My Line is Emo – Research and Process

CONCEPT

“Have you eaten?” is a very common question I ask people, but when one day I was ask that – I realized, hey, food gives me a complex flurry of emotions. So I looked into how food made me feel.

I started by exploring different dishes I have on Nasi Lemak, and started writing down how I feel when I taste, see, smell, think of it – whether I have a fear, anticipation, love, memory or taste I cannot take. I narrowed down on those with strong imagery attached to it as well as showing a diverse range of emotion.

SADNESS

RESEARCH

Here are some concepts for Rice as sadness

1. Guilt – Not finishing food, guilt-eating, dropping food on the floor, uneaten leftovers.
2. Homesickness – missing home-cooked food, missing Japanese food, missing the taste of freshly made food, special taste in home cooked food.
3. Mundane/Bored – Eating rice everyday, repetitive food in school, mundaneness in rice after rice, being an asian staple food.

Some imagery of rice include; numerous grains, small, dots, white, starchy, chewy, hard, like glass when uncooked.

Untitled by Charlotte Posenenske

I was intrigued by this composition, the use of negative space and the way it slowly gradients to nothing – I felt this shows the concept of ‘guilt eating’ and slowly losing something – whether it’s the memory of homecooked food or the enjoyment of rice over time.

House #7 by Dragana Crnjak

For this concept, I was most inspired by the work of Crnjak D. I was intrigued by the look of longing and faded memory his drawings conveyed. It feels like falling rocks and the use of negative space seem to evoke a sense of solitude, loneliness, or ‘in your own world’-ism to it.

PROCESS

Left – Rice on Linocut mat, pressed under machine
Right – Dragged rice painted in acrylic paint

I played with different ways to incorporate painted rice into my concept. The two most interesting print was placing rice on linocut mat and dragging painted rice.

I was intrigued by the way the rice shaped as pressed onto the paper at the top left, however the middle seem to look ink blotty and did not seem to convey the idea I want.

Dragging painted rice seem to show a rice field look to it, which I found it visually intriguing, however it didn’t really seem to convey the right story. Which was… a little of a bummer.

Journal page on various methods of printing rice

I realized doing a press on rice seem to evoke the idea of guilt – as the faded look from doing a hand-press than a machine-press shows a subtle sense of longing and homesickness/memory idea to it.

For the rest of the process, look at final work

ANGER

RESEARCH

I listed the concepts of vegetable as anger.

1. Irritation – people telling me to eat vegetables, even when I clearly do not like them, people pointing out I didn’t finish my food because vegetables, vegetables not tasting nice, guilting me into eating vegetable, not enjoying a plate cause too much vegetables.
2. Annoyance – Vegetables looks gross, but why must it be part of a balanced died. I think of NS when I see vegetables.
3. Rage – Parents forcing me to eat vegetable or I cannot play (when I was a kid), not having anything to eat except vegetables, GRR.

Some imagery of cucumber/vegetables include – leafy, organic, lots of braches, trees, plant, juicy, pulpy, hard, cold, gross.

PROCESS

Different results of mark making with a single cucumber

I started with various ways a cucumber could make prints – I was amazed one tool could create 4 different textures. I was inspired by the flowery texture the tips created and the grungy texture created by the skin. I thought combining these two textures against each other was a strong juxtaposition.

For the rest of the process, look at final work

FEAR

RESEARCH

I do not like Sambal. I figured fear and dread were strongly related to spicy foods and started to conceptualize from that thought.

Dread – Having a wave of negative thoughts,

Reluctance – Not wanting to eat it, cause I know what’s going to happen, avoiding the dishes it touches because spicy food

Phobia – Scared of spicy food, avoid it at all cost

PROCESS

I explored with fumage-ing at first, as I associate spicy food with fire – burning your lips, tongue, intestines, stomach and everything it touches. I originally burnt a little hole at my paper at first, but then I’d thought that was interesting thing to play with so I continued burning the paper.

