Sunday, October 17, 2010

Expressionism and Mixed media

What is Expressionism?

Wikipedia says :
'Expressionism' was a cultural movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Germany at the start of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world under an utterly subjective perspective, violently distorting it to obtain an emotional effect and vividly transmit personal moods and ideas.[1][2] Expressionist artists sought to express the meaning of "being alive"[3] and emotional experience rather than physical reality.3 




So i am still on an expressionism Kick i really like the style and decided to try one of my own piece so i did a sketch first with the colors i would like and sort of what the image is supposed to look like so this was my first attempt at my own expressionist piece.  What i like about expressionism it that it can be beautiful or scary!



I did a Mixed media piece:

Why Cant They See Brown Skin  

 It is based on beauty and just the American International Idea of Models... every where i look the idea of beauty is mainly still thin blond women some are brunettes with blond streaks but none of them have brown skin though they tan for the look of sun kissed skin.            

I used scrap book paper images from Victoria Secrets Newest Sale magazine Gauche and Marker.





The theme is beautiful blond women over shadowing a very small brown skin woman with shades and a smile she is the least prominent, yet she still has a place here. 








How would you classify mainstream beauty? I feel that it is still very Caucasian look. Most celebrities get plastic surgery to appeal to a wider audience & to seem less like their natural heritage and more International but what is international Beauty, if not different and Exotic??

3 comments:

  1. Taji, I would like to have seen your beautiful image in this art work. When I met you I was awed by your beauty. I agree with the sentiment behind the artwork. Perhaps the social reason behind keeping the idea of mainstream beauty as blonde, blue eyes is because of a base reason of sexual jealousy. Why did white scientist have to "prove" white people were more intelligent, more beautiful? Because they were jealous of the beauty, brains and brawn of the other nations and afraid they did not measure up. If you look through my eyes at people's beauty on an international level the most stunning are african and asian women. And yes I am a little jealous... Love your work.

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  2. I concur. Beauty should definitely be much more encompassing; however, if we were to travel abroad to some countries, our definition of beauty may be more pervasive.

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  3. I love your mixed media piece and very good points about the skin colour. I was really surprised when I was chatting with some of my Japanese friends, and they said to me: We want your blonde hair and blue eyes! Japanese girls are so jealous of you!

    What I replied was: Well, I'm jealous of your dark hair, brown eyes and tanned skin! :)

    Same thing with my Chinese friends here. I'm not a white toothpick like all the caucasian models, but I think I've never felt so good about myself in any western country. And still I'm jealous of the awesome styles and very pretty girls here in Tokyo! heh

    -Anna MarĂ­a

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