Project #4: Self-Portrait Painting
"The Breast of Me"
Medium: Acrylic on canvas
Size: 3 ft. x 3 ft.
November 9, 2017
Exhibition Text
Karen Armenta
The Breast of Me, 2017
Self-Portrait
Inspired by Chuck Close’s Mark and Frida Kahlo’s Self Portrait in Red and Gold Dress, my self-portrait helps strengthen the subject of over-sexualization among people. My intents are to highlight the idea that nowadays, people must appeal to others' standards of beauty and meet the desires of others through sexual portrayals. The title is a pun of the phrase 'best of me' as we tend to show an exaggerated image of ourselves to become noticed in an overly sexual society.
The Breast of Me, 2017
Self-Portrait
Inspired by Chuck Close’s Mark and Frida Kahlo’s Self Portrait in Red and Gold Dress, my self-portrait helps strengthen the subject of over-sexualization among people. My intents are to highlight the idea that nowadays, people must appeal to others' standards of beauty and meet the desires of others through sexual portrayals. The title is a pun of the phrase 'best of me' as we tend to show an exaggerated image of ourselves to become noticed in an overly sexual society.
Artistic Inspiration
Chuck Close | Mark, 1978-1979, chuckclose.com/work075.html.
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https://www.fridakahlo.org/self-portrait-in-red-and-gold-dress.jsp
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My overall inspiration in art is from Chuck Close and his photo realistic paintings. I admire his accuracy and commitment to detail and painting things exactly the way they are portrayed is aesthetically pleasing to me and shows extreme patience and skill along with Close's own commitment. I wanted to attempt the same thing Close does as portrayal of one's self says a lot about someone. People do not like to admit it but people notice one's appearance above everything else and we set up biases based on their appearance. Among them, self-perception is objective when considering themselves and how they see themselves. Identity is not tangible, only thought of, and Close focuses specifically on the identity of others through someone who isn't the subject.
In contrast to Chuck Close, Mexican painter Frida Kahlo illustrates her identity through herself and inanimate objects. Identity to her is not limited to ones's self, but by everything that revolves around one's self. Kahlo herself displays herself in a mixture of full-body portraits as well as head shot portraits. The full body portraits pertain to her sexual identity in some paintings, and in others, her identity in regards to her relationship with her surroundings, like her country. Kahlo's constant use of herself in paintings is very similar to what I do for my own artworks, as one's identity can be seen in multiple perspectives. Political stances and patriotism is evident in her works, unlike Close, where he showcases more of the direct representations of people, close up.
Both artists mainly depict the human form, both physical and identity-wise. I was inspired by their obsessions with the human face and felt that both artistic styles met my own artistic style, as I was going for realism, yet not realism, and focusing on the meaning of self-identity and what that means to me in today's society. Also, I was inspired by their techniques, as Close is more of a perfectionist and goes for full detail, while Kahlo utilized warmer hues and made her paintings more illustrative to fit the Surrealism style.
In contrast to Chuck Close, Mexican painter Frida Kahlo illustrates her identity through herself and inanimate objects. Identity to her is not limited to ones's self, but by everything that revolves around one's self. Kahlo herself displays herself in a mixture of full-body portraits as well as head shot portraits. The full body portraits pertain to her sexual identity in some paintings, and in others, her identity in regards to her relationship with her surroundings, like her country. Kahlo's constant use of herself in paintings is very similar to what I do for my own artworks, as one's identity can be seen in multiple perspectives. Political stances and patriotism is evident in her works, unlike Close, where he showcases more of the direct representations of people, close up.
Both artists mainly depict the human form, both physical and identity-wise. I was inspired by their obsessions with the human face and felt that both artistic styles met my own artistic style, as I was going for realism, yet not realism, and focusing on the meaning of self-identity and what that means to me in today's society. Also, I was inspired by their techniques, as Close is more of a perfectionist and goes for full detail, while Kahlo utilized warmer hues and made her paintings more illustrative to fit the Surrealism style.
