Self portrait can be defined as a representation of one self. You can be an artist, a musician, a writer, a movie writer or anybody and present it in many forms. In this class, Contextual Studies, we were given a small task to experiment ourselves in the modern art platforms. The reason why, is that because in this era, most of us young men and women uses technology as a medium to present rough sketch, then presenting it with a 3D live mode.
In the portrait itself, many add different elements to make the portrait more surreal or realistic or abstract or many more. The creation of such piece defines one. As the saying “A picture is worth a thousand words”, artists keep it in their unconscious mind while making the portrait more unique. As I said before, different elements, different meaning.
This assignment has given me the chance to discover more about the innate and less of learned behavior.
The slideshow shows various types of self-portrait and here are my thoughts about them.
Fig 1: We live in a world where the young generation’s (toddlers + above) have the knowledge of using gadgets. Entertainment comes first, but with it comes knowledge. In this portrait, the artist uses mechanism to portray the different systems in the human anatomy. It shows that our minds can think like a robot, a robot being the humans programming all these generic codes into a one big CPU and can make them perform almost anything out of the ordinary. I like it because it shows (what I think) that this particular artist have a wide perspective and understanding of our physical body. He probably thinks our human body can operate timelessly and effortlessly due to our big computer in our head.
Fig 2: Perfectionist. Various kinds of man and woman always think about their own physique. One might find it that learning more about your physical body can lead him/her to understand what is good and what is not. One might also find it intriguing to find why our body are not as symmetrical as the man made mannequins. Personally, I am of those who think that understanding the physical aspect of our body may lead to wider options to work life. ‘Perfecting’ (workout) my body has led to me many unexpected events. I have also endured many challenges through thick and thin to make it out alive and to see what’s more to come. “If only I could draw myself into this world, I would live a better life” #quote
Fig 3: Awareness. Despite the gloomy, Gothic effect seen on this piece, I see it in a different way. I analyzed this piece as having the top of our heads (brain) making out all the decisions we’ve made throughout life to be tall and wide. Another analysis would be that our body is the root of all system. That’s why the tree is standing tall.
Fig 4: Surrealism. Don’t you get bored of seeing things the same way you do everyday? Wouldn’t it be more interesting to see ourselves and our surroundings in a more bizarre method? I always picture myself in peoples point of view on a 2D dimension. (2D dimension… is that how you say it?)
Fig 5: Stik-key – Sticky.
Fig 6: The norm of being normal. Another piece that shows how much difference you can make to yourself, and to see what others can say about themselves. (Get it?)
Defined 