EXHIBITION TEXT
This block print was made with the intention of expressing longing. The print features an astronaut lost in space, reaching out to someone unknown. The pose and set up was heavily inspired by Michelangelo's painting, The Creation of Adam. I also incorporated Roy Lichtenstein's pop art style into my block print.
This block print was made with the intention of expressing longing. The print features an astronaut lost in space, reaching out to someone unknown. The pose and set up was heavily inspired by Michelangelo's painting, The Creation of Adam. I also incorporated Roy Lichtenstein's pop art style into my block print.
PLANNING
Artist Inspiration
When I first started brainstorming ideas for my block print, I had to decide what style wanted to go for. I really loved Roy Lichtenstein's comic style and I wanted to incorporate that into my block print. I felt that the Pop Art style would really make my block print stand out. Who doesn't love old vintage style comics? I was also intrigued by Michelangelo's Creation of Adam. It's a well-known painting and I have seen many parodies of it. I wanted to make a parody of it as well so I decided to include the poses in his paintings into my block print. Roy Lichtenstein loved making parodies so I decided to do the same, using Creation of Adam as a reference. One day, I as going through a bunch of photos Lichtenstein's artwork and I stumbled upon Bratatat! I remembered learning through research that Roy Lichtenstein had been drafted February 1943, and was sent to Europe in 1945. As part of the infantry, he saw action in France, Belgium and Germany. He even made sketches throughout his time in Europe. I figured that this artwork was a distant memory of his in the war. The guy in the helmet reminded me of an astronaut and I instantly knew that I had to incorporate that idea into my planning sketches.
When I first started brainstorming ideas for my block print, I had to decide what style wanted to go for. I really loved Roy Lichtenstein's comic style and I wanted to incorporate that into my block print. I felt that the Pop Art style would really make my block print stand out. Who doesn't love old vintage style comics? I was also intrigued by Michelangelo's Creation of Adam. It's a well-known painting and I have seen many parodies of it. I wanted to make a parody of it as well so I decided to include the poses in his paintings into my block print. Roy Lichtenstein loved making parodies so I decided to do the same, using Creation of Adam as a reference. One day, I as going through a bunch of photos Lichtenstein's artwork and I stumbled upon Bratatat! I remembered learning through research that Roy Lichtenstein had been drafted February 1943, and was sent to Europe in 1945. As part of the infantry, he saw action in France, Belgium and Germany. He even made sketches throughout his time in Europe. I figured that this artwork was a distant memory of his in the war. The guy in the helmet reminded me of an astronaut and I instantly knew that I had to incorporate that idea into my planning sketches.
Planning Sketches
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This was my last planning sketch. It featured an astronaut reaching out into the unknown and longing for something, yet his hand almost seems limp and his posture is totally relaxed. I tried to draw it in the pop art style. In this sketch, I wanted to draw something that had to do with politics. A certain Republican candidate inspired me to draw this. It features a person who seems to be talking non stop but is blindfolded. I wanted this to imply that the person possesses an arrogant nature who talks about many things without necessarily seeing them as how they really are. In this sketch, I drew a person who's at a podium but can't speak out, despite the microphone being in front of him. This sketch was inspired by my previous sketch that had blindfolded man talking into the microphone. I liked the way this sketch portrayed it's meaning. People in this world see so many things yet no one speaks up due to an inability or just plain fear. When I first attempted transferring my inked block print onto paper, it came out really greyish looking and head a lot of white splotches where the ink hadn't successfully transferred onto the paper. I realized that this was due to not putting sufficient ink on my block print. On my second attempt at block printing, the print came out much darker than the first, but still had a lot of white splotches. I figured that this was cause by not distributing the ink evenly on my block print. My third attempt at block printing was a bit more successful, but not satisfactory. If you look closely, the right half of the astronaut came out in a nice solid black color. As the ink progresses to the left, you can notice white splotches appearing. This was probably cause by not evenly distributing the ink on my block print and/or not applying enough pressure when flattening out the block print on paper. |
Process
After going through my sketches and deciding on just one, I filled in the back of my sketch with lead from a number 2 pencil. This allowed me to transfer my sketch onto my block print easily, rather than redrawing the sketch completely on the block print. Once I had successfully transferred my sketch onto my block print, I started carving out all the parts I didn't want showing up in my final print. This task was quite tedious since I had to be super careful not to carve out anything that was important, or else it would show up on my final print. |