Planning
I had wanted to incorporate the idea of over-sexualizing things and decided to emphasize raunchy images through perception and focal points. I wanted to include exposed objects in my work and planned to use myself as a subject, again, as it fit my senior theme, and it wouldn't be as objective if I used myself as the subject of my work. Considering the kind of subject I wanted to revolve this piece around, using myself as a representation of it would prevent an audience to backlash with comments.
I decided to plan out different scenarios in which a person could be sexually rather than normally. I sketched out three different scenarios: one of myself in bed, one of me in school, breaking the dress code, and me as a bartender.
The one in bed would emphasize my sexuality and would represent the vulnerability of women in intimate situations. I planned to make it realistic, yet dream-like, like a combo of Frida Kahlo and Chuck Close. The one of me in school would have me wearing a crop top and exposing a lot of skin, and it having a pop-art style, much like Roy Lichtenstein. The last sketch is me as a bartender and would draw attention to the obsession of sex and its correlation with alcohol and drug abuse. This sketch would be realistic and would draw inspiration from Édouard Manet's A Bar at the Folies-Bergere.
I decided to plan out different scenarios in which a person could be sexually rather than normally. I sketched out three different scenarios: one of myself in bed, one of me in school, breaking the dress code, and me as a bartender.
The one in bed would emphasize my sexuality and would represent the vulnerability of women in intimate situations. I planned to make it realistic, yet dream-like, like a combo of Frida Kahlo and Chuck Close. The one of me in school would have me wearing a crop top and exposing a lot of skin, and it having a pop-art style, much like Roy Lichtenstein. The last sketch is me as a bartender and would draw attention to the obsession of sex and its correlation with alcohol and drug abuse. This sketch would be realistic and would draw inspiration from Édouard Manet's A Bar at the Folies-Bergere.
Reference Pictures
In order to depict myself the way I think would be the best way to represent myself in today's world, I had to expose myself a little more than I wanted to. I had originally exposed one of my breasts, but opted not to post them on my website because it would be really risky, especially in high school. I wore a bralette that looked similar to a shirt pulled up all the way and used it to show off my 'assets'. While emphasizing my chest, I tried to remain cool for the camera and look seductive to get into the mood of what I wanted my piece to entail. I had the reference pictures taken at a small aerial view to get my face in the painting, as well as parts of my body like my chest and my arms/shoulders.
Process
After taking my reference pictures and choosing which one I would use for my portrait, I projected the image onto my canvas and traced over where I was going to focus on detail and blending, as well as differences in values and shading. Before this, I painted my background purple, as it was the color of my bed sheets in the picture I was using as a reference. I painted on my face with a base coat of yellow, and worked my way adding more tones of yellows to my face to add form. Once having my face covered, I decided to work on my facial features and started from the middle and worked my way out.
I began with my nose and dedicated a whole day to working on just my nose. With browns and white added into the mix of yellow I was already using, I painted on my nose and defined it more by using darker tones and lighter values and blending them together to create the illusion of a nose. From there, I worked on my cheeks and eyes. The cheeks had hints of orange and red to them, so I sought to emphasize the colors and then make them less saturated and look more realistic by blending the original base color I had used to make it look like the color of the skin on my cheeks. The eyes came next and were painted white so that when it dried, it would make it easier for me to paint on. I stuck to just applying color to make things go a little faster and ignored the detail for the time being, as I was taking longer than expected to finish the face. I continued painting my facial features, soon painting on my eyebrows and lips and finishing for the meantime my face.
Once completing my face, I began painting my hair and painted my hairline and defined my face with my hair. I used a solid brown and filled up the areas where I had intended on leaving for my hair. I then painted on darker brown to it and then blacks, as my hair is thick and has the most value. After painting my face, I tried to work again on my facial features, focusing on my lips and eyes once more.
I then continued to paint my chest and used the same technique I did to paint my chest when I painted my face. After finishing putting on the base colors for my body, I returned to adding details on my face. I started with my eyes and detailed the features in them, like the shading and highlights and the eyelids. Soon enough, I blended in better my cheeks and my forehead and moved back to my neck. I defined the shapes of my breasts with shadows and the technique of brushstrokes I used, since I painted in a dome-like stroke. I then moved onto my arms, where I decided to use the same colors I had painted my neck with. I painted them the same way I did with my breasts. I also painted my hands, and tried my best to blend in the colors of my hands.
