Akriti Pradhan

Part 1:

Sercan Sahin," Hysterical History", ink on paper, 2006

Sylvia sherwing Goldber, "Laurel and Chuck", Oil on Canvas, 2005

Frida Kahlo, “Girl with death mask”, oil paint on canvas , 1938

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Sara di donato, “study for pinnacle”, Graphite, 2009.

Guillermo Martín Bermejo , “jacques et scott”, watercolor lead on paper,2009

Part 2:synthesize

1. Explain what it is you like about these 5 artworks (elements/common threads).

The reason why these 5 artworks stood out to me was because of their surrealistic composition and colors. These 5 pieces hardly contain any color other than black and white. The two pieces that do contain color have neutral or cool colors present, and what I like about these artworks is precisely that: the fact that they aren’t bright but subtle.

2. What is it that these elements are expressing?
All these pieces have a similar theme of misery or distress in some way. With the use of black and white, a sense of void, skulls (certain imagery) and surrealism, the themes are displayed in a powerful manner. It seems to me that all these images are trying to express potential or past problems (taking into consideration “Hysterical History” by Sercan Sahin). Goldberg’s piece on the heavy-bodied women also displays a problem women in today’s date are combating against: Weight and obesity. Apart from that, what I perceive from these pieces is a sense of innocence and longing. These pieces are almost dream like.

3. How could you take some of these strategies and apply them to your own work -- either in terms of media, formal qualities, and/or theme?

What intrigued me was the ink usage in one of the pieces. Considering my theme of “mental issues” namely phobias and mental disorders, ink and black and white colors could work well for me. Apart from that, I would like to incorporate some aspects of surrealism and negative space in my artwork to give it a sense of “fear” and/or “desolation”. I would like to work with neutral colors more and also try to use oil paint in my future pieces.

Part 3: Artist In-Depth
3. Choose one artist and research what has influenced his or her work. If the artist is alive and has a website you should look at what they've written about their work. If the artist is not contemporary, then research what others have written about this artist.

One of the artists that I enjoyed was Sercan Sahin. The artist’s interest and practice is focused on “language”, “Identity” and “politics”. The main art styles used by Sercan Sahin is Print making, painting and drawing as visual strategies.His artwork is associated with memories and reality and most of his work is abstraction and a form of figuration.He likes to focus on the relationship between the three elements and their control over the formation of individual memories or realities. He likes the interaction between the abstract and the figurative through his use of printmaking, painting and drawing. These allow for a mostly two-dimensional format. Recently, he has been using text in his pieces, because of his dealings with the concepts of language, identity, etc. His motivations include but are not limited to- his own experiences and observations, images and stories from newspapers and other sources of media, his own photography and sketches, etc. Although the pieces have a sense of narrative, they are intentionally open to interpretation. He also really likes to work in series and doesn't follow any

specific styles, and just goes where his heart takes him.

URL for pictures
http://www.sylviasherwingoldberg.com/figures/view/155
http://www.artsunlight.com/artist-NK/N-K0007-Frida-Kahlo/N-K0007-048-girl-with-death-mask.html
http://www.sercansahin.net/#388556/HYSTERICAL-HISTORY
http://www.drawingcenter.org/viewingprogram/share_portfolio.cfm?pf=3072
http://www.drawingcenter.org