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[ibart2021]

Khai Buhain

In my body of work, several themes could be derived from inspecting it. In this body of work, I put many emotions and feelings into each piece and explaining that would be a struggle in and of itself, for example, you could derive emotions from the colors I used or the shapes and lines that I created, However, this was not intentional. I felt as though the emotions and meaning should be produced by the audience when looking at the pieces, they should feel obligated to procure their own meaning based on their thoughts. Throughout the creations of each piece, I would look for inspiration from several different artists such as Wassily Kandinsky, Paul Klee, Francis Bacon, just to name a few. The reason I chose these artists in particular due to the fact that they all deal with thoughts and emotions rather than politics or current events. Outside of that, other forms of influence come from my brother who has also been in the IB art program. My intention behind my body of works is that they are made to be art, an artist that I retained an abundance of inspiration from is Zdzisław Beksiński, and not inspiration as in style, or content. The way he went about criticism and the “meaning” of his pieces inspired me to consider my art as just that. Beksiński was a photographer and artist who once said, “interpretation is imposed by others, speaking immodestly, paintings are to be admired or contemplated, admired without asking what it means… if I had something to say I would write it down or say it, I don’t need painting for that.” and although my works are portrayals of my thoughts and emotions, there is no other meaning than just that. Titling my works was also kind of a struggle, as I did not want to influence the audience's interpretation through the title. Most of the pieces are titled due to what was on my mind at the time. Going back to Beksiński, He never titled his works. Because he did not want the viewer to try and create meaning based on a title. I considered this approach as well however, I wanted my works to have some sort of label to them because I wanted them to be attached to me. I want my pieces to have my thoughts attached to them. That being said, I titled my pieces based on the feelings I felt or the emotions I remember while creating the work. Or I would title them based on a song I was listening to while working on it. This was to minimize the amount of meaning that could be construed from giving my piece a label. Early on I would struggle to find a medium I was comfortable with. Acrylic was my preferred medium since it was easier to get used to compared to colored pencils. However, setting up the paints for work became an annoyance. In my piece Duality of thought: conflicting reason, I reworked the original piece which was done with acrylic paint, I reworked the original piece done in acrylic to a digital version.It was then when I was inspired to create other pieces digitally. Such as Light Speed Shapes, which was the second piece that I worked on digitally. There was a learning curve and after a while, I got used to the ease of use that digital art provides. I would not consider the medium to have a connection to the meaning, since I did not care what medium I used. In my exhibit, I presented the works in chronological order, from the earliest that was created to the latest piece I made. This will show my progress as an artist, As progress is important to me. I believe throughout this course I grew in my artistic skills, which is the reason I would like to present my works in chronological order. This also ties into my intent or lack thereof in my works. Since I want the meaning to be derived from the audience. I do not want to curate my works in a way that would tell a story, But in a way that would show my art as art leaving whoever is viewing it to come up with their unique interpretation and meaning. I also do not want there to be a beginning or an end to my body of work, I would rather my pieces feel continuous and without end.

[ibart2021]

Khai Buhain

Memento Mori Digital Media 60cm x 65x

The intention of this piece stands out from the rest because it serves as a reminder that death is inevitable. And the only life you’re living is your own, so make the most of it. The piece seems empty, this was purposefully done to evoke the feeling of isolation, we’ve all felt alone in our lives which ties into the notion that you are the only person who can truly make life fulfilling. The rose symbolizes beauty with the cost of blood and the title comes from a Latin saying meaning “remember you must die”.

[ibart2021]

Julio Michel

Curatorial Rationale Word Count:

I’ve never considered myself an artist or even someone with artistic talent. It wasn’t until I joined this art class that I realized that I was wrong. I started off my journey experimenting with

Traditional Chinese Ink Art because the minimalist approach really caught my attention. However, working with ink is not as easy as it looks. Brush pressure, technique, and even paper conditions all have major effects on how your ink painting will turn out. I loved the zen feeling that traditional Chinese Ink Paintings had which is why they were my main inspiration. Initially, my artwork did not have a deeper meaning but that slowly started to change. When shifting to the Futurist art movement, I discovered that there are many art subcultures where pieces have meaning and put forward a message, rather than just trying to make pieces look pretty. Futuristic “music” was especially eye-opening to me because some of the songs were so incredibly strange that you just could not stop listening. My favorite aspect of futurist art was the use of cubism and sharp lines. I used those to create a Futurist-inspired portrait using cubist elements. I used colored pencils as my medium for this piece due to all of the sharp and straight lines in the piece. I initially experimented with acrylic paint but it was difficult to create sharp lines without the colors smearing and mixing. I had already been slightly familiar with charcoal pencil so that made shading and blending colors a bit easier. Charcoal was one of my favorite mediums. I started working with charcoal when I created my Still Life piece. I wanted to create a black and white piece with grotesque aspects. For my subjects, I used a pair of metal scissors along with an eyeball that I made by painting a tennis ball. I placed the scissors next to the eyeball which had nerves hanging, to allude that they may have been used to cut the eye out. I also placed an amber glass bottle in the background which is a common item seen in chem labs or medical offices to further the ominous feel. Charcoal was the perfect medium for this project.

