Bles'Son Ty.Daniel- "Essence"
Quotes: "The work is a perfect melding of two of Mutu’s concerns: stereotypical depictions of exoticized African women and of hyper-sexualized African-American women. Eschewing paint and other embellishments, each work is pure collage, combining images from black porn magazines with postcards that reproduce photographs taken by Carol Beckwith.." - artnews
"In this sense they make explicit a critical practice that provides us with different ways to think about black female subjectivity and black female spectatorship". -Bell hooks The Oppositional Gaze.
The name of this art piece is "Essence" and my main inspirations for these pieces was from artist Wangechi Mutu and Mickalene Thomas. As shown above, the main purpose of this piece is to convey the idea of the soul and What's truly beyond the physical realm. I wanted to create a relatable monster being born from the amalgamation of all components that build my character and what inspires me as a person. The main concept of this art piece is to ask the question, " Who are we really". It is obvious that we see eyes, or teeth , and hair and etcetera but everyone has wants or needs or likes and dislikes. Although the monster is in form of a human, it is a formless being made of experiences and ideals made in a recognizable form. In the making of this art piece, I used two New Jersey Journal News papers as well as an modeling ad pamphlet giving to me while I was in Newport Mall. I drew an outline of one of my photos I have taken over the weekend and started posting words , phrases and images I either liked or felt had a connection to my character. Between the small spaces I colored in the whites void spaces with my led pencil to symbolize life within the monster, showing the lifeforce that sustains the monster. The only thing I wanted t be recognizable was the eyes, nose and mouth symbolizing that no matter how much of the physical you strip away from the person , you will still have the essence of what a human is. The eyes are the window of the soul while the mouths and nose are gateways to connect the spiritual with the physical realm. "Essence" within itself is a monster that we believe we understand but are far from it. Us as people believe we know ourselves or our essence but we truly do not know the concept. As for the rainbow rings around the body, they are meant to represent energy and the outward output of soul essence that is emitted from the soul and or the body. The different colors represent the chakras and how they are forever in rotation depending on how you carry yourself in the present moment . The black at the edge of the piece is meant to represent space and also the void that we create when we close our eyes and meditate to escape reality having only ourselves to shine light and bring beauty to the darkness we may bring ourselves. Everyone has a light to shine and everyone has their own connection to whatever thing, idea, concepts and or etcetera that helps us get through the darkness and defines who we are.
As for the quotes, I was heavily inspired by Mutu and I wanted to draw a quote from one of the articles we have read. Drawing from both quotes, I went into creating my art piece with those concepts in mind, Although I am not a woman I can get behind the concept of conveying ideas that break through the shell placed upon me by the media. I am beyond the gaze set upon me and I can set my own path and call myself who I want to call myself. I threw together all what I can get and crated a piece that is personal but yet awe aspiring to say the least.
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