I CANT COLOUR JUST LIKE HOW I CANT TAKE CARE OF MY BODY

ego1

Bland & ordinary + pressure = break down / firework

Gray dot is used to portray the bland and ordinary me .

Blue is in high saturation and low value, intended to suggest intense and

Red can be the suggestion of violent , or excitement , playing with the duality symbolism of the colour, I want to evoke two different possible outcome of me under pressure, either the pressure breaks me, or give me eureka moment.

ego3

passive + spotlight = embarrassment (Pastel)

In this equation I used the almost opposite placement of blue and yellow to portray the contradiction of the situation: someone passive being in the spot light.

The spot light is inspired by the experience of literally standing in front of spot light(or sometimes projector light), being blinded by the overwhelming light.

resulting in the embarrassment that manifest itself in the rash- like form. When I am embarrassed my skin always feel as if being pricked by countless needles ,and the image is to express that experience.

ego2

Clear and distinct opinion + Conformity = passive aggressive (Pastel)

Blue and orange, distinctively different, with a blank strip between the two colour suggest them repelling each other , unable to mix, suggesting my individual idea that can’t be altered.

The light yellow fading into the gray, showing a transformation into the surrounding colour, suggesting the pressure to conform to the rules and standards of the society.

Green to me is the colour of jealousy, which is always an emotion that is more twisted and beneath the surface, while the colour of this composition looks lively and bright, the intended effect is actually an illusion of protruding form caused by a sharp edge beneath the surface, suggesting the massive aggressiveness.

ego4

boat by the shore (me who prefers to stay safe) + cave (trying new things, venture into the unknown) = new world (Digital)

In this equation I experimented with the colour temperature, having in mind that the warm colour tends to appear closer to the viewer, I used the warm colours to highlight the subject matter , in this case the boat.

In the second picture, however, I used dull warm colours in order for viewers to focus on the cave. The gradual tonal change of the blue also allows me to grab the viewer’s attention.

And just to wrap up with some reflection, I took a drastic turn in my approach, which was fun and experimental, but result in me overlooking the time and ended up with a rushed work.

Land? ( Final )

After a few working session I finally figure out my concept.

Talk about Contentment.
Evoke new perspective on Land.

The quote i chose is from the movie, The Legend of 1900. It depicts a man, left on a cruise ship when he was just an infant . He was raised by the crew of the ship, and never left the ship . At one point , he was preparing to leave the ship to go after the love of his life and to start a new life, experience everything that he had never seen before. But right before he stepped onto the land, he stopped and turned back to the ship. When his friend asked him why, he said:

“Land is a ship too big for me, it’s a woman too beautiful, it’s a voyage too long, perfume too strong.”

Final images:

Even with a big ship right in front of his eyes, the little boy is content with just playing with his toy boat. There are always choices for us, some are considered to be better, doesn’t mean it’s got to be. Learn to be content with what you have instead of asking for things that you cannot handle.

The most beautiful flower in the garden gets pick first. Marilyn Monroe is used as an icon of victim of celebrity culture and media to suggest how beauty often lead to exploitation, evoking thought about man’s exploitation of land. (perhaps think about how beautiful islands are now so commercialised for tourism? how land offers so much resources and we just keep digging and digging.)

Freedom and choice are overrated sometimes. With too many possibilities in front of us, we often feel lost instead. We are crowned the generation of choices, and yet we are so lost.

“Christ, did you see the streets? There were thousands of them! How do you choose just one? One woman, one house, one piece of land to call your own, one landscape to look at, one way to die.”

Land, supposedly an image of stability and serenity , can become chaotic and destructive(as suggested by the earthquake-meter). Just like spillage of perfume, the pleasant smell might become too overwhelming. And as the label suggested, use with caution.

Presentation:

I want to get the audience closer to the ground. Looking at the work, if your eyes follows the sequence of the quote and image, it leads you to look at the very spot of ground that you are standing on. I want to leave the audience looking at the ground and, after looking through these different metaphors about land, think of their own image of the land.

What is land to you?

My line is emo

It is about foreigners and locals, about seeking for a sense of belonging , about understanding one another. In general, a progression from loneliness to the sense of belonging.

About the work: The work is a timeline. Each line represent an emotion I experienced during my stay in Singapore as a foreigner, almost like a diary As time progress, my attitudes and emotions changes, from a foreigner who feel alienated and detached from the island, I went through several stage of external and internal struggle, and learnt to fit in and embrace my new identity as a mixture of culture from both Singapore, China and my own roots, Taiwan. And finally, finding contentment with my current state at the end of the timeline.

In this work,

1)I hope to show the emotions experienced by foreigners but sometimes neglected by the locals. I wish to deliver those emotions in a ways that can be easily understood or felt by any audience by focusing on the process of the mark making.

2) I want to remind the audience that unwelcoming is never one-directional. While being in a foreign land is difficult, it is important for us the foreigners to try to fit in, and learn to embrace our new identity. By switching our attitudes, we can switch our situation around. This is conveyed by making drastically different marks using the same material (glue and oil)

3)No man is an island, living in the same society we should all learn to live with one another, understand one another, and embrace one another. By laying out my own experience , I hope to show that it takes time to fit in but it is not impossible.

The warping of paper after all the mark making process is a physical metaphor of the impact of emotions on an individual. As time progress, the extend of warping increase. But at the end, among all the crumpled texture, one still finds his/her peace.

The timeline goes from white to white, because I am still myself, still holding on to taiwanese passport. But the emotion is no longer the same after the ten years.

(Joy said the whole piece “looks like a poem from far”, and I am REALLY REALLY flattered by that comment)

Each emotion in detail:

Overwhelmed (By the new culture, new environment, and the all year round sunshine),using over exposed polaroid film
Hopeful*(for new life in Singapore),using insense
Alienation, using oil and ink
Detachment,using wax and ink
Uneasiness (Of living alone in foreign place), using instant noodle and ink
Homesickness ,using cling wrap and ink
Bitter (About the hurtful thing I hear between locals and foreigners), cur made by penknife
Familiarity (Getting used to Singapore, becoming more and more local), abstract ink rendering of HDB flat
Conflicted , using black trashbag and super glue
Loss (Loss of original identity) ,tracing paper glued onto paper
Guilt (for losing the culture of my roots ), ink and scotch tape
Confused (Who am I? Where is my home? Unable to reach conclusion) ,tissue paper and ink
Exulansis (the tendency to give up trying to talk about an experience because people are unable to relate to it), paper sanded down using Sand paper
Lost (no place to call “home”), using clay and ink
Obedience (unwillingly having to fit into the locals ), using liquid glue and ink
Calm (Embracing the new identity, fitting into the society), using liquid glue and ink
Sense of belonging using oil and ink
Contentment pressed paper

And I am just grateful that I am able to find my place in Singapore. I don’t know why but a sense of belonging just makes so much difference.

It is a late submission sobs, but I had fun doing this.