Mixed Media Project

For this art assignment that is centered on mixed-media series, one of the first artists that was brought to my attention was Alexandra Levasseur, who has been a long-standing idol of mine for her  portrayal of women within contrasting dreamlike scenarios. Through her pieces and prints, the process of transformation is fundamental when the transformation of multiple faces of the women are illustrated.  Through experimentation of various methods of art, such as oil paints, crayons, and pencils on wood or canvas, she orchestrates variations of human emotions into one sole piece. Her ability to perform this also shows how the women in her artwork symbolize multiple faces of emotions, including anguish, soberness, indifference, and love.  One of my favorite exhibits installed by her was Matter & Memory which portrayed women with blank, caving holes for their faces, yet were filled with plant substances in replacement.  In particular, “La Crête” is one of my favorite artworks by Levasseur as well as the most interesting pieces in terms of a sense of disruption and rift occurring in the work.  To better understand the sense of disturbance, “La Crête” also translates to “the rift” in French. To support this claim, the background, consisting of green mountains and a lilac sky, are seen enveloping around the woman, who is an interruption to the once perfectly flat land.  Therefore, the woman can be inferred to symbolize the rift between nature and her non-natural self. In general, this vision of pure dystopian sentiments can therefore symbolize the complication of identity, leaving the work and the transformation of the woman unfinished.

Moving forward, Emilio Villalba is the second artist that I drew inspiration from for my mixed-media series.  While Villalba utilizes oil-based paint and does not stray away from this medium, I found inspiration through the messages of his work as well as entertainment in his art style.  This can be seen in his 2017 exhibition, Lost Thoughts & Days Ahead that consist of portraits of unfamiliar people with misplaced or misaligned facial features.  In general, the dark background allows the audience to focus on the individual themselves and forces them to recognize the displacement of “normal” characteristics.  In addition, despite the figures to be disproportionate, they are always staring straight at the viewer. This offers an eerie as well as uncomfortable feeling to the viewer, which effectively adds more to the dialogue on confrontation and thoughts on normalcy.

For my series of works, I utilized both the artists’ styles to serve as inspiration to build upon my personal meaning of a chaotic mind.  To explain further, each individual person wears a “mask” in which they may conceal their true thoughts or even their true identity. For my pieces, I took apart magazine images of women and removed the front of their face to reveal and empty chasm.  However in the gaping hole, there is a supplement of images and confetti that spew out in a chaotic fashion. More can be discussed and referenced for each individual and unique portrait, but in summation, the topics of revealment and disruption are introduced.