The overarching theme for my set of emo lines is the emotional roller coaster ride that I face in my art making journey. It almost came as a surprise that my art making journey has provided me with such a wide spectrum of emotions as I delve deeper into this project. Feelings of satisfaction, disappointment, regret, calmness, a sense of burnt out and passion were ultimately chosen for my presentation.
Feelings of burnt out was literally captured with the burning of the paper strip. A huge hole was burnt focal point of the strip as I recalled saying “I’m about to explode!” as I was on a mad rush for my Alevel Submission. The strip encompassed 2 kinds of burnings – from the lighter and the candle, to represent the overlapping intensities of fatigue that I felt. What was possibly more interesting was how I used coffee powder as a mask for explosive marks. This created another layer to my piece, which was coffee as a “last resort” to fight on my fatigue to complete tasks at hand.
Following burn tout is a sense of satisfaction. I chose to portray my sense of satisfaction in a manner that was very light-hearted and full of movement. I understood satisfaction to have a very fleeting effect on me. Instead of hard strokes to portray an emotion that was very much tied to sense of fulfilment etc, I chose light wavy strokes instead. They project a light hearted, fleeting mood to it which very much linked to my idea of satisfaction. The way the wavy lines seem to continue out of the paper symbolises how these happiness is almost everlasting, and will always be a point of return when I face doubts in my creative journey.
Next, disappointment. If I ever faced huge disappointments, crying in my own personal space is my coping mechanism. Hence, I actually use tissue paper as my medium to paint on. I actually juxtaposed the randomness of lines created by the tissue’s creases with the jarring harsh lines of the geometric shapes. Using such harsh lines to compose this strip was to show how much I dislike being in a state of sadness and my strong desire to get out of this horrible emotional state.
Following that, is passion created by the acrylic flow technique. Such a technique embodies a sense of spontaneity, and produces lines that go in unexpected and uncontrollable directions. The medium itself also helps capture alot of energy and life in the flows created. This very much depicts my “passion” for the creative works. This interest of mine have very much continued and persevered in unexpected ways and has also gave me unforeseen opportunities that I have come to cherish dearly.
Regret comes next and seemed to be strip that caught quite a bit of attention. What makes it starkly different is that it’s white on white. A sense of regret is almost like an emotion that one can never truly reconcile with, hence, the use of modelling paste to create an uneven surface on top of the smooth paper. With the notion that I continue to live on with regrets, even using that as a motivation to do better, it occurred to me that there’s beauty in such a negatively conceived emotion. This made me draw inspirations from the wabi-sabi style where there is beauty in imperfection to finish up the strip. Painting streaks of pearl white which was shiny on the cracks created by the modelling paste, I seek to beautify and enhance what’s supposedly undesirable.
Lastly, I ended of with calmness. I often feel a sense of calmness envelop me when art making or even when in awe of paintings. This sense of connection is very much felt because there is a connection established. Whether is it in a physical form of connection where my brush touches the canvas and I can just paint for hours or when I stand still before a painting that has intrigued me, it is connection that brings peace and calmness. Hence, I drew 2 blobs that I had a point of merger like how I feel connected with the works around me. These 2 blobs are created with inspiration from geographical contour lines since connection is almost like 2 different worlds merged as one. They are drawn with a wrapping black background to signify the lack of presence/focus of my surroundings.
So I am done with explaining my thoughts behind these visual compositions! I must admit that my last strip is the most unresolved, hence, the hardest to put my ideas into words that actually corresponded with the visual outcome. Experimenting with super different techniques have been pretty interesting and it’s fascinating to see how the most abstract of ideas can develop further in the same direction. Goodbye, my line is emo, no more emo vibes in class!