Identity in SuRrEaLiSm . . .

I have decided that my final project is going to be in the style of surrealism as I find it is an interesting way of portraying identity and provoking controversy.

My final piece will be influenced by surrealist Salvador Dali who leaves people in awe after they see his paintings as they are eyes into another dimension, Dali's eyes were able to depict the impossible.

This is one of Dali's self portraits, in this portrait Dali displays himself as a piece of "fried bacon" which could be symbolic of indulgence and greed.

When he spoke about his painting he said "As the most generous of all painters I continuously offer myself as food and thus give our era the most delicious delicacies." Which clarifies that this painting is an expression of Dali's vanity and attempt to flatter himself, which says alot about his identity.

Here is one of Dali's landscape paintings, Persistence Of Memory, which is apparently inspired by time and the fact that time can run out and time can somehow be manipulated.

 And although the the painting is surreal it seams that it is trying to portray something real, as if time is a statement or wasted too often which is symbolised by clocks being located at random places within the painting.

After my research I have decided make a portrait within a landscape like Dali's apparition of face and fruit dish on a beach, but in the form of a self portrait and I will include items in the landscape that represent me.

Music influence ---->

I am mostly inspired by musicians that were at the dawn of deep musical revolution & discovery, musicians such as living guuitar legend Jimmy Page, under-appreciated bassist Cliff Burton and mis - understood genius Kurt Cobain...

Here's a rough biro drawing I did of Jimmy Page performing his Dazed And Confused guitar solo when Led Zeppelin did a gig at Madison Square Gardens.

Peter Blake influence ---->

 

This a painting of wrestler Kendo Nagasaki by british pop artist Peter Blake.

Blake chose the technique of tracing over a picture of Kendo Nagasaki then filling the lines in with paint.

I chose a similar technique with my self portrait, but I used a wooden block on which I traced a photo shop edited image of my self using carbon paper. I also chose to use a prop and use a multi- coloured background.

Francis Bacon influence --->

This is my Francis Bacon influenced painting.
I drew it from a series of pictures which I collaged together, I then painted the background black and painted the face with a 'wash' of blue and purple. I then used oil pastels to add more detail to the face and ephasise the lines.

Artists that influenced me

Andy Warhol and Julian Opie were both recognised pop artists that created portraits of celebrities. Although they worked during different eras they both have their similarities and differences. Francis Bacon and Vincent Van Gogh were portrait artists as well although they used different technique and had different influences.

 Andy Warhol was one of the founders of the pop art movement and was mainly inspired by popular culture and celebrity status which was a revolution during the 50s. Warhol’s work was also subtly inspired by surrealism as he used outrageous colours and different scale shapes. Warhol was largely credited for his paintings of famous individuals such as Marilyn Monroe and Mick Jagger.

Julian Opie, like Warhol, was inspired by celebrities and the commercial world. Opie also liked to do portraits of people doing everyday things such as walking or playing a sport. Unlike Warhol, Opie’s work displays only basic facial expression and simple features such as reducing the detail of the eyes to just two black circles and using lines to display other facial expressions such as the mouth. Some of Opie’s work is even simpler and shows only the outline of a figure filled in with basic colours.

Francis Bacon, like Opie and Warhol, was a portrait artist however wasn’t influenced by popular culture. Bacon was influenced more by emotion and isolation which stemmed from his displacing childhood.

Bacon often painted pictures of the Pope, in this picture he has the Pope sitting in an armchair, trapped in cage. This could be influenced by his strong views on religion, representing how isolating and restricting religion can be. People screaming are a recurring theme within Bacon’s work which could link to his fascination of oral diseases, it could also be linked to the trauma he suffered when his grandmother locked him in a room causing him to scream.

 Vincent Van Gogh was also a portrait artist though his influences were totally different to any of Warhol's or Opie's as his work was inspired by French artist Paul Gauguin who took part in post - impressionism. Van Gogh's art was also deeply influenced by his overwhelming illnesses, he suffered from Epilepsy and Bipolar Disorder, Bipolar Disorder having a bigger influence on his work as it causes unusually prolonged periods of depression as well as manic episodes, creativity and hallucinations, which are similar to Bacon's emotional influences.

After looking at the work of these four artists I have gained liking and inspiration from some of their work but i couldn't say for sure which one I like better, as I only like certain aspects of each artists work. With Andy Warhol I like the fact that he started a new revolution for art which later lead onto the work of Julian Opie who was brave enough to strip art to it's basics and still earn his place as an artist. As for Bacon, I like the way he was able to incorporate emotion and deep meanings into his portraits without making it too vague. The aspects of Vincent Van Gogh's work that I find most interesting is that all of his work is carefully planned out with his draw first - paint later theory that proved successful but his work as unfortunately unappreciated during his time as an artist.