I began turning away from researching art simply based on the aesthetic look, but rather based on the message being portrayed. I immersed myself in the world of absurdism. It is a movement that goes against over-idealization and the portrayal of unrealistic scenes. It felt like a turn-away from modern social media which is oversaturated with false depictions of real life. However it is a bit hypocritical of me to say this since I often spend most of my days endlessly scrolling through social media, switching from app to app. “The Stranger '' by Albert Camus is a novel that perfectly embodies the ideas of absurdism. I enjoyed this novel so much that I used it as the base inspiration for my next piece. Once again I chose charcoal pencil as my medium but this time colored charcoal. I used black charcoal paper to keep a bit of a darker tone but still let the colors pop a bit. This was the perfect choice.

The biggest take away from this experience as an artist is that there is much more than what appears on the outside. This mostly applies to art pieces but it can also be applied to everyday life. Taking a second to look at something and trying to determine some sort of meaning or purpose rather than just blandly looking at the cover is a skill that everyone should try and develop.

[ibart2021]

Xzavier Lyons

My exhibition is a journey into the ideas of the connection between humans and nature. This connection between humans and nature has been present in my life since I was born. All the time I’d spend outside exploring nature and thinking about what it has to offer heavily influenced my body of work. My fascination with nature and how connected we are with it put me in the direction to present how I see my self image and how I see the world. My aspiration to discover creatures and life from many millennia ago motivated me to create this bridge between humans and nature. I wanted to show how, even if we don’t notice it, we are a part of nature and it is a part of us as humans.

When I was making the human aspect of my body of work I was inspired by Chuck Close and his photo realistic paint style of self portraits. His chosen media of graphite/pencil inspired me to use that as well as acrylic paint and colored pencils. When creating the bridge between humans and nature I took inspiration from my childhood dream of becoming a paleontologist. It inspired me to portray my careful observation of self and nature.

My exhibition starts with my work My perspective which depicts myself staring directly at the viewer so that the first aspect that is noticed is the eyes. It would be located at an average eye level with the viewers so that the work can have full effect on the viewer. My work Bones’n’Brushes portrays the connection as two objects, one being nature's past and the other being humans present. This work is the bridge within my theme of the connection of nature and humans. My last two works depict the nature aspect of my dream in that they are landscapes devoid of humans but rich in nature's beauty. To make the most sense for the viewer the works would be arranged in a horizontal line with the first work being My perspective, the second being Bones’n’Brushes, and the last two interchangeable ones being Dead Bay Beach and Radiant Sky.

I hope to invoke a thought in the mind of the reader that makes them really think about how all of these pieces are connected so that they in turn start to think about how they might be

connected to nature.

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Each piece in this collection of work; I have at least discovered something new, tried a new approach on a recurring error in my artworks or got out of my comfort zone. There was never a theme to these pieces of artwork but I wanted anyone that comes across my collection of work to see that I had variety and be able to see the progress I made as an artist and even get out of my shell to try something new just like if a client wanted something different for their project that's not like your usual work. What ties my pieces of work together is that all the color schemes were well thought of and there was a lot of research on color theory involved, seeing what colors compliment each other and what kind of vibe they give off. The medium I am most comfortable with is acrylic and because most of these pieces don't have a big meaning I decided that I should experiment with mediums I've never used or do mixed media and see which mediums work together that you wouldn't think would. When I was given the choice to pick whatever I wanted to paint/draw but had to keep the pieces cohesive I struggled so much to keep it consistent but realized that there didn't actually have to be an obvious theme, as long as I learn something new with each piece I did and keep an academic theme then it'll work. The way my pieces are arranged is to show the more “bold” pieces I did that have more color theory involved first and then show the pieces where I was just starting out and was afraid to fail so I did what I knew. There's many pieces where I did not succeed and was too ashamed to show here but I had to at least show two of not my best works just to help show the progress I made as an artist. What I gained from this group of artworks is that to live in the moment and try something new, it is never too early or too late to try something crazy with your work. It could spark a new love for creativity, help you through hardships, help express emotions or just make you admire art. If you stay in your comfort zone, you're not giving yourself room to grow, discover new things and find your art style. Be spontaneous.

