In this transformation, I wanted to keep the figure present in a new atmosphere. I leaned into mark-making to create a texture that portrays a sense of being overwhelmed and consumed. I avoided adding color because I felt that the black and white captured the raw emotion I intended to showcase. In this piece, I covered the entire previous background to give the piece room to transform in the future. I think the added texture really helped the piece long-term and maintaining a focus on the ambiguous figure worked in terms of establishing a focal point for the piece. The light coming from the figures back did not turn out how I intended and seems to conflict with the pattern of the marks made throughout the entirety of the piece. I learned how to build texture with gesso in this transformation.
In this transformation, I decided to change the entire orientation of the piece by flipping it from horizontal to vertical. The previous pieces' overwhelming nature is something I wanted to use color to emphasize. I decided to only add red in addition to black and white because, in all honesty, I felt that anger is something that ties well to being overwhelmed. I did not give the figure a face and instead continued my pattern of mark-making to give the figure a relatable sense of being to any viewer. I think that leaving the figure floating in a space of textured marks worked for the nature of the composition and that the use of red balanced the piece well. I am not the biggest fan of the composition of the shirt, It made the identity of the figure feel very contrived and not in line with the emotion portrayed by the piece. I learned how to blend charcoal with gesso in a way that provides deep shadows in this piece.
For this transformation, I really leaned into the color red obviously. I wanted to steer away from a neutral background that emphasized the figure and focused more on building on top of the texture already created within the piece to create something that takes time to view and contextualize. I decided to keep the pattern of cross-hatching but wanted to add elements that made the piece feel like it was jumping out from the wall in a sense. I tried, once again, to use white to portray light coming from within which I ultimately do not think worked for the piece. I do think that splitting the figure gave the piece a new meaning which I enjoyed. I learned how to alter the color of red in order to create a similarly colored figure on top of the same color background in this piece.
For the final transformation, I wanted to cover up the anger potrayed within the previous pieces. I really struggled with the aesthetic of the purple on top of red because it is just not visually appealing. To resolve this I used differnt types of purple to more heavily and fully cover the red. The decision to leave bits of red was not an initial thought, but as the piece transformed I discovered that hints of red tied into the idea of covering something up. I add hands pushing on the walls of the piece to further the idea of being consumed and more so trapped. I left the figure split because it pushed the narrative of trying to be something that you do not really feel that you are. I think the added text both helped and hindered the piece. While, personally I enjoy adding text to compositions to give the piece a personal anecdote I think it may feel like an unnecessary justification of the theme for the piece. In this piece, I learned that from creating layers of texture it is possible to scratch through the layers to find previous colors to create shapes which is how I created the hands. This lends to the idea of being trapped behind something which I think is a good medium to use for the piece specifically.
