Morgan Grimes
Self Generated Subject
For this project i wanted to make something that was interesting to me. I played with the idea of sculpting something out of clay, but when it came down to both my ability to sculpt and the amount of time that I had to complete this project I decided that I wanted to make something more interesting and also more me. I thought about what I had created myself and I remembered a science experiment that I had done over the summer. For this experiment I took pennies that were pre 1982, meaning they were made out of mostly copper, and i soaked them in vinegar. I then let me sit out and dry for multiple days. This began to grow crystals of malachite on the pennies. I thought that this would be an interesting take on the assignment to draw something that you make, and also an interesting subject to draw.
The artist Marc Quinn has been an influence of mine since my sophomore year of high school. That is when I saw his work and i was inspired by his weird mesh of the biological and art. His portraits in blood have been a major influence on me, and even with this piece have inspired me to look at chemistry and biology for inspiration for my art. This is why I chose to draw something that i made through science, the crystals grown on the pennies.
For this drawing I wanted to do something that reflected the dichotomy between the pennies and the crystals. I think that this subject matter is very interesting and while I did not want to do photorealism for this project, the relationship between the pennies and the crystals is important to the piece. For this piece I also wanted to try to work with a medium that I don’t often work with, watercolor. I liked the challenge and benefits of using watercolor to try to bring out the pennies and the crystals. I wanted to be able to put a wash on the pennies, and to be able to blend the colors directly, but I also wanted to be able to go back and add detailing in the crystals.
For the background of this piece I wanted to keep with the science theme since it was more or less a science experiment that I had done over the summer. That is why i wanted to place the pennies in a petri dish. Petri dishes are normally used to grow cultures of bacteria and I thought it was fitting since i decided to grow crystals on pennies.
The artist Marc Quinn has been an influence of mine since my sophomore year of high school. That is when I saw his work and i was inspired by his weird mesh of the biological and art. His portraits in blood have been a major influence on me, and even with this piece have inspired me to look at chemistry and biology for inspiration for my art.
Images:
Influences:
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