I began with my nose and dedicated a whole day to working on just my nose. With browns and white added into the mix of yellow I was already using, I painted on my nose and defined it more by using darker tones and lighter values and blending them together to create the illusion of a nose. From there, I worked on my cheeks and eyes. The cheeks had hints of orange and red to them, so I sought to emphasize the colors and then make them less saturated and look more realistic by blending the original base color I had used to make it look like the color of the skin on my cheeks. The eyes came next and were painted white so that when it dried, it would make it easier for me to paint on. I stuck to just applying color to make things go a little faster and ignored the detail for the time being, as I was taking longer than expected to finish the face. I continued painting my facial features, soon painting on my eyebrows and lips and finishing for the meantime my face.
Once completing my face, I began painting my hair and painted my hairline and defined my face with my hair. I used a solid brown and filled up the areas where I had intended on leaving for my hair. I then painted on darker brown to it and then blacks, as my hair is thick and has the most value. After painting my face, I tried to work again on my facial features, focusing on my lips and eyes once more.
I then continued to paint my chest and used the same technique I did to paint my chest when I painted my face. After finishing putting on the base colors for my body, I returned to adding details on my face. I started with my eyes and detailed the features in them, like the shading and highlights and the eyelids. Soon enough, I blended in better my cheeks and my forehead and moved back to my neck. I defined the shapes of my breasts with shadows and the technique of brushstrokes I used, since I painted in a dome-like stroke. I then moved onto my arms, where I decided to use the same colors I had painted my neck with. I painted them the same way I did with my breasts. I also painted my hands, and tried my best to blend in the colors of my hands.
Experimentation
I did a lot of experimenting with my nose, as I took a lot of time to work on my nose. I experimented with the blending and put to use the skills I developed when I practiced blending on spheres and the changing in color when blending different colors. I used highly saturated colors of my face and eventually blended them together with neutral tones to get the details and drastic colors of my face.
I had a hard time blending in the blushed highlights on my cheeks and struggled to blend them in with the harsh oranges. I had to experiment with reds and oranges and whites and yellows to evenly blend the colors. This was to accentuate the blush in my cheeks, as blushing refers to sexual affiliation, or shy natures. Along with harsh colors blending, I had to work with blending the strong values in the shadows of my neck, and my breasts. Since the body parts involved depth and form, I had to create the illusion by contrasting values and blending them with lighter values.
This was also heavily applied to the detail in my eyes. I feel that a lot of people notice my big eyes and I experimented the development of my eyes. My nose also faced similar process and experimentation, as I dedicated days to solemnly work on my eyes and nose. I first put the base colors and slowly added blocks of colors and blended. I then added highlights and shade, along with very small, fine detail with smaller brushes.
I had a hard time blending in the blushed highlights on my cheeks and struggled to blend them in with the harsh oranges. I had to experiment with reds and oranges and whites and yellows to evenly blend the colors. This was to accentuate the blush in my cheeks, as blushing refers to sexual affiliation, or shy natures. Along with harsh colors blending, I had to work with blending the strong values in the shadows of my neck, and my breasts. Since the body parts involved depth and form, I had to create the illusion by contrasting values and blending them with lighter values.
This was also heavily applied to the detail in my eyes. I feel that a lot of people notice my big eyes and I experimented the development of my eyes. My nose also faced similar process and experimentation, as I dedicated days to solemnly work on my eyes and nose. I first put the base colors and slowly added blocks of colors and blended. I then added highlights and shade, along with very small, fine detail with smaller brushes.
Reflection
As I was going for a realistic style like Chuck Close, and keep the Surrealism feeling of Frida Kahlo's works, I can say that I did an average job in emulating both styles and combining the two. It is easier to tell that my inspiration was Chuck Close, but the inspiration drawn from Frida Kahlo isn't as obvious as Chuck Close's style. As much as I also wanted to get really risky with this painting and paint myself nude, I would've enjoyed painting at least an exposed breast to really disturb an audience, but I held against the will to, as I am limited to how it will be showcased. If I were to add something to this painting, I would preferably paint more than just my face and partial torso. I would paint a full body painting, but due to time and limited canvas space, I couldn't execute it.
