Alexis's Art Blog

The central idea of my concentration revolves around the imagination that we possess as children. According to studies, imagination is extremely important for development of character, knowledge of coping with situations, and creative thinking. Surrounded by three nieces and nephews, I have been exposed to numerous of their fantasies that are occupied by fighting warriors, imaginary friends, princesses, and unicorns instead of consisting of the simple “butterflies and rainbows.” Each of my young relatives has their own world, their own situations solely created by them and for them. Observing their fascination in a world that is unreal is sometimes funny and amusing, but it also portrays the hopefulness and naivety children have toward life. I am capable of “going back to my own childhood” through the minds of my young relatives, especially through playing games that they themselves make up. To many, the time when we could think about anything and not be judged or have a worry in the world was the freest and most fun time of our lives. Through my artwork, I want to portray the enjoyment of childhood through the eyes of both boys and girls. Works that focus on the imaginations of boys will be focused on manly scenes, while those of the girls will be more peaceful as they create their own perfect worlds where they are the center of attention. However, I may incorporate one different approach to my artwork as my nephew went through a stage in which he was obsessed with tutu’s and princess dresses. He is now, however, more interested in fighting and action packed themes.

The medium that I want to focus on is that of cutouts. When our Drawing class did the cutout project, we examined many artists and I was especially inspired by Peter Callesen and Chris Natrop because of their intricate displays. Their works appeared seemingly unreal to me, so my interest grew to create something similar to their artworks. Although my artworks will never reach the scale and complexity of theirs, their inspiration pushes me to create something more intricate and developed than I ever have before. Cutouts require one to problem solve and figure out how to construct the piece of work; one must be able to find ways to create the work in which all of the pieces connect, while also portraying an organized and interesting piece of work. This type of problem solving suits my tastes since I am essentially a math-oriented student. This type of artwork pulls two of my interests together—math and art.

Also, since the cutouts solely consist of definite white and black contrast, I believe the work possesses a sort of simplicity and childishness that is relevant to my concentration that focuses on a younger generation. I would like to choose a larger scale for my work so that it would allow me to go into more detail. By doing so, I will be able include a more complex concept by including a background as well as a foreground. I want the progression of my artwork to go from simple to more and more complex. As we grow older, our minds become more developed and our fantasies become larger scale.