Painting Project: Using Objects as Symbols and Allegory:

When a butterfly dies their bodies do not decompose, they remain in their natural state of beauty forever.

    For my symbolic figure, I chose to use a butterfly. I wanted to portray this butterfly as a tattoo placed on the pulse of my aunts foot, which will be molded in the ballet foot position of relevé. I am aware that to the audience this will look like any other foot, although in order to represent its uniqueness I chose to create extreme lighting on the foot, particularly on the front of the foot directly at the butterfly. And as for the butterfly, I chose to paint it in navy blue acrylic (my aunts favorite color). The entire piece is created in tones of grey, black, white, beige and navy in order to give the viewer the optical illusion sensation that they are looking at a bust and not a painting/photograph. I directed the foot to be positioned in relevé, due to my aunt and I’s past in ballet and gymnastics. Also due to the symbolism behind her and I’s need to always wear high heals. Being that we are short, we are constantly wearing heals. I also found it symbolic, because it resembled a sensation of being higher than everyone else (almost like there is a reason as to why the foot is on relevé). Which also leads the viewer to question further into the piece and eventually figure out the meaning. 

Inspirations:

I directed this piece after a passage I once wrote:

When a butterfly dies their bodies do not decompose, they remain in their natural state of beauty forever.      

 Similar to artist Damien Hirst, my family and I share this love for butterflies. To us, a butterfly symbolizes beauty, life and faith. When a butterfly flutters by, it is a sign to never give up and that a loved one is near and will stand by you every step of the way.

The year was 2011, and the month was January. That was around the time that the truth behind my family secret would be revealed. It began with the realization that my grandfather that i’ve known my entire life, was not my biological grandfather, and that I had another aunt that my mother had no recollection of. Once the truth behind this information was revealed things began to change. My grandfather otherwise known as gaga, went from a warm dominant figure in my life, to a distant memory of one. My aunts began treating me like an outsider, and my grandmother started to isolate my family and I from all of the high holiday events. I remember her saying, “It is what’s best for the family at this time, but we can come over for dessert afterwards if you want?” “I did not want dessert” I replied, “I wanted dinner.”

Aside from the negative effect of losing the love from a few of my family members, one of the most beautiful, loving, spiritual, intelligent, wise, and caring women I have ever met just entered my life. She was my butterfly. If it wasn’t for this incident, I would have never met the most inspirational person and for that I am grateful it happened. Danielle has taught my family and I so much about appreciating every moment that you live, and to follow your hopes and dreams. She has gone through hell and back, and still completes the day with her high heels on. When I met my Uncle Marc and Aunt Danielle, Danielle taught me about her philosophy behind butterflies, and how they represent good energy and that her grandmother (who is also my mother’s grandmother) is near. Within that moment I told her, “you are my butterfly.”

The day before I left for New York I decided that I wanted to mark myself with something that would always remind me of my aunt and how she never gives up. That is why I went against my families so called “old religious beliefs” and tattooed a symplicit  butterfly upon my foot. It symbolizes that no matter what I will always have a family member by my side every step of the way throughout my journey in life.

Process:

   -First I mapped out what I wanted to do via journal.

   -Next I decided and drew it out.

   -Third, I went to long island where I photographed my aunts foot with artificial lighting to help enhance the lighting affect

   -Forth, I photographed my own foot in the same position of relevé (which was only to get the image of my tattoo)

    -Fith, once I did all of the photography I uploaded the images onto photoshop

     -There I edited the image and placed in on a black backdrop for symbolic reasons,

      -I also edited my tattoo onto her foot, and cloned and pasted images of a marble sculpture I photographed previously

      -Following that I took it to tribeca print works where they over charged me but did the job right. They stretch the image on a 16 x 20inch canvas.

     -Once I received the image printed on the canvas I painted on the image

      – I first painted/ enhanced the foot to have more of a marble sculpture feel to it and enhanced the shadows

      -Next I painted on the tattoo of the butterfly in navy acrylic paint

      -Following that I painted a platform with beige, white, black and grey paint (in order to portray the symbolic sensation of matter and importance)

      -Lastly I did a few touch ups with black acrylic paint and completed the piece. 

Finished product:

For my assignment I decided to create glasses made out of plexiglass. The reason I chose this object is for two reasons. One, a symbolic metaphor. And two, the idea of breaking down the barrier of what is considered in style and what is considered art. Although my piece did not quite come out as I expected, I believe it got the purpose across. For the quote aspect of my creation, I decided to write “I see.” on the left side of the ear piece, and “You see.” on the right.

To begin with, the symbolism behind my project is intended to show individualism and how people’s first perception of you is how they see you. It is their first perception of you whether you like it or not, and whether it is a perfect classification of you or not it is how they first saw you and how they will always see you. Until they are proven otherwise.

The other main idea as to why I chose to create glasses is for the sole purpose of fashion and art. I wanted to create a new frame wear that breaks down the barrier of what is considered in style, and what is more unique as well as useful. I wanted to created the frames like in an abstract format. A bold statement, similar to how flies eyes are represented.

I chose to use plexiglass as the main material for my project in order to represent the idea that there will be no frames on my glasses and just proscription glass. If they were real glasses I would also make sure that there will also be a proper coating to protect the glass from breaking. The glasses are made out of 4 different forms. That  includes 2 large octagons (for the overall frame), 2 small octagons (for the extra vision), an elongated rectangle (for the nose piece), and lastly a scalene shape (for the ear piece). After assembling the pieces together I realized that I should have included a side piece that would be attached to the platform of the glasses, in order to achieve that “fly-like vision” that I intended.

After cutting each piece with a plexi knife (rather than a laser cutter), I organized each shapes placement with a washable marker. Once I marked the pieces, I drilled holes into the specified area. Once I finished this step, I realize the problem in the piece. I kept making two left sides, rather than both of the sides equal to one another. As a result of this, the two frames did not look quite right when screwing them together, but it was something I had to fix three times, due to me consistently making the same mistake. It is possible that my dyslexia had something to do with this, although I don’t usually let it affect me. I see it as something I must learn to work with rather than let it affect me. Although it did not turn out as I hoped, it showed me how much harder I must work in order to achieve what I am in hopes of reaching.

While walking around the downtown area with my glasses on, I noticed tons of glares and confused faces. For a few minutes I took it all in, and analyzed the expressions. Following that, I decided to walk around the hudson pier and ask people what they thought of the glasses. Confused whether I was asking for their opinion artistically, or if they would wear them. Majority of the answers I received went along the lines of the word “interesting” or “handy.” Nobody particularly analyzed the glasses until I asked them to. They mainly presumed they were for construction or handyman usage. Based off this experiment, I think if I was to do them any differently I would make them smaller and more sturdy next time.

Process:

Walking around: