I was watching the new “X-Men : Days of Future Past” while my concept’s idea
struck me like a lightning. In the movie all I could see was the fear and jealousy the
normal humans had against the mutants(humans with some kind of powers-curse,
each one has their own.), whilst the mutants had similar feelings and emotions as
the others. It intrigued me how similar ways of thinking can bring people to the brink
of the cliff. It was not just the way of thinking, it was also the way they looked, some
of them have transparent skin, animalistic characteristics, even extended bones.
That is why I consider these powers a curse. The movie is somehow a propaganda
stating anti-racism ideals, at least this is how I receive the whole concept.
The funny thing is that not everything in that movie is made out of fiction, some
external appearances are based on situations taking place in our world, mutations,
diseases which cause transformation to the human body. Mutations that make
people look like jellies, people with limbs so extended that stretch like a rubber
band, vampiric look, skulls that on one side look like they are being sucked in, and
there is even a mutation that transforms your skin into scales and wood making you
unable to grab with your hands or even eat properly. What made me choose this
concept is how would we react if we saw a person with any of these “malfunctioned”
appearances walking right past us, taking classes with us, working with us, eating
with us, blending and living life the same way everyone else does, having goals to
achieve and enjoying every moment. Some of us will feel disgusted or even
frightened by them, we are afraid of the unknown, and their look is unknown,
some might feel the urge to call them names. and others will do so without
hesitation, abominations, that is how they would see them.
At first I wanted to experiment with more painting techniques than I did last year,
which I feel I did using water color, gouache, aquarelle, acrylic and oil paints.
I also tried painting on more surfaces, such as wooden window doors, plasterboards,
wooden drawers, scrap wood, unexposed x-rays, old desktop computer case, wood
with plastic covers gloss-like covers, cardboard and cardboard drawers, I painted on
each surface with different brushes, types of paint, techniques and a different way of
thinking, I was driven by the surface, not the other way around, each surface gave
me a different feeling which urged me to paint wet on wet, try dry brush, or even
mixing both. Through my paintings I wanted to show some of the effects of my
concept, not only by image, but also with materials. Particularly on one of my
materials I added the mutated parts in a more unseen way using charcoal and
chalk over acrylics, to show that those parts do not make someone inhumane, it is
the same thing with gender and race. Our natural look does not orientate us.
Different does not mean “less than”.
That is why another of my finals is a sculpture, I used clay and then casted it with
plaster, painted it with gold spray paint to show the human value, and green varnish
to show the rot this person is going through and how he is dying from the inside, of a
two faced blob-slime, a mixture of the “melting face” disease and “diploprosopus”.
I am planning to set that in the middle of the studio and expect reactions from the
rest of the students, if I had more time I would set that in a public space for a few
hours and see how passers react and take notes on that. Write what they exclaim.
Finals
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