Exhibition text
"Grow Up", made in Adobe Photoshop, using pictures taken by me, is inspired by Barbra Kruger and Kathe Kollwitz's "Hospital visit", In this piece I try to express the transition of growing older and having to become an responsible young adult. In "Grow Up" it depicts me looking down on myself a "younger" in a way, saying goodbye and putting my younger self to rest.
Essay
I know I have to do this. Grow up. I’ve known I had to do so ever since I first grasped the concept of adulthood. When I was a little kid I was always under the watchful eye of my parents. They controlled my life, from the way I dress to the religion I follow.
I was never interested in the things they were in when I was a kid, like my parents music talents, or my families fascination with soccer. Thus, my disinterest led me to live a secluded life from the outside world, only leaving the house to go to school, or church, and sometimes forcefully to the park where my dad encouraged me to play a game of soccer, but I never wanted to.
I always preferred to stay inside, under my covers playing video games, and doing absolutely nothing. I was the essence of laziness and gluttony for 14-odd years of my life. Then I turned 15, more was expected from me, I couldn't just stay inside and do nothing when I felt like it. I started high school and that was kind of a shock for me. I was so used to keeping to myself that I almost forgot how to interact with other people. Then one thing after the other I became social for the first time in a long time.
I started to get interested in other things besides video games, sports, social events and even girls. All these factors helped from myself into a more responsible and social young adult. Although i'm not perfect, I don't consider myself responsible at all, but i'm better than I was before and in order to be better I need to put to sleep my younger self and soon i'll have to put down the current version of me for an actual adult. A responsible one preferably.
I was never interested in the things they were in when I was a kid, like my parents music talents, or my families fascination with soccer. Thus, my disinterest led me to live a secluded life from the outside world, only leaving the house to go to school, or church, and sometimes forcefully to the park where my dad encouraged me to play a game of soccer, but I never wanted to.
I always preferred to stay inside, under my covers playing video games, and doing absolutely nothing. I was the essence of laziness and gluttony for 14-odd years of my life. Then I turned 15, more was expected from me, I couldn't just stay inside and do nothing when I felt like it. I started high school and that was kind of a shock for me. I was so used to keeping to myself that I almost forgot how to interact with other people. Then one thing after the other I became social for the first time in a long time.
I started to get interested in other things besides video games, sports, social events and even girls. All these factors helped from myself into a more responsible and social young adult. Although i'm not perfect, I don't consider myself responsible at all, but i'm better than I was before and in order to be better I need to put to sleep my younger self and soon i'll have to put down the current version of me for an actual adult. A responsible one preferably.
Inspiration One inspiration for "Grow up" is the piece "Hospital visit" created by Kathe Kollwitz which depicts a man laying down in a hospital bed with a child and a woman next to his bed. This piece influenced the position of both charters in my piece. I wanted to capture the feeling of loss or at the very an expectation of loss in "Hospital Visit" and incorporate it in "Grow Up" but instead the loss of a life its the loss of ones childhood. I also wanted to use the same black and white values in my piece to further emphasize the mood of my piece.
