First Triptych Essay

Artist Statement – First Triptych¬¬ Piece

The theme of my triptych is about illustrating how ambiguous the perception of one’s appearance can have about an individual’s moral standpoint of being either a good or bad person as ultimately, there is no definite answer as they coexist in each person regardless of appearance.

The first part of my triptych depicts an individual that takes on a human form created with different lines and brushstrokes. This piece shows the appearance of the “bad” figure. In particular, there is no distinct human characteristics within this piece as I wanted this figure to be a generic human figure that can relate to the viewers. In relation to the overall triptych, this piece represents the “bad” of the piece. The human figure is distorted and blurred due to the violent strokes involved in the piece. These strokes can evoke emotions of fear and anxiety that are associated with unpleasant events, allowing to viewer to perceive that this individual is the “bad” one.

The key elements and principles of this first piece is lines and contrast. The lines created throughout the painting are placed everywhere from

These colours were chosen as they are analogous colours on the colour wheel. In addition, I used some modelling paste towards the sides of the paintings to give a rough texture finish on the painting. While executing this composition, I used the technique of sgraffito on the canvas. I scratched away paint to create the fine lines with a palette knife and butter knife. I also used a squeegee and paint brush to help fill up space in the painting. In this composition, the style that I wanted to recreate was Gerhard Richter’s abstract expressionist paintings that used the squeegee as a key tool to apply paint and drag it across the canvas. His style often depicted his subjects very blurred, which is what I wanted to recreate in my