I am caught in the midst of exploring the human condition. My journey of discovery compelled me to dig deeper into specific emotions. I find great detail in the expression of a person’s mental state and I decided to project them in a series of paintings and drawings.
The feeling of true frustration is so intense, I chose to show this through opaque painting styles. The brushstrokes I used were harsh and textured to create a mood. The colors I chose are vivid and extreme to express anger, such as the harsh mood the color red gives off. The stress revealed throughout the veins of a clenched fist in my painting depicts the indubitable yet unjustifiable relief physical grieving can bring. While simply clenching a piece of paper, the emotion can drain from you, like an immense weight lifting off your body. As your muscles grow tense, the stress from your mind is suppressed. For the time being, we postulate all is released. Until we come to the conclusion, our thoughts were distorted.
Stereotypically, biting nails serves as a sign of anxiety. In my drawing, the tension of the finger pressed against the lips serves to demonstrate the overwhelming moment of anxiety and stress one is feeling at that exact moment. The moment where you feel on the edge, waiting to tip over. I used a slightly rigid style in my pencil work to give off a stressed out perception.
Happiness and optimism is the main source of life. My next painting shows jubilance in a smile, clearly exhibiting the beauty in being truly captivated. Yellow is an euphoric color, relating to the sun. This is why I chose to use yellow in my painting. While happiness is not only a spur of laughter; but an essence so confident, the sensation of liveliness is overwhelming.
The human figure has become my canvas on which I draw out the human condition, and hopefully, through my work, expresses the myriad of emotion as experienced through a teenage artist. There is a multitude of ways to express these vast emotions but I chose to in a way I can relate to.