Another Inspiration for "grow up" was the artist Barbra Kruger. She was a Post-modern artist who used her art to convey messages addressing issues and critiques about society. I didn't use a specific piece of Kruger as inspiration, but the format of using sharp images with advertisement like texts in front of the image in numerous pieces of her art. I tried to implement Kruger's advertisement like text to emphasize the message of wanting to grow up and transition from a child to a young adult. |
Kollwitz, Kathe."Besuch Im Krankenhaus (Hospital Visit)". 1920
Kruger, Barbra. "Untitled (Your body is a battleground)".1989
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Proccess
Planning sketches
Photos used
When I first did when creating my piece was place the back ground image, the one with my little brother with a file size of 36in by 24in. Then turning the the whole screen in black and white using Photoshop's filter tool. Then I placed the second layer in, the one with me laying down, and used the trim tool to cut out everything besides my head which I later placed over my little brothers head. After that layer was done I placed the third layer in, the one with me sitting down in bed looking to the side. The I used the trim tool to trim myself out. I then placed the layer under the black and white filter so that everything would have the same black and white values. Then I used the square tool to create a rectangle which I then colored red and placed it on the opposite side of myself to create balance in the piece. I then used the typing tool to write Grow Up in the rectangle, then colored it white. After everything was in place I used the shading tool so I could darken both the background and the space behind of me so to highlight myself from everything else besides the red square. Then I finished it off by creating a black boarder around the piece. |
Experimentation
The only thing I tried to experiment with was to use the negative filter on myself as a way to stand out from the piece or I was going to leave myself with out any filter ( in full color) or with just a little discoloration. By doing this it would have symbolized how i wasn't the same as the one younger me in bed. I was the opposite and have become more complex but still needed to change a bit before I can become a full-fledged adult. |
Reflection
For my digital manipulation project I took inspiration from both "Hospital visit" created by Kathe Kollwitz and by Barbra Kruger's Untitled (Your body is a battleground) piece. My project is similar to "hospital visit" because of the positions of the characters in the piece and the black and white values in both pieces. "Grow Up" differs from hospital visit because it lacks a third character, the standing child. My project is similar to Barbra Kruger's Untitled (Your body is a battleground) piece because of the bright red, advertisement-like lettering in both pieces. In "Grow Up" it depicts me looking down on myself a "younger" in a way, saying goodbye and putting my younger self to rest. And on the left side with big red white lettering the words Grow Up.This digital manipulation project, was the first time I have ever used Adobe Photoshop. There was a bit of a learning curb for me when trying to figure out the functions of the Photoshop tools and layers, but with some you tube tutorials and online descriptions of the tool I was able to figure out the basics. When first thinking up the Idea for "Grow Up" I was originally going to incorporate a lot of detail to the piece but then, ultimately I opted to make it a bit minimalistic. All in all I was able achieve the look I wanted.
ACT Questions
Clearly explain how you are able to identify the cause effect relationship between your inspiration and its effect on your artwork?
The effect my inspiration had on my artwork was the melancholy tone and the positions of the forms in my artwork.
What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
The over all approach the author had regarding the topic of my inspiration was to convey a message of despair and anxiety through the use of black and white values and by using lines to from the shape of expressive faces.
What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, culture, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
Some conclusions and generalizations I discovered about people and culture in my inspiration is that at the time people were really miserable. World War I was going on and because of it people were living in poverty and depression.
What is the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?.
The central idea around my inspiration is how living in war will make you eventually experience the loss of a loved one. Like Kathe Kollwitz she was alive during both WWI and WWII and experienced death constantly.
What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
One inference I made while reading my research was that Kathe Kollwitz lived with anxiety from a very young age, because of the deaths of her siblings.
Bibliography:
“2nd Semester Art History Notes.” Mrs. Milewski's Digital Classroom, www.mrsmilewski.com/2nd-semester-art-history-notes.html.
“The Art of Barbara Kruger.” Home - Barbara Kruger - Photograph Collage, Advertising, Slogans, Art, www.barbarakruger.com/art.shtml.
“Visit to the Hospital (Besuch Im Krankenhaus).” Artist Info, www.nga.gov/collection/art-object-page.8203.html.
The effect my inspiration had on my artwork was the melancholy tone and the positions of the forms in my artwork.
What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
The over all approach the author had regarding the topic of my inspiration was to convey a message of despair and anxiety through the use of black and white values and by using lines to from the shape of expressive faces.
What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, culture, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
Some conclusions and generalizations I discovered about people and culture in my inspiration is that at the time people were really miserable. World War I was going on and because of it people were living in poverty and depression.
What is the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?.
The central idea around my inspiration is how living in war will make you eventually experience the loss of a loved one. Like Kathe Kollwitz she was alive during both WWI and WWII and experienced death constantly.
What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
One inference I made while reading my research was that Kathe Kollwitz lived with anxiety from a very young age, because of the deaths of her siblings.
Bibliography:
“2nd Semester Art History Notes.” Mrs. Milewski's Digital Classroom, www.mrsmilewski.com/2nd-semester-art-history-notes.html.
“The Art of Barbara Kruger.” Home - Barbara Kruger - Photograph Collage, Advertising, Slogans, Art, www.barbarakruger.com/art.shtml.
“Visit to the Hospital (Besuch Im Krankenhaus).” Artist Info, www.nga.gov/collection/art-object-page.8203.html.