[ibart2021]

Julio Michel

“Inside Looking In” Colored Charcoal on Charcoal Paper 35.56 x 40.64 cm

The process of this piece created a turning point in my artwork. I was heavily inspired by Albert Camus’ novel “The Stranger”. I enjoyed the absurdist life of the main character Meursault and created a scene that reflected this. I also took inspiration from pieces by VERY wicked people, Adolf Hitler [inspired by artwork NOT ideologies] and Jack Kevorkian who is better known as doctor death. These people aren’t your traditional artists and are widely accepted as manic but this supports the absurdist essence.

[ibart2021]

Julio Michel

Retrofuturism Oil on Canvas 20.23 x 25.4 in

Retro Futurism is an art style that I have always enjoyed looking at whether it be in the form of a sci-fi film or a comic-style image. It’s a clash between the past and the unknown future. I took a typical American-realist scene but put it into an outer space setting to fulfill the ‘past in the future’ experience seen in retrofuturistic pieces.

[ibart2021]

Julio Michel

¿*Untitled*? Charcoal on Charcoal Paper 24.13 x 31.75 cm

Still Life pieces are often like snapshots of a story. I started my piece with this in mind. I chose charcoal as my media to create an ominous, monotone feel. Charcoal pencils give a great range in values and create very detailed shadows. I used a pair of metal scissors, an eyeball, and an amber-glass bottle for my subject matter which are all strange items but it is left up to the viewer to create the story behind the pieces.

[ibart2021]

Julio Michel

Cubist Portrait Prismacolor on Colored Pencil Paper 20.32 x 30.48 cm

The Futuristic art movement from the early 20th century worked with expressing motion and speed with sharp lines. Among common pieces from this movement were portraits that were created with a cubist approach. I created this portrait with these aspects in mind.

[ibart2021]

Julio Michel

With Light Comes Dark India Ink on Rice Paper 60.96 x 27.94 cm

Adding color to a piece drastically changes the meaning being put across. Before starting this piece I already had a bit of experience before working with India ink so I decided to also work with color india ink. Color ink creates a very bright and lively scene while black ink tends to have a gloomy feel. I utilized this contrast in mood and created a half color, half black piece alluding to the disparity of emotions one can encounter.

[ibart2021]

Julio Michel

水墨 India Ink on Rice Paper 13 x 9.5  cm

I was heavily influenced by the works of Shen Zhou, a Chinese painter during the Ming Dynasty. Zhou’s paintings all have a very traditional look and he mainly worked with calm landscapes. Zen waterways, cherry blossoms, and foggy mountains are common scenes in Zhou paintings that I incorporated into my Ink piece.

[ibart2021]

Elizabeth Villega

I had always thought about what happens after we die. I have also always wondered about how friendship and relationships we have affects our mental health and our dreams. My body of work explores life and death, dreams and friendship and also the idea of soulmates. I explore life versus death, and I explore emotions created by my friendships and my dreams. My body of work includes digital artwork, paintings and drawings. My intentions are to explore and show my thoughts and feelings and tell a little bit of my own stories, because I believe we all have a story to tell. My body of work also allows the audience to enter my thoughts and see a little bit of my experiences and things I have gone through.

Most of my pieces were inspired by friendships and family members. I told their stories through my art. However I did tell my own stories and I stated my own opinion relating a controversial topic and relating to my own culture. The intention behind my body of work is to portray emotions, thought and my relationship with other people. I try to show the definition of soulmates and having a partner who thinks and is like you. What ties my work together is insurmountable grief and a joyful character.

In my body of work I uncluded mediums like acrylic on canvas, marker, digital artwork, PrismaColors and watercolor. There are various reasons why I chose the mediums I used on specific pieces of work. For example, I chose to work with watercolor on the piece me and ur ghost was because I found it easier to add value to the piece. Using watercolor allowed me to add darker value on the bones and on the skull. Martirio was made with software and created as a digital art piece because I wanted to be able to add small details to the cultural mexican clothing. I used PrismaColors on the piece False God because it gave me more freedom to add details like texture and a lot of value on the cross and electric chair.

In my pieces I explore controversial topics like hell after death and the argument of whether we should have or continue the death sentence as a punishment. I stated my opinion and it may be controversial, but I do think that my opinion should be able to influence the audience. I don’t believe that the audience or my viewers should change their opinions based on my views, but I do hope that they view my art works with an open mind to learn new things and an open mind to explore new thoughts. I do hope that my viewers don’t judge my opinions but hopefully they are able to accept my views and hopefully have the same views.

I chose to organize my art pieces based on the topics they explore and on the stories they tell. The reason why I'm organizing them like this is because I believe that it would make it easier to explain my topics and to explain and tell the stories I have to tell about each piece. I have worked hard on grouping these pieces together. I also chose specific colors on my pieces of artwork to symbolize some things that I couldn’t or I didn’t know how to add to my piece. For example, I painted yellow daisies to symbolize my friendship and happiness and I painted the piece epiphany in red to represent hell and a skull to represent death . I also used colors that are often used in mexican culture to pay homage to my Mexican culture.