I'm really satisfied with the way my nose turned out and my right breast. These two parts I feel I put most of my time and efforts into making them as exact as possible and focused heavily on shading, form, value, and depth, along with blending techniques. I would spend more time on my arms, hand, and neck, as the colors aren't as blended as they could have been and aren't as exact to the reference picture I used. Overall I'm very happy with how this piece turned out, as it is similar to my sketches and I can tell which artists I drew inspiration from. I also expanded on the skills I have already, as I like to make things realistic and favor precision, but even then, my perception of proportion isn't as good as it could be.
I'm really satisfied with the way my nose turned out and my right breast. These two parts I feel I put most of my time and efforts into making them as exact as possible and focused heavily on shading, form, value, and depth, along with blending techniques. I would spend more time on my arms, hand, and neck, as the colors aren't as blended as they could have been and aren't as exact to the reference picture I used. Overall I'm very happy with how this piece turned out, as it is similar to my sketches and I can tell which artists I drew inspiration from. I also expanded on the skills I have already, as I like to make things realistic and favor precision, but even then, my perception of proportion isn't as good as it could be.
Connection to ACT
Identify cause and effect relationships between your inspiration and your artwork.
Close's detail to detail is what inspired me to make a lot of work I make now. I am completely in awe with the human face and his ability to paint so accurately is what got me into painting self-portraits. I can portray myself in any way I like all while being centered around myself and only me.
What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
Most of what I researched had to do with artistic styles that each artist specialized in. For Chuck Close, it was photo-realism while Frida Kahlo was more Surrealistic.
What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
I concluded that the way people want others to see themselves is heavily implied in the society I am living in that people take it really seriously. The reason Close handpicks his subjects is to stray away from the idea of self-perception and portray them how someone other than them would perceive them.
What was the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
I was trying to highlight the oversexualization of one through a self-portrait, which could detail my personal sexual identity and my personal identity in today's society.
What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
I can safely say that everyone has their own bias about themselves and resist what others make of them. Things like doubts and flaws are what can hinder one's ability to be satisfied with themselves and be open-minded.
Close's detail to detail is what inspired me to make a lot of work I make now. I am completely in awe with the human face and his ability to paint so accurately is what got me into painting self-portraits. I can portray myself in any way I like all while being centered around myself and only me.
What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
Most of what I researched had to do with artistic styles that each artist specialized in. For Chuck Close, it was photo-realism while Frida Kahlo was more Surrealistic.
What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
I concluded that the way people want others to see themselves is heavily implied in the society I am living in that people take it really seriously. The reason Close handpicks his subjects is to stray away from the idea of self-perception and portray them how someone other than them would perceive them.
What was the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
I was trying to highlight the oversexualization of one through a self-portrait, which could detail my personal sexual identity and my personal identity in today's society.
What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
I can safely say that everyone has their own bias about themselves and resist what others make of them. Things like doubts and flaws are what can hinder one's ability to be satisfied with themselves and be open-minded.
Bibliography
“Photorealism Movement, Artists and Major Works.” The Art Story, www.theartstory.org/movement-photorealism-artworks.htm#pnt_1.
“Through the Looking Glass: Innovative Women Artists Who Reclaimed the Gaze At New York Armory Art Week.” D/Railed, www.drailedmag.com/2017/03/23/through-the-looking-glass-innovative-women-artists-who-reclaimed-the-gaze-at-new-york-armory-art-week/.
“5 Elements of Attractiveness.” Oprah.com, www.oprah.com/relationships/5-elements-of-attractiveness-the-science-of-sex-appeal.
“Through the Looking Glass: Innovative Women Artists Who Reclaimed the Gaze At New York Armory Art Week.” D/Railed, www.drailedmag.com/2017/03/23/through-the-looking-glass-innovative-women-artists-who-reclaimed-the-gaze-at-new-york-armory-art-week/.
“5 Elements of Attractiveness.” Oprah.com, www.oprah.com/relationships/5-elements-of-attractiveness-the-science-of-sex-appeal.