Title: Untitled
Size: 30cm x 60cm
Medium: acrylic
Date: March, 2018
Exhibition Text
For this tryptic Paul Gauguin's coloration and simplification was an inspiration and together, all three pieces signify four things that hold value for me and have played a role in influencing who I am now. The first piece is a portrait of my mother and I with the hill of San Miguel in Puebla Mexico, the third includes the house in Puebla that I grew up in along with my brother and I when we were younger and the middle one is me reflecting.
Critical Investigation
Paul Gauguin, a post-impressionist artist, is generally appreciated for his experimentation in color and synthetic to style. At a point in his life he moved to the island of Tahiti after realizing that western culture no longer gave him the spark of inspiration that he wanted. While in Tahiti he painted an abundant of pieces all which exhibited the tradition and culture that he witnessed and admired. Many of his paintings exemplify the most genuine parts he saw including Tahitian people dressed in traditional clothing and landscapes in the background. Many of his paintings exemplify the most genuine parts he saw including Tahitian people dressed in traditional clothing and landscapes in the background. Through his work his merges everyday cultural appreciation and observation with transcendental symbolism. Gauguin simplifies the form of figures but manages to make them stand out through enhanced skin tones. to His styles consists of piling colors on top of one another. While analyzing his work i noticed that he most likely put the base color of his figures and added a variety of other colors in long brush strokes while the paint was still wet. His simplification and technique is what I strive to imitate.
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Planning
For the first sketch I wanted to show something that I held onto and shaped me to how I am now. The house I grew up in were influential so I decided to add that as the background while I used an image of my brother and I as children at a distance to the side. But afterwards I decided to keep the figures close up because reflecting back to Gauguin's general paintings, he tends to keep people intimate to the viewer, thus rather than I keeping them to a distance I placed them closer but remaining to the side. I used a really simple landscape background. Exaggerated colors and simplified forms are two characteristics of Gauguin's style that I want to mimic and I planned to do that by using warm greens and yellows for the grass, a variety of oranges and browns for the house and loose and overly organic shapes for the figures.
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For the following sketch I kept thinking about the landscapes that Gauguin frequently painted and incorporated in the background of his pieces. With that in mind I thought about using the hill of San Miguel in Puebla Mexico. The Hill is a significant spot in Puebla and it played a role in learning about my culture as a child. I also included an old image of my mother and I when I was younger. Just like the previous sketch I knew I wanted to use the exaggerated colors and simple forms so I did not put much detail into the figures. For coloration, again, I planned to use light greens and yellow for the landscape and bright yellows and orange for the clothing.
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For the third and final sketch I knew I wanted it to be the piece that tied all three together. In the beginning I planned to have myself as am I am now so I decided that I would have myself seemingly reflecting back on the concepts from the first two pieces. To have all the pieces connect further I would have each scene outside while also using the same color palette.
Process
After gessoing all three canvases I sketched out the prime figures and background of each panel. For the first panel I drew the image of my mother and I and drew the hill of San Miguel in the background. Because Gauguin simplifies the figures that he uses when painting I assured that the figures of my mother and I were not as stiff and more loose and simplified. While doing so, I also made sure to simply the facial features as well. My reasoning for having the people close up rather than to a distance is because some of Gauguin's portraits are close up with the intention of showcasing a more intimate feeling and I believed that by doing so I would enhance the idea of this particular scene being valuable to me. Also since one of Gauguin features that I wanted to mimic was his color palette, I made sure that most of the colors I planned to use were warm colors. For the first piece, I knew that Gauguin's style of blending was not traditional so I attempted to follow through with his technique of piling colors on oneanotherhis habit of incorporating landscapes I specifically placed the mountain of San Miguel from Puebla, Mexico.
The next panel was the portrait of myself and just as I did in the first panel, I reduced the detail of the figure to make it more free flowing and simplified. In terms of coloration I used exaggerated skin tones and began applying the paint. To accomplish his style I started with applying the mid tone first and letting it sit until it was nearly dry and I piled on highlights and shadows and let the paint naturally blend on its own while the paint was semi-wet. I noticed that gauguin did not directly use black for extremely dark colors but instead usually used dark blue when dealing with black or brown. This is especially seen in the hair that he paints so I applied a small amount of black paint so that the piled on blue paint would remain a bit noticeable. I repeated the same thing on the bark of trees. Because I wanted this panel to show myself reflecting on the other two panels I didn’t want there to be such a significant background so after finishing the figure I then moved to the rest of the canvas in which I used a variety of greens and yellows to form a simple landscape.
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For the final panel, like the first one I drew the figures close up but to the side. And when painting the figures I followed the same steps as the previous panel of applying the base color and piling on the other tones when the paint was semi-dry. While planning what I was going to do on this panel I wanted to center each aspect but I realized that Paul Gauguin rarely centers people so to commit to his approach I decided to set everything to the side. But I did not want the image to be overwhelming I decided to have the house a bit off canvas while further keeping the focus on the image of my brother and I. To follow through coloration I once again exaggerated skin tones and applied a variety of browns and oranges to the house.
Experimentation
I strived to mimic the coloration, simplification and technique of Paul Gauguin and when it came down to applying technique I did not do a decent job for portions of it. A lot of the time when I piled on another color and wanted to spread it a bit further I would often lose the color because it would mix with the base color.
Reflection
Looking at the three pieces I know there are places that can be improved and there are places that are decent. I could have used a larger color palette for the nature such as what Gauguin uses rather than sticking to blue green and yellow. I also lack the intended detail that Gauguin would put into the background. The central canvas is the one I am most satisfied with because I followed along with the simplified figure while also exaggerating skin tones. Also, in terms of composition, I believe that my purpose to mimic gauguins style was accomplished because I include close up intimate portraits and distance portraits.
ACT Questions
Clearly explain how you are able to identify the cause-effect relationships between your inspiration and its effect upon the work
Gauguin was inspired by how Japanese print makers would exchange works within each other. In the piece he decided to paint himself as the main character of a novel to express the characters lively persona and the outcast that he was
what is the overall approach (point of view) the author (from your research) has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
The authors approach to Gauguin was that he believed that Gauguin was excellent at portraying his intentions and that his idea of following through with a Japanese printmaking tradition enhanced the appearance to his friendship between Emile Bernard, Vincent Van Gogh and himself.
what kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
I concluded that Gauguin tended to lean away from common styles and techniques and turned away from traditional blending with not only his piece Les Miserables but for all of his works.
what was the central idea or theme of your inspirational research?
The central idea of my inspirational research rooted from the intentions of Gauguin and how he developed and used different techniques.
what kind of inferences (conclusions reached on the basis of evidence and reasoning) did you make while reading your research?
An inference I had developed in the midst of my research is that culture is being evolved in every aspect of history.
Gauguin was inspired by how Japanese print makers would exchange works within each other. In the piece he decided to paint himself as the main character of a novel to express the characters lively persona and the outcast that he was
what is the overall approach (point of view) the author (from your research) has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
The authors approach to Gauguin was that he believed that Gauguin was excellent at portraying his intentions and that his idea of following through with a Japanese printmaking tradition enhanced the appearance to his friendship between Emile Bernard, Vincent Van Gogh and himself.
what kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
I concluded that Gauguin tended to lean away from common styles and techniques and turned away from traditional blending with not only his piece Les Miserables but for all of his works.
what was the central idea or theme of your inspirational research?
The central idea of my inspirational research rooted from the intentions of Gauguin and how he developed and used different techniques.
what kind of inferences (conclusions reached on the basis of evidence and reasoning) did you make while reading your research?
An inference I had developed in the midst of my research is that culture is being evolved in every aspect of history.