My block print piece focuses on my personal life experiences of being an outcast and as if I was cemented at one place. The theme that this piece is based off of is loneliness and isolation towards other people. I leave the piece very symbolic and use the technique of positive and negative space to emphasize symbolism.
Inspiration
Planning
"In this art, scenes from nature, human activities, and all other real world phenomena will not be described for their own sake; here, they are perceptible surfaces created to represent their esoteric affinities with the primordial Ideals."
Symbolism was both an artistic and a literary movement that suggested ideas through symbols and emphasized the meaning behind the forms, lines, shapes, and colors. The works of some its proponents exemplify the ending of the tradition of representational art coming from Classical times. Symbolism can also be seen as being at the forefront of modernism, in that it developed new and often abstract means to express psychological truth and the idea that behind the physical world lay a spiritual reality. Symbolists could take the ineffable, such as dreams and visions, and give it form.
An offshoot of the literary Symbolism that influenced visual art was the field of art criticism, particularly that of Albert Aurier. In 1891 he wrote, in what became essentially a Symbolist manifesto, that art should be:
1. Idéiste (Ideative) ... expressing an idea 2. Symbolist since it expresses that idea through form 3. Synthetic since it expresses those forms and signs in a way that is generally understandable 4. Subjective since the object ... is only an indication of an idea perceived by the subject 5. Decorative ... since decorative painting is at once an art that is synthetic, symbolist, and ideative.
Research
"Symbolism." The Art Story Modern Art Insight. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Nov. 2015. <http://www.theartstory.org/movement-symbolism.htm>.
Before I started working on the linoleum, I planned up a total of three sketches to choose from so that I could pick the one I think will be presented the best. Each of my sketches kept the theme of being alone and on your own. Having to be a lone wolf, or trapped in a position where anything you do will be a negative outcome, or a lonesome tree.
Before carving into the linoleum, I sketched with a pencil onto the linoleum so that I got a picture of the the image that I choose to carve. Anything that I wanted to edit or change I could because it was already on the linoleum, and because my original sketch of the tree was a little bigger than the piece of linoleum, I have to crop out parts of the tree so that it could fit on the linoleum. By doing that I was able to achieve the look that I wished.
Throughout my experience with carving, I felt I achieved what I wanted to with carving, but it was somewhat difficult for me to carve out my picture exactly the way I wanted it to become. I found also after having to create multiple prints, that I needed to carve all the way through the linoleum in order for it to now show up on the print. I had to extensively scrape away more and more at the linoleum so that my piece would become clean on my prints.
The Meaning
Trees and forests, probably because of their great size and sometimes longevity, vividly affected the imagination of preliterate societies. They were alive like human beings and animals, but did not move from place to place; like mountains and stones they seemed immobile, but at the same time could change and sway. Dense forests may have seemed mysterious. Even lone trees, particularly in a barren spot, may have appeared miraculous.