted me and made me obsessive over how this would affect me, my family and my community. Shortly after the midterm elections earlier this month, I became more and more disappointment of my country because the results indicated that our nation as a whole tolerated the actions of people is Washington D.C. This disappointment inspired me to create this piece.
Inspiration
Critical Investigation
Earlier this year, I became fascinated by German Expressionism as I learned more and more World War I. According to Wolf (2018), "[German] Expressionism emerged simultaneously in various cities across Germany as a response to a widespread anxiety about humanity's increasingly discordant relationship with the world and accompanying lost feelings of authenticity and spirituality. " German Expression explode after WWI, a time when Germany was facing famine, mourning, economic distress. At this time period, artists created work based on the distress around them.
Recently, I came across a self-portrait of Käthe Kollwitz. I like how her piece, Frontal Self-Portrait, she gave off emotions of disappointment while carving into a woodcut. She only incorporated black and white into her piece, which made her piece seem more serious. I enjoyed her use of texture, continuously using lines, which adds emphasis on the bags under her eyes. Her use of a self-portrait reflected her own emotions of despondent. Where she maintained the negative space in the piece (Black), she used it to add texture to the piece. In another of her self portraits, titled Self-Portrait (Selbstbildnis), Kollwitz expressed feelings of extreme deep thought, questioning the purpose of the violence as she sees around her, with a solemn face. Through a lithographic print, her use of dark values around her eyes adds emphasis to the wrinkles and aging she experienced as she experienced in a post-World War I Germany. Kollwitz's use of only black and white inspired me to do the same. Albeit her pieces portrayed her reaction to mourning community, I was inspired by her use of a self-portrait. When I was creating my piece, I kept in mind to add emphasis to the dark values in my piece. As I began brainstorming for this project, I wondered what it be like if I used a self-portrait as a reaction to the nonsense in World politics. |
Kollwitz Käthe. "Frontal Self-Portrait (Selbstbildnis von vorn)" 1922–23, woodcut.
Kollwitz Käthe. "Self-Portrait (Selbstbildnis)" 1934, Lithographic print.
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Planning
Post-Sketches
When I created these sketches, I want to emphasize on the Cross-hatching., and when I created the 2nd and 3rd sketches, I made it a first priority. In sketch #1, I believe that this sketch looked the best in general, since it looked the most realistic compared to the dead-eyed figures in sketch 2 and sketch 3. In sketch 3, I added a smiling skull figure on the upper right to represent the lack of empathy. In sketch 3, I shaded with a pencil to help guide me, which helped my know where to stipple more and less. I liked the skull in sketch 3, albeit the sketch looked more ape-like than me. From all three sketches, I learned that I had to reference a photograph when I will begin making my piece.
Brainstorm and Outline of Steps
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Process/Techniques and Experimentation
Experimentation with Images
Once I decided to use portraits of myself, my younger brother helped take various photos of me in several facial expressions. (Lighting wasn't an issue as I knew that I didn't need it.) I liked Photograph #3 and Photograph #4 because they seemed more similar to Kollwitz's pieces than the other two. I like how in Photograph #3 I looked at the camera at the angle instead of looking directly at it,
Experimentation of Photoshop
Photograph #3
After opening the image on Photoshop. I used the Crop Tool to crop most of the background. Then I decreased the saturation of the image in order to get rid of the color.
After printing the image, I used a black sharpie and outlined the areas where shadows and highlights met. Then I drew a skull on the corner of the piece.
After I outlined the image, I then began to stipple shadows. After that, I flipped over the image, and re-outlined the image.
Printing
From here, I removed the stencil and put a spoonful of ink on top of it. Then, I used to squeegee to spread the ink across the stencil. Then, I wiped off the excess ink with some watercolor paper. I then placed a semi-wet piece of paper on top of the stencil.
After placing the semi-wet piece of paper and stencil in front of the press , I then placed three layers of protective wool layers and slowly, yet evenly rolled the roller over the paper and stencil.
Prints
My first print (the one on the very left) was not that bad initially, I just wanted a crisper image. The skull didn't look its best. I wiped off to much ink when I was making my second print, which is why is it had less ink than the others. Yet in that print, the eyes had an even amount of ink. My third print, although was messy, seemed to be the best among the three because it showed a lot of the shadows and highlights of the original image.
Reflection & Critique
Kollwitz Käthe. "Frontal Self-Portrait (Selbstbildnis von vorn)" 1922–23, woodcut.
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Despondent
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Compare
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Contrast
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Kollwitz Käthe. "Self-Portrait (Selbstbildnis)" 1934, Lithographic print.
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Despondent
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Compare
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Contrast
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Reflection
When creating this piece, I was primarily inspired by Kollwitz. My use of Photoshop and my use of an image helped my a lot when carving into the piece. In general, I am not so content on how my piece turned out but, I could say that I could sense the message after analyzing it. My use of stippling was not worth creating this piece, due to the amount of time it took to finally be done with the stencil. This had a significant effect on my piece, because if I were to go back on it, I would most likely stippled more on the shadows on my face. Another challenge I had while creating this piece was getting excess ink off. Since the ink was oil-based, water was not an option in cleaning, which made it more and more difficult to clean. Another challenge I had while was getting ideal pictures to use for the piece. (It took a lot of retakes to perfect the picture of self, which was to my brother's annoyance.) Another success I had with this project was that the work that after evaluating it, I could sense the unity all the elements the portrait has. Overall, although this piece could have been better, it was not my worst piece.
ACT Response
Clearly explain how you are able to identify the cause effect relationship between your inspiration and its effect on your artwork?
Kollwitz's use of a self-portrait and texture inspired me to compose a Drypoint self-portrait while using stippling as texture.
What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
The author approached the topic in a biographic way, while explaining Kollwitz's style and purpose.
What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, culture, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
I discovered that when people observe work from Kollwitz they won't understand her disappointment without the context of German Expressionism.
What is the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
The central theme around my research was to find a artist that express disappointment through a life-like figure.
What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
Throughout my research I inferred that Kollwitz's pieces were based her distraught of her country's downfall.
Kollwitz's use of a self-portrait and texture inspired me to compose a Drypoint self-portrait while using stippling as texture.
What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
The author approached the topic in a biographic way, while explaining Kollwitz's style and purpose.
What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, culture, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
I discovered that when people observe work from Kollwitz they won't understand her disappointment without the context of German Expressionism.
What is the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
The central theme around my research was to find a artist that express disappointment through a life-like figure.
What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
Throughout my research I inferred that Kollwitz's pieces were based her distraught of her country's downfall.
Bibliography
Bontecou, Lee. “Käthe Kollwitz Frontal Self-Portrait (Selbstbildnis Von Vorn) 1922–23.” MoMa, Museum of Modern Art, 13 June 2012, www.moma.org/collection/works/160136.
Bontecou, Lee. “Käthe Kollwitz Self-Portrait (Selbstbildnis) 1934.” MoMa, Museum of Modern Art, June 2012, www.moma.org/collection/works/160137.
Wolf, Justin. “Expressionism Movement, Artists and Major Works.” The Art Story, Sept. 2012, www.theartstory.org/movement-expressionism.htm.
Bontecou, Lee. “Käthe Kollwitz Self-Portrait (Selbstbildnis) 1934.” MoMa, Museum of Modern Art, June 2012, www.moma.org/collection/works/160137.
Wolf, Justin. “Expressionism Movement, Artists and Major Works.” The Art Story, Sept. 2012, www.theartstory.org/movement-expressionism.htm.