Project Proposal – Alex Antonelli

10 ideas: (first 2 are the ones i’m focusing on)

1. My first idea has to do with aging and the process of aging over time. I think it’s rather interesting – the difference between watching somebody age (by being with them frequently such as your parents or grandparents) and only seeing them once every few months / a year. It’s so different, and drastic, and it’s something that i would love to explore for this. I would do this by creating a series of portraits of elders, and throughout the process of my painting, have their stories be told by them, and then i can explore into the depths of time. I want to re-create this feeling of rapid aging over time, and make the paintings rather exaggerated and very expressive. I think that paint strokes are closer to mimicking a free-er and lighter mood, but one with much more intensity. You can say so much just based on how you make a stroke, and my challenge is to intertwine that with time. I also want their stories, whatever a personal story is to them, and I will incorporate it into the painting process as well, almost something as a time capsule. I would do this on larger canvases in either acrylic or oil. I want the portraits to be very expressive and mimic naturalistic movements within the human body, but I also want to create an overwhelming feeling and presence of time, and how fast it really goes.

2. My second idea would be to paint a child’s portrait, from birth to old age, in a series of maybe 8-10 portraits in between. This would be interesting as well for an idea, mainly because you see the presence of time so much more when you see it start in just a small infant. When it is streched out before you, it’s much less noticeable. However, when placed in front of you in a linear fashion, it invokes a difference perspective and attitude about time and it’s speed.

3. A video project that would include the aging process rapidly sped up, to affect the viewer.

4. A series of photographs that are taken during a crazy activity – but taken like rapid fire. Then, after i would look to see the shots that were in between the movements, to see the human body transform.

5. A photography series on the erosion of our beaches and our shorelines, something that represents time in a more untraditional way and that affects us on a global scale.

6. Painting somebody from life in a series, however making them do an activity while you paint them, (i.e dancing, yoga, anything naturalistic and full of big body movements). This is because the movements will be painted as well, creating a figure in a more lose and abstract way to represent time.

7. A giant canvas that is just covered in all sorts of movements and messages. I want to have time hidden within the canvas, and within the brush strokes. I want to make some figures clearer than others, however. Just be very lose, and tie it together with sound that’s appropriate in expressing what i want to say.

8. A sound compilation of things that represent time now, VS things that represented time back in time – such as the 1940’s. The phone rings were different, and so were the cars, and the ways of communicating. The sounds are an interesting part of that to pick, so i want to compare and contrast the sounds and put them together so the viewer can see how sound also evolves in time.

9. Then and Now – a photograph series of places that have a past presence in photographs around New York City. New York City has been huge for years, and i would focus on some important elements such as the immigration into Ellis Island and to depict our ancestors. I want to potray the presence of time within the city that we live in, and look at it from a new perspective.

10. A collage of fabrics from different eras and times on canvas with paint – such as vintage wear and things that we commonly use in fashion now. I want to express the passing of time using something that is so prevalent to us, and something that we overlook.