Artwork: Dry Point Printmaking
Title: Fading Away
Size: 15cm x 20cm
Medium: Dry Point
Completion: November 2018
Title: Fading Away
Size: 15cm x 20cm
Medium: Dry Point
Completion: November 2018
Exhibition Text: Fading away is a piece that is meant to show me fading away. I was inspired to do this because I watched a movie called Avengers Infinity War. In the movie, the protagonist would snap his fingers and it would make the superheros vanish into thin air. I wanted to show this in my piece because I thought that it would be a cool idea. I did this with the help of Edvard Munch and his scream painting. I thought that it would make the piece look more realistic with me doing the scream face while vanishing into thin air.
Planning
Inspiration
Edvard Munch was born in 1863 in a rustic farmhouse in the village of Adalsbruk, located in Loten, Norway. His father, Christian Munch, was a practicing physician, married to Laura Catherine Bjolstad. The family, including sisters Johanne Sophie, Laura Catherine Inger Marie, and brother Peter, relocated to Oslo in 1864, following Christian's appointment as medical officer at Akershus Fortress, a military area which at the time was in use as a prison. Munch's mother died of tuberculosis in 1868, the same year Inger Marie was born. Within a decade, Munch's favorite sister, Sophie, just one year his senior and a gifted young artist, also died of tuberculosis. Munch's father, a fundamentalist Christian, thereafter experienced fits of depression and anger as well as quasi-spiritual visions in which he interpreted the family's illnesses as punishment of divine origin. Due largely to Christian's medical career with the military, the family moved frequently and lived in relative poverty. Christian would often read to his children the ghost stories of Edgar Allan Poe, as well as lessons in history and religion, instilling in young Munch a general sense of anxiety about death. Adding to this, Munch's frail immune system was little match for the harsh Scandinavian winters and frequent illness kept him out of school for months on end. To pass the time, Munch took up drawing and watercolor painting. Art became a steady preoccupation for Munch during his teen years. At thirteen, he was exposed to the works of the fledgling Norwegian Art Association and was particularly inspired by the group's landscape paintings. In the course of copying these works he taught himself the techniques of oil paintings. In 1908, following his stay in Berlin and subsequent return to Paris, Munch suffered a nervous breakdown. A bohemian life of excessive drinking and brawling and the pain and anxiety caused pain by the loss of his sister and father had taken their toll. Munch was admitted to a hospital in Copenhagen, where for eight months he was subject to a strict dietary and "electrification" regimen. While hospitalized, Munch created the lithographic series, Alpha and Omega (1908), depicting the artist's relationships with various friends and enemies. Munch was released from the hospital the following year and, as advised by his doctor, he immediately returned to Norway to lead a life of quiet isolation. Subsequently, Munch derived inspiration from the Norwegian landscape and the daily activities of farmers and laborers. Reflecting a newly optimistic perspective, Munch's work from this period employed a lighter palette (including white or negative space, a quality virtually absent from former works), loose brushstrokes, and themes revolving around life, work and recreation on the farm. Among representative works of this period are The Sun (1912), Spring Ploughing (1916), and Bathing Man (1918). Munch continued drawing from his daily life and personal experience, now shunning overt themes of loss and death. An exception was Munch's focus on his own mortality, as is reflected in several somber self-portraits of the 1930s and 40s. He additionally produced much drawing and painting of landscape.
Inspiration
Edvard Munch was born in 1863 in a rustic farmhouse in the village of Adalsbruk, located in Loten, Norway. His father, Christian Munch, was a practicing physician, married to Laura Catherine Bjolstad. The family, including sisters Johanne Sophie, Laura Catherine Inger Marie, and brother Peter, relocated to Oslo in 1864, following Christian's appointment as medical officer at Akershus Fortress, a military area which at the time was in use as a prison. Munch's mother died of tuberculosis in 1868, the same year Inger Marie was born. Within a decade, Munch's favorite sister, Sophie, just one year his senior and a gifted young artist, also died of tuberculosis. Munch's father, a fundamentalist Christian, thereafter experienced fits of depression and anger as well as quasi-spiritual visions in which he interpreted the family's illnesses as punishment of divine origin. Due largely to Christian's medical career with the military, the family moved frequently and lived in relative poverty. Christian would often read to his children the ghost stories of Edgar Allan Poe, as well as lessons in history and religion, instilling in young Munch a general sense of anxiety about death. Adding to this, Munch's frail immune system was little match for the harsh Scandinavian winters and frequent illness kept him out of school for months on end. To pass the time, Munch took up drawing and watercolor painting. Art became a steady preoccupation for Munch during his teen years. At thirteen, he was exposed to the works of the fledgling Norwegian Art Association and was particularly inspired by the group's landscape paintings. In the course of copying these works he taught himself the techniques of oil paintings. In 1908, following his stay in Berlin and subsequent return to Paris, Munch suffered a nervous breakdown. A bohemian life of excessive drinking and brawling and the pain and anxiety caused pain by the loss of his sister and father had taken their toll. Munch was admitted to a hospital in Copenhagen, where for eight months he was subject to a strict dietary and "electrification" regimen. While hospitalized, Munch created the lithographic series, Alpha and Omega (1908), depicting the artist's relationships with various friends and enemies. Munch was released from the hospital the following year and, as advised by his doctor, he immediately returned to Norway to lead a life of quiet isolation. Subsequently, Munch derived inspiration from the Norwegian landscape and the daily activities of farmers and laborers. Reflecting a newly optimistic perspective, Munch's work from this period employed a lighter palette (including white or negative space, a quality virtually absent from former works), loose brushstrokes, and themes revolving around life, work and recreation on the farm. Among representative works of this period are The Sun (1912), Spring Ploughing (1916), and Bathing Man (1918). Munch continued drawing from his daily life and personal experience, now shunning overt themes of loss and death. An exception was Munch's focus on his own mortality, as is reflected in several somber self-portraits of the 1930s and 40s. He additionally produced much drawing and painting of landscape.
