Title: Breaking Apart
Size: 22.9 by 15 cm Medium: Black ink and Linoleum carved block Completion: September 2021 Exhibition Text The pieces original intention is to show how mankind is trying to fix the earth even though its changing from climate change, this can be seen with the two hands holding the broken earth attempting to put it back together even though its Breaking Apart. The piece was made with a linoleum block, black ink, and white paper. The piece was inspired by Franz Marc. |
Inspiration
Franz Marc was a German Expressionist artist, a part of the Der Blaue Reiter group. He originally focused on Naturalism and Realism but felt like they didn't capture his ideas well. He also studied modern and impressionist artwork which he portrays in his pieces. Marc mostly makes pieces that either have a nature based environment or animals in them. Most of his pieces don´t make sens when first viewed because they symbolism something.
In the piece ¨Fate of the Animals¨ ,Franz Marc made the painting from the eyes of an animal and what they see in the world. He uses color to tension and to show emotion.
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I was Inspired by Franz Marc´s piece ¨Two Mythical Animals¨ because of his use of curved lines and the fact that it tells a story. I like that when you look at his piece you see something but than after the meaning is explained, you look at it with new eyes.
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By looking at ¨The Unfortunate Land of Tyrol¨ a viewer would think that it's just a painting of a town with animals and mountains. But really the piece reflects the aftermath of the Balkan Wars on an Austrian-Hungarian town. The cemetery and horses symbolize doom, however the background of bright colors and a bird shows the hope Marc has of redemption.
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Planning
When starting my piece I had a general idea of what I wanted to do. For my theme or story for this piece I wanted to base it off of nature. I also wanted to tie the story with global warming . For my first idea, I thought of doing something with the water and tie impressionism into that. However I could not figure out a better way then the sketch I did to portray global warming using the ocean.
For my second idea, thought of a forest with trees falling and animals running away. This would tie to my inspiration because it has animals in it. However, I changed my idea and decided to take a different approach by taking a literal approach from a different perspective. I drew the earth but with two hands on each side holding it like a ball with a crack in the middle and some on the sides. At first I wanted to portray the earth in two pieces but then I changed my mind again. The hands holding the earth is supposed to represent them trying to put them together.
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Process
To begin with the first thing I did after I sketched my drawings I started the carving process. With that I used a carving tool and a block to prevent injuring myself. Also to prevent from moving the block print when carving so that I would carve an unwanted area.After I carved the places I drew, I began the actual printing process. With this I needed ink,brayer, paper, roller, and an ink tray. I smeared some ink onto the tray and then began continually rolling the brayer back and forth to a generous amount of ink on the roller.I then transfer the ink onto the block print until it is completely covered. I then aligned a piece of paper on the block print and used the brayer to help the transfer. After that I carefully peeled the paper back and if I was content with my final result then I would stop, however I completed this process about eight times until I had at least three decent block prints
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Experimentation
While planning my piece out and sketching It took awhile to come up with something that was ¨good¨. At first I wanted to tie my piece to impressionism and thought I could do something like Van Gogh. However, I changed my mind and thought expressionism was the better approach. While completing my final sketch, I had an idea to make the earth into a basketball and put a court underneath to make it look like it was someone holding a ball about to shoot, but it would symbolize someone living their normal life while the earth is falling apart. However, after much thought I didn't like that idea either, for some time I also thought about adding a cityscape to tie in with the previous idea.
For my first print, I did the process of putting ink onto the block, but since it was my first time printing I was not sure on the amount of ink to use. This was the end product of that(upper right corner).
After I played around with the amount of ink to use and figured out the areas in which needed the most ink, I ended up making a total of 8 prints but choose the ones that showed my process throughout and the best that I liked for a final. |
Reflection
Overall, my piece turned out the way I wanted. As an artist I believe that this project helped me developed a new skill because prior to the project I had never carved on a linoleum block before. Nor had I competed the printing process before, having this new skill can help me for future projects. The biggest challenge I encountered during the project was in the printing process because it took me awhile to produce a decent print. I had a difficulty with spreading the ink evenly, and figuring out how much I needed to use in order to get a full coverage. My favorite part of the project was the carving because as I have said previously I had never done it before and I was excited to try something new. I hope when others view my work, they will at least get a basic understanding of what my intentions were.
Critique
Compare
- A similarity between my piece and the artist piece would be the use of symbolism. The artist uses symbolism with animals and colors. For example in ``The Unfortunate Land of Tryol”the artist uses bright, cheery colors in the background as symbolism for redemption after the Balkan Wars. In my piece there is symbolism where the hands are holding the earth to represent, humans trying to accomplish something to stop climate change.
- Another similarity would be the use of nature. Franz Marc uses animals and environments to depict a story. I used nature as my theme because it's something relevant and can evolve for the better or worse.
- Another similarity would be the use of lines, I got my inspiration from Franz Marc´s piece to use the lines to add an effect of the hands trying to keep the earth together.
- A difference between the inspiration piece and mine would be that Franz filled the entire space with his image, while I took a simple approach and didn't fill the entire block.
- Another difference between the two pieces would be that when you look at my piece you can get an idea of what it its, however when you look at Franz Marc piece you can not completely tell what it is.
Connecting to the ACT
- Clearly explain and describe how you are able to identify the cause-effect relations between your inspiration and its effect upon artwork.
- What is the overall approach (point of view) the author ( from your research) has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
- What kind of generalization and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
- What was the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
- What kind of inferences (conclusion researched on the basis of evidence and reasoning ) did you make while reading your research?
Bibliography
“Fate of the Animals - Franz Marc.” USEUM, www.useum.org/artwork/Fate-of-the-Animals-Franz-Marc-1913.
“Franz Marc Biography, Life & Quotes.” The Art Story, www.theartstory.org/artist/marc-franz/life-and-legacy/.
“Franz Marc Paintings, Bio, Ideas.” The Art Story, www.theartstory.org/artist/marc-franz/.
“Franz Marc: Two Mythical Animals (Zwei Fabeltiere) (1914).” Artsy, www.artsy.net/artwork/franz-marc-two-mythical-animals-zwei-fabeltiere.
“The Unfortunate Land of Tyrol.” The Guggenheim Museums and Foundation, www.guggenheim.org/artwork/2775.
“Franz Marc Biography, Life & Quotes.” The Art Story, www.theartstory.org/artist/marc-franz/life-and-legacy/.
“Franz Marc Paintings, Bio, Ideas.” The Art Story, www.theartstory.org/artist/marc-franz/.
“Franz Marc: Two Mythical Animals (Zwei Fabeltiere) (1914).” Artsy, www.artsy.net/artwork/franz-marc-two-mythical-animals-zwei-fabeltiere.
“The Unfortunate Land of Tyrol.” The Guggenheim Museums and Foundation, www.guggenheim.org/artwork/2775.