Ultimately, the idea was rejected as it did not convey the technique of mark making hard enough, so I went back to the drawing board and thought about how else I could show the idea of dread, fear and reluctance. Then I thought about the scary waves I made with shaving cream as well as the wave like paper cut I experimented (both of which, was also a rejected idea)

I realized if I put all the rejected ideas together with the concept of collages and playing with crushing paper I tried.

And somehow, the shape of The Great Wave of Kanagawa appears in my head.

The Great Wave of Kanegawa by Katsushika Hokusai

How did it happen, I’ve no idea. I wanted to replicate the grandeur of the wave and the way it seems to consume the boats in my concept

For the rest of the process, look at final work

JOY

RESEARCH

Eggs gave me a sentimental feeling of home – and it’s a good thing. I thought about what warmth eggs filled me with (literally and figuratively, of course) and conceptualize the various things eggs remind me of.

1. Joy – Egg is the easiest thing to cook, and yet very versatile. I never grow tired of eggs.

2. Fuzziness – Remembering my childhood, where I ate eggs a lot. Reminds me of home cooked food.

3. Warmth – Literal warmth in my mouth, homely-ness when eating eggs

I was told to look at the works of Cy Twombly to figure out the techniques he used to simplify concepts, objects and ideas into it’s fundamental shapes and lines – this work in particular.

The Song of the Border-Guard 1952 Cy Twombly

In this painting, he breaks down a chariot rider into it’s fundamental shapes, with circles being wheels, the semi circle being the chariot and the inverted D being the charioteer. I conveyed this concept into my line, breaking down what eggs remind me of into it’s fundamental shapes and lines

PROCESS

Felt was not the first choice I had in mind when I did this concept, my first concept was to used bubbles

me trying very hard not to drink ink, which looks suspiciously to grass jelly.

I felt that using bubbles conveyed a look similar to the eggs I have at breakfast when I was a child. Typical Singaporean breakfast my dad calls it.

I broke down what I miss into their fundamental shapes
Home – Roof – Upwards Triangle
Fireworks I saw from my window at my old house – Firework – Stars
Freedom – Spirals
Eggs/Breakfast – Circles

Ultimately this ideas rejected as it was mentioned that a lot of people have and will probably utilize this method. So I looked into an alternative material but a similar concept…

For the rest of the process, look at final work

SURPRISE

RESEARCH

Unlike the others, the concept for surprise was based on one distinct memory I had when I was a child – which was my dad telling me ‘ikan bilis is saltier potato chips’. Naive me, haven’t eaten it before until then – decides to try it and there was PLENTY of surprise.

Imagery related to Ikan Bilis – Tiny, small short lines, small curved likes, crunchy, hard, salty.

PROCESS

I utilized my initial rejected idea of rorschach tests to create an explosive effect against an organized line.

I realized it was very difficult to predict how the rorschach will turn out and I looked for alternatives, then I saw a plastic bag hanging by my cabinet and I thought — I wonder how that will look.

For the rest of the process, look at final work

LOVE

RESEARCH

Here are some concept for Love for Fried Chicken. (I assure you, it’s a healthy obsession).

1. Longing – Wanting to eat, craving for it, itchy mouth to eat it when walking past KFC.
2. Passion – Immediate joy and bliss when eating. The indescribable feeling of overwhelming joy, I really like fried chicken
3. Desire – Wanting to eat it, thinking about it at 3am while doing OSS.

PROCESS

After consultation, I relooked the concept and decided to show desire and passion as a form of skin-on-skin. Fingerpainting with an ink pad shows hands and sliding them along the paper shows the movement of hands. I explored various ways to slide my fingers as well as different composition. My classmate pointed out it looked like matchsticks and I could play around with the idea of ‘sparking’ a love or the like.

I finalized my concept on showing desire as a form of skin-on-skin contact, a very gentle wanting and ‘sparking’ a love by combining the idea of skin of the chicken against the skin of my fingertips.

For the rest of the process, look at final work

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