I’ve always admired the contemporary artist, Alex Garant. Her oil paintings are portraits of females. Garant is known for adding double eyes to her pieces, it is her signature detail in her composition that gives it an optical illusion. By duplicating certain features of her subject, she adds a graphic quality to her traditional portraits. By overlapping select features she gives her stiff portraits movement. It looks as if those certain features are moving at a rapid pace, while other features are holding still. Since there is a lot happening in the foreground, I believe her use of simple patterns for her background is the perfect balance. The main elements that stand out for me is Garant’s use of symmetry, duplication, and color. I admire how simple, yet complex her artwork is. I am inspired by her vibration effect, and want to focus on this aspect in my piece. I want to use my preferred medium of watercolors to create my work, and my subjects being my older sister and I. I’ve always looked up to my sister and I am inspired by her everyday.
I am pleased with how my final piece turned out. I wanted to capture Alex Garant’s vibration effect through duplicating certain features of my subjects. I found that trying to inmate her style and at the same time staying true to my own style very challenging. Having the figures being my sister and I made my piece more personal for me. For the background I drew inspiration from numerous pieces of Garant’s. I wanted it to be decorative, yet simple. I believe I achieved that element of her pieces by using only one color. Overall, I really enjoyed paying homage to Alex Garant, I’ve always wanted to paint like her.
