Journey
Title: Journey
Medium: Pastel and Color Pencil on Paper Size: 27.94 cm x 35.56 cm 8 Decemeber 2016 Exhibit Text: Alicia Zepeda focuses on creating an image to tell a story about the difficult journey of moving to a new country. She was influced by Cyril Rolando, a digital artist from France. She wanted to recreate his style using a different medium out of her realm. The piece she recreated was "Enjoy the silence". All aspects of this piece are self-made. |
Process
Artists/Inspirations: I was always interested to know about my Dad's life, and his journey to America. While researching I was intrigued by Cyril Rolando's artwork and I wanted to recreate one of his pieces to relate it to my Dad's journey. Also, in my IB DP Spanish 2 class, we are learning about immigration, and why people choose to come to America.
Intentions: My intention was to create a drawing to bring knowlegde to those who believe immigration is simiple, and wanting a better future, and optaining a US citizenship is all easy. Many people get sent back, and some people get injured, so I wanted to show that those who decide to come to a new country, leaving everything behind, are strong. Experience: I have never experienced this journey but most of my family members have, and some had to attempt this journey multiple times. It is not easy leaving everything behind and go to a new country hoping you will have a better future; it requires hard work and dedication. This piece is meant for others to realize that. |
Meaning Behind Piece
The meaning behind this piece, is the journey of traveling to another country. When my father was 18 he came to America from Mexico. Many people think the journey is easy; however, people who make this difficult decision risk their lives. Many people come for more opportunities and better lives for their kids, and they leave everything behind just to have a better future. On this journey they can bring little to nothing, and they are lucky to get cold beans on bread each day. Also, the weather is extremely hot and the only water they are available to,is mixed in with farm animal feces. Many people are sent back as well, then the journey begins all over again. In "Journey" is a young boy looking at his new country, full of hope. The birds symbolize journeying to the future, as well.
Artist Inspiration
Cyril Rolando is a digital art painter from France, who focuses on digital art, illustration, and graphic design. For his work he uses Photoshop Cs2 and a wacom intuos 4M graphic tablet.
Website: https://www.behance.net/aquasixio I was interested in Rolando's style and theme of "Enjoy the silence" and I did a different take on it when I recreated it. |
Reflection
This piece was very different from any piece I've made. I usually stick with acrylic paint on canvas, which is what I intended for this piece; however, I wanted to step outside of my normal medium and give pastel a try. I recreated Rolando's piece about ten times before I liked the blending between the red and blue. I also realized it 's extremely hard to make the paper white again after, making a base coat of blue and red. So towards the end of my ten tries, I cut out cloud shaped figures and tape them to the paper so that the clouds wouldn't be all pink and light blue. I wanted to use pastel for the whole piece; however it was hard to create the figure and birds neatly so those are made using color pencil as well as the grass. Overall, I am statisfied with the outcome, but if I were to do this again I would stick to arylic on canvas because I am more comfortable with it.
ACT Questions
1) I was inspired by Rolando's style of his artwork. In "enjoy the silence" he created a boy looking at the sky, it made be think about a new beginning. I decided to use his style to recreate a piece that represents my dad's new beginning in America.
2) My overall approach was to create a piece that it very simple, but tells a long detailed story about the journey of coming to a new country.
3) I discovered that the American population is unaware of the risks and danger of coming to a country with nothing but the clothes on one's back.
4) There are many themes to this piece including risk, hope, bravery, and freedom. However, I believe the main theme is hope and the fight for a better future.
5)
2) My overall approach was to create a piece that it very simple, but tells a long detailed story about the journey of coming to a new country.
3) I discovered that the American population is unaware of the risks and danger of coming to a country with nothing but the clothes on one's back.
4) There are many themes to this piece including risk, hope, bravery, and freedom. However, I believe the main theme is hope and the fight for a better future.
5)