After much work and patience, I finally finished carving out the background and the astronaut's outline. All that was left for me to do was run my hands on the block print and make sure that all the cuts were deep enough to make a nice and solid print. I then grabbed a tray and rolled out a small amount of block printing ink using a roller. This task was also quite tedious. I had to make sure that the ink was evenly rolled out. Having uneven ink would ruin the block print. This is what the block printing ink looked like after I was done rolling it out evenly. Before applying the ink, I put a piece of scrap paper underneath my block print to prevent a huge mess. After rolling out the ink, I started applying it onto my block print. I had to keep in mind that everything should be covered in ink well so as not to create a horrible print. Everything had to be clean and precise. This is what my block print looked like when I was done covering it in ink. I went over my block print with ink multiple times o ensure that everything was well inked and that the ink was also applied evenly. After applying my block print with ink, I put a sturdy type of paper that's good for block printing over my block print. This was also done carefully, so as not to get a crooked print as the final outcome. I put another piece of scrap paper over my block print to prevent any ink smudges and flattened out everything using a flattening tool. I made sure to flatten out all the edges and even used my body weight to ensure that the ink would stick to the sturdy paper. This is the final outcome of my block printing. |
Reflection
Meaning
The meaning of my work was to express longing. Whenever I think of astronauts, I think of how lonely and empty they must feel whenever they're in outer space. The universe is so big and quiet, how can anyone possibly not feel any fear? In a way, my block print also defines how I feel. There are times when I feel so detached from society and so alone. The astronaut is reaching out into the great unknown, longing to hold someone's hand. However, the astronaut doesn't really put in the effort to reach out to someone. His hand is limp and his posture is totally relaxed. There are times when I seek out solitude on purpose. I am very introverted and prefer the peace and quite every now and then. I love socializing but sometimes I just want to be left alone. I am very contradicting. I seek attention yet reject it whenever it comes my way.
Act Responses
Clearly explain how you are able to identify the cause-effect relationships between your inspiration and its effect upon your artwork:
My inspiration heavily influenced my artwork. Roy Lichtenstein's Bratatat! was what gave me the idea to make an astronaut the subject of my piece. The Pop Art style actually made the whole project easier for me. Had I drawn an astronaut using realism, I would've suffered endlessly trying to sketch out a proportional and anatomically accurate astronaut and in carving out all the little details. With Pop Art, I could draw in a simplistic manner and still achieve high quality work.
What is the overall approach (pov) the author (from research) has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
The author presents the information in a professional way but does not go into deep analysis of the artwork being presented.
What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
My research wasn't really focused on the cultural aspects of Michelangelo's and Lichtenstein's work. I already knew about Pop Art. I learned about it last year in Art History.
What was the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
The central theme around my inspirational research was longing, which was represented through my block print's subjects' posture. His outreaching hand was an idea that originally came from Michelangelo in his painting, Creation of Adam.
What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
I inferred through my research that Roy Lichtenstein's artwork defined the premise of pop art through parody.
My inspiration heavily influenced my artwork. Roy Lichtenstein's Bratatat! was what gave me the idea to make an astronaut the subject of my piece. The Pop Art style actually made the whole project easier for me. Had I drawn an astronaut using realism, I would've suffered endlessly trying to sketch out a proportional and anatomically accurate astronaut and in carving out all the little details. With Pop Art, I could draw in a simplistic manner and still achieve high quality work.
What is the overall approach (pov) the author (from research) has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
The author presents the information in a professional way but does not go into deep analysis of the artwork being presented.
What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
My research wasn't really focused on the cultural aspects of Michelangelo's and Lichtenstein's work. I already knew about Pop Art. I learned about it last year in Art History.
What was the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
The central theme around my inspirational research was longing, which was represented through my block print's subjects' posture. His outreaching hand was an idea that originally came from Michelangelo in his painting, Creation of Adam.
What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
I inferred through my research that Roy Lichtenstein's artwork defined the premise of pop art through parody.