Project 2D: My Line is Emo

Final Project

My Line is Emo

Brief Summary

For our first project in Foundation 2D, we were tasked to express six emotions (or any of the sub-emotions within the chosen six emotions) using mark making. We were given the liberty to chose any media or method so as long as we kept it black and white. We cut our emotions into strips and pasted them on A3 mounting board.

Process

There was a lot of experimentation linked with this project because we were given the leeway to use whatever we pleased. From using different objects (organic and man made) to create our marks to using different media (paint and pen) as a way to make our marks visible, our experimentation lead the way to new ideas. Not only did I want to make the mark an expression of my emotion but also the medium and process I used to be related to why I felt what I felt.

Experimenting with Monoprinting

Passion (Let Your Passions Shine)

Glitter Option 1
Glitter Option 2

For me, passion (a secondary emotion of love), can be seen in both a sexual or zealous emotion. Regardless, passion is the giddy love for something blooming into an intense love that strengthens you. I chose to demonstrate the first part of passion, the giddy start full of indecisiveness and innocence. Originally my intension was to replicate the fluttering of a heartbeat when you come to realize that the emotion you feel can turn into passion as well as the swirly tingles you feel in your stomach as you start to anticipate what you are passionate about.

Original Idea
Original Idea using Water Color

I started to realize that I did not feel my passion translated in my marks. Which is why I chose to switch to glitter; glitter has always been a constant in my life. Glitter is shiny and comes in all different types of colors and styles, it brightens up a dark room and leaves behind a unique texture. And like all the passions we have, we should let them shine and captivate the room.

First Experiment with Glitter

Even though the glitter is black in color, it still manages to shimmer and reflect the light.

Contentment (When You Read, You Step Into Another World)

Reading has always been something that made me happy and now it has taught me to be content. I used to believe that since reading takes me away from reality, that it made me happy. However, reading shouldn’t make you love one world and hate another, instead it should help you see the world in another way. I use reading as an outlet as well as a tool to survive this world. When I read a childhood book, I not only feel satisfied but also reaffirmed.

Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone 20th Anniversary Edition

On that note, I analyzed the actions relating to my contentment. I noticed that when I was truly content and at ease, my head would continuously follow the words of the book without stopping. From left to right back to the left only to go right. Using this as a guide I chose to translate the first page of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone in morse code. I used this lines because thin lines tend to express a softness and calm rather than thick lines that invoke a heavy and dense feeling.

Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone 20th Anniversary

Frustration (Like a Volcano)

For frustration, I chose to express myself more through my actions rather than my marks. While my mark, a quick rough scribble that replicates the fleeting annoyance represents irritation (my original emotion). This was overshadowed by my use of collaging.

Annoyance

The collaging was accidentally created when my initial plan to create an “irritated mark” failed which lead to me accidentally ripping the paper as I was erasing the pencil marks. I tried to use this accident to my advantage as I realized that what is frustration other than being unable to achieve what you have set out to do and being unable to change the mistakes you have made on the way. The irreversible emotion of frustration is shown in the way my lines no longer add up to become one cohesive mark.

Surprise (The Baseline is Constantly Changing)

After reading an article in my SAT test, that talks about how the standard is constantly changing throughout generations I began to understand the whole “When I was your age” statement. Thinking back to this and using new knowledge I have garnered throughout the year, I have come to a new realization. That surprise is constantly being beat out by new surprises. We will never truly be surprised because we keep setting a level that needs to be overshadowed by our own desire to feel the same (or even better) surprise. I chose to express this by using the the circles (representing the balled up feeling we have before we a surprise happens) that keep floating down from an unidentifiable source. We will never know our peak surprise, nor will be ever see the circles pop.

Experimenting with Different Circle

I also used the Hero Archetype line to resemble the flow of the circles in order to explain the withdrawal symptoms and crash of surprise.

Loneliness (Even in a Crowded Room, Can’t You Help but Feel Lonely?)

Everyone feels lonely or alone at least one time in their life, whether it be physical seclusion or emotional seclusion. I chose to express this emotion through fingerprints.

My Brainstorm for Loneliness and Anxiety

Fingerprints are a unique attribute of a person that differentiates them from everyone else. I asked several people from my hall to lend me their fingers, and after masking the white area (which represents my finger print) with masking fluid, I told them to stamp random parts of the paper. I finished t up by adding my own fingerprints, which represents that though there are people like me, I still feel the sense of detachment from them.

Hysteria

When I think of hysteria, I think of the panic everyone has before a major examination or the night before the final submission for an art project. We want to finish something in time, whether it be memorizing or drawing so that we can have something to show them afterwards. I tried to represent this through my frantic rush to “cover the canvas black”, even leading me to color in the wrong color marker and thread (white).

The lines are rushed and messy, there is no order and everything seems haphazard. Nothing is completely filled in and even the medium used is not constant.

Experimenting with Frantic/Hysteric Actions
Experimenting with Frantic/Hysteric Actions

 

Final Project

Conclusion

Things I Learned:

  • That there are different ways to express myself
  • That it is okay to self reflect and dig deep into yourself (even if it means bringing up feelings that trigger my senses)
  • That experimentation and documentation is very important (I need to get into the habit of it)

Things I Need to Work On:

  • Being fearless with my experimentation (don’t be afraid to experiment more)
  • Confidence with my own work (my work is my own)
  • Time Management
  • Expressing my emotions using marks (not just representational and symbolism)
  • Documenting (I have never done it properly and it has yet to be a part of my routine)

Things I Struggled With:

  • Trying to express myself
  • Finding a way for other people to feel what I am feeling
  • Hoping that others would understand what I am feeling
  • Understanding myself and my emotions

 

Agnes Martin

Agnes Martin a Canadian born artist known for her departure from the art scene in 1967 only to reappear in New Mexico.

https://oss.adm.ntu.edu.sg/hyunjae001/wp-content/uploads/sites/1905/2017/08/art-agnes-martin-on-a-clear-day-3.jpg accessed on August 17th, 2017