"Aren't they beautiful" is an artwork that addresses a problem I have seen; which is a very specific but impossible beauty standard for women. I was inspired by Warhol's repetition and the subjects of Degas' artworks.
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Title: Aren't they beautiful?
Size: 20x25 cm Medium: Dry Point Completion: October 2019 |
Planning
Before I started the sketching, I brainstormed what I wanted my theme to be and how I wanted to portray it. On this project, I wanted to address the impossible beauty standards I have seen, especially for women. From what I have experienced, women are expected to wear makeup, be thin, and just generally look pretty. I have seen completely different, unrelated people look eerily similar to the point where I gave up trying to remember who is who because they were attempting to look generically pretty, which I tried to incorporate in my artwork. I have also seen this produce very prominent self esteem issues, especially in some of my best friends, which is why I chose this topic. This affects me as well. I don't try to appear feminine, but my close and extended family are bewildered that I'm not putting a ton of makeup on everyday, which speaks of the extent of these expectations and stereotypes. I think that my main problem in creating this will be not making it look like a "I'm not like the other girls" statement.
Inspiration
My first inspiration was Andy Warhol. In his artworks, he mass produces images to comment on the media's obsession with celebrities and the mass production of items. I don't plan to mass produce my dry point artwork, but I do want to incorporate the repetition and the message behind it.
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My second inspiration was Edgar Degas. When I think of beauty, I tend to think of dancers, a category in which ballerinas are a part of. Degas's paintings were often about ballerinas, and when I came across his works in my search for inspiration, I felt that it fit. In addition, I like the way the dresses look.
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Planning Sketches
My first sketch was mostly to get ideas down, and there is symbolism that I tried to incorporate. I included a spotlight on the girls to represent how women are often watched with how they maintain their beauty. This connects to me because I often am judged by those I know about my "lack of effort" into my appearance and I often feel as if these people are watching me to see if I change into their ideal of a female. The women being dancers alludes to certain expectations I have seen; including that women are expected to be thin and pretty. It also provides the personal viewpoint I have that living up to expectations like these being a sort of performance. I incorporated more than one figure to represent how many people like me are being pushed into the same types of situations that I have described and that inspired the entire concept of this artwork.
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My second sketch is essentially the same as the first, but more focuses on the effects that these expectations can have on self image. The figure in front is thinner than the rest to represent the futile attempts of some to get magazine thin. The figure on the left is more curvy than the others, as that is the source of self image issues in others. The figure on the right is normal, because I had already run out of ideas.
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I ended up using my first sketch, because I had refined the ideas behind that one more than the others and I liked the way it looked.