[ibart2021]

Dean Moody

How can I expand my knowledge on not only art itself but on myself as an artist as well? I went into the class with this question in mind and decided I would use different techniques, mediums, and art styles to find what truly worked for me. In order to figure out what I found to be the best fit I needed to learn how to express myself through my art and to put my emotions out onto the canvas.

Prophecy, Breath of Life, Window Prison, Glance of the Sun, and The Glasses are all different types of artworks and styles that I tried to make out of my comfort zone and help myself to grow as an artist. Prophecy is a still life oil painting on canvas and my very first time using oil at that. From this painting I learned that I didn’t want my artworks to be lifeless without meaning. I wanted them to have a sort of significance behind them and to represent certain emotions that I have so that I can convey them to others. The theme that comes with my pieces tends to represent a lot with the meaning of life and questioning different beliefs about life.

In both Prophecy, and Breath of Life, I tried to depict a visual representation of life in a different form and to spread the importance of life itself. While I tried to connect these two pieces through the topic of life my next piece I took a different approach and created a self portrait that was based on realism. I realised that the realistic approach is not my forte but I want to show it off as it is a major part of how my art style has developed and turned into what it is today.

Window Prison and The Glasses are pieces that take a different look at life and take the position as if they were inside a mind. Window Prison is an image that portrays the entrapment of the mental being of someone who is too afraid to enjoy the true happiness of life and waits in sorrow. The Glasses conveys the idea of convincing yourself that you are okay even when things aren’t.

All of these pieces helped to further my own knowledge about myself and the styles I succeed and fail at and to help find meaning in my art.

[ibart2021]

Dean Moody

Prophecy

Oil Paint on Canvas

33x 25cm

This still life painting was a big step in improving my knowledge in art as it was my first ever art piece using oil paint. The idea behind the painting was to create an image that represented life and the hidden potential we have as well as the unexpected time we could be given. The dark and eerie objects create a dim mood with each one representing a different yet powerful meaning. The brighter colors on the eyeball help to draw attention of the viewers to give it a more important and purposeful value.

[ibart2021]

Dean Moody

Breath of Life

Charcoal Pencil and Oil Pastel on Drawing Paper

35x 28cm

The importance of life itself can be looked over many times and many won’t be grateful enough for it until their time has come. The fiery and colorful breath exiting the mouth of the grimly figure creates an imagery that conveys the beautiful last breath before one passes that is both a sight to behold and an event that all dread to come. The bright image of breath contrasts well with the dull and darker colors of the Still Life and adds a beautiful resonance to both pieces.

[ibart2021]

Dean Moody

Glance of the Sun

Charcoal Pencil on Drawing paper

28x 28cm

This close up portrait of yours truly is the start of my experience using realism techniques and most likely won’t be my last. The idea of self imagery can be very confusing and the mind will constantly create harmful or self inflicting images of yourself so having a picture that shows the true beauty that you own is a tremendous help. The small scale of the drawing makes an image that won’t take away attention from the other pieces but still creates its own amount of eye candy that works well with the exhibition.

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Veronike Loza  This exhibition is based on two different themes, one of themes being the story of life. While my second theme is based on my personal growth.  These included pieces included  Self portrait, Motherhood, Wasted potential, and Escape. While my interest  in the beginning of a new life  has always fascinated me I knew I wanted to capture that in a type of art form. While trying to discover who I am I was  able to use paint to express how I saw myself physically and mentally. While creating my pieces I had experimented with acrylic, watercolor, guacuhe and resin. I enjoyed using watercolor and gouache because I was to manipulate the pigmentation of the colors. While conducting ideas for my piece Motherhood I wanted to work with an unusual type of media. I decided on epoxy  because  I wanted to use it to capture it in 3d form. Working on these pieces I wanted to feel like I was experiencing pregnancy  through the eyes of an outsider.  While I didn’t have any artists that influenced my work I based it off my environment. My journey begins with Self portrait through my eyes. I have always viewed myself as an abstract piece of art. I wanted to paint myself the way I felt like portraying myself to others. Choosing the colors I knew that I wanted to use blue for my skin tone because I feel like blue is always perceived as a sad color but I wanted to use it in a positive way. Wasted Potential  really allows me to show what is truly going on inside. I have all this creativity, yet I choose to hide it within myself  due to the lack of confidence and the fear of being misunderstood. With Escape I have finally come to the realization that I found self love. At which point I will continue to spread my wings and condition to fly. 

In a well lit  room I would place  Motherhood on an individual pedestal so that the audience would be able to walk around and experience the sculpture. For the story to flow I would place Self portrait, then Wasted Potential lastly  would be Escape.  At the exit I would place a mirror for people to take a moment to look at themselves. I want people to understand no matter what yours story is, you will always end up loving yourself.