Planning Sketches
Experimentation
Experimentation
My first sketch was just a sketch of me. I drew a self portrait because of the fact that I wanted to do the fading away aspect. I wanted to add something to the portrait though because I thought to myself that the face on the portrait would not be the face that someone would make if they were vanishing into thin air.
The second sketch is making making a screaming face. At this point I havent added the fading away feature but I just wanted to see what it would look like with me screaming. This would also give me the connection to the scream comparison that I wanted to achieve. This last sketch it where I added the fading away aspect. I drew the last sketch again and erased half of the face. Then I replaced the spots with the cross hatches. This would be the drawing that I would etch into the printing plate. |
Process
This was the first picture that I based my first planning sketch off of. This was just the general picture that I wanted to use just to get an idea of how to draw my face.
Then I drew the picture which is shown here. This was the first step before adding the screaming face and the vanishing aspect. I then took a picture of me doing the screaming face with a hand up to my face. I did this to make it look like the art piece that I was inspired by. I also did this to give me something to base my drawing off of. I then drew the image of me screaming and then began to start the fading away aspect. I then drew the previous image again and erased half of the face. I then replaced where the face would have been and drew little particles to show me fading away. I then taped the printing plate on top of the final image and used a needle scribe to trace the image onto the printing plate. Then I got my materials which was the inscribed plate, plastic gloves, paper, Intaglio ink, squeegee, plastic spoon and ripped up paper. You then want to soak your paper in water for 8 minutes.Set a timer so the time doesn't go over. Then use your plastic spoon and put Intaglio ink on top of the printing plate and use the squeegee to push the ink into the lines that your created. Rip up some paper to use to wipe the Intaglio ink off the printing plate and to use to grip the plate so you don't keep on putting finger prints on the plate. This image shows me using the ripped up paper to wipe off the Intaglio ink off the plate. After 8 minutes, take your paper out of the water and put it on a towel. Then cover the top of the towel up and dab it dry. Leave it covered until it is needed. This is an image of my printing plate after all of the Intaglio ink on top is gone. Then you want to put your printing plate on the printing press and put your piece of paper on top of it. Then put the covers over the piece and turn the wheel to move the press over your piece so the Intaglio ink goes onto the paper. This is an image of my final piece after being pressed onto the paper. |
Reflection
Critique
In the end, I am very happy with the way that my piece had turned out. I was shocked that I only had to do the printing process once because I thought that I may have had taken to much ink off of the printing plate or that I had not scratched into the plate enough. It did end up printing backwards but it still turned out good. I liked how the vanishing aspect turned out and I think that it definitely gave meaning behind the piece. If I could do it again I would have made the lines a little deeper because there were some parts or the printing plates that werent that deep and that means that there wasn't a lot of ink going into the crevasses.
Critique
In the end, I am very happy with the way that my piece had turned out. I was shocked that I only had to do the printing process once because I thought that I may have had taken to much ink off of the printing plate or that I had not scratched into the plate enough. It did end up printing backwards but it still turned out good. I liked how the vanishing aspect turned out and I think that it definitely gave meaning behind the piece. If I could do it again I would have made the lines a little deeper because there were some parts or the printing plates that werent that deep and that means that there wasn't a lot of ink going into the crevasses.
ACT Questions
1)Clearly explain how you are able to identify the cause-effect relationships between your inspiration and its effect upon your artwork.
I used his message behind the piece with the screaming person in the piece. I just took it a step further and added an aspect that a person would scream about.
2)What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
Munch continued drawing from his daily life and personal experience, now shunning overt themes of loss and death. An exception was Munch's focus on his own mortality, as is reflected in several somber self-portraits of the 1930s and 40s.
3)What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
There are many people that may feel like they dont exist or are fading away without being noticed. Which should not happen because people should not feel that they dont belong.
4)What was the central idea or theme around your inspiration research?
My central theme is to show how many people feel that they dont belong and they may think that they are fading away.
5)What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
There are people that are shy and think that they dont belong but there are some people that bring those people in and become friends with them to make them feel that they belong.
1)Clearly explain how you are able to identify the cause-effect relationships between your inspiration and its effect upon your artwork.
I used his message behind the piece with the screaming person in the piece. I just took it a step further and added an aspect that a person would scream about.
2)What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
Munch continued drawing from his daily life and personal experience, now shunning overt themes of loss and death. An exception was Munch's focus on his own mortality, as is reflected in several somber self-portraits of the 1930s and 40s.
3)What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
There are many people that may feel like they dont exist or are fading away without being noticed. Which should not happen because people should not feel that they dont belong.
4)What was the central idea or theme around your inspiration research?
My central theme is to show how many people feel that they dont belong and they may think that they are fading away.
5)What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
There are people that are shy and think that they dont belong but there are some people that bring those people in and become friends with them to make them feel that they belong.
Bibliography
Edvard Munch's Life and Legacy. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.theartstory.org/artist-munch-edvard-life-and-legacy.htm
Our site. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.visitoslo.com/en/articles/about-edvard-munch/
Edvard Munch, The Scream. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://smarthistory.org/munch-the-scream/
Edvard Munch's Life and Legacy. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.theartstory.org/artist-munch-edvard-life-and-legacy.htm
Our site. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.visitoslo.com/en/articles/about-edvard-munch/
Edvard Munch, The Scream. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://smarthistory.org/munch-the-scream/