Speed Charcoal Drawing - Megan Fox - Theportraitart

the charcoal looks very cool:) it is very expressive and the tone can varied a lot. it can also create different textures as well:)

write up on Lang Kacang by Bayu Utomo Radjikin

this is the assignment i did last year, it is to describe the subject matter of this self portrait – Lang Kacang by Bayu Utomo Radjikin.

Lang Kacang shows a sculpture of an armless tribal warrior screaming into the void. The expression on face is contorted by his roar of frustration and anger. Warrior is the symbol of the spirit who becomes a source of protection and support throughout his life’s journey. However, in the sculpture the warrior seemly caught in the midst of confusion and seeking direction. Through the expression of the face, the sculpture may describe the emasculation of the modern man, who are soulless and empty within. The armless warrior is useless, appearing as something weakened and unable to fight back. It may hint on the impracticality of culture and tradition beside the rise of modernity. However, elaborated headdress symbolizes rich culture and tradition. The upright tilt of the head suggests a sense of defiance and pride and resolve.

Also, his head is thrown back with the force of his roar of frustration and anger. The facial expression is contorted in emotion and yet the torso stands stiff and rigid, bound by bandages of metal. In contrast to the constricting armour of metal, the feathers of the headdress stand defiant and proud, symbolic of rich traditional culture and evocative of traditions past that are slowly being abandoned.

Though the body of the warrior is slightly bent to the front while the torso stay stiff to the ground, it seems as there is a force pulling the warrior forward and the warrior is trying to resist it with all his might. And the metal armour and chains may symbolize suffering and the misery that the warrior is going under.

AEP assignment: Lucia Hartini

this is the write-up i wrote for the SOVA assignment on Lucia Hartini. it is based the the artwork, srikandi.

a) Describe the use of space, colour and brushwork

In the foreground, the painting’s main focus is on a female figure of Srikandi, a Javanese shadow puppet of the Mahabharata epic, is a brave and bold female figure who characteristically holds her head upward. At the mean time, the figure is of perfect likeness to the painter herself. It occupied almost half of the space, showing the importance and superiority that captured the attention of the viewers. The figure is standing with hands at the waist, chin high and eyes stared directly back to the glaze. In comparison, the eyes that the artist is staring at appear to be rather small. This might suggest that those eyes, with represents the opinions of the public on her, are insignificant to herself and she takes them lightly.The figure is standing upright and rooted to the ground. She seems to fill with confidence and courage, ready to fight against the opposition.

The background it divided into two parts, half of it depicts the maze-like brick wall that tends to be smaller when it stretched to the top right hand corner which creates the depth in the painting, while the other half is painted with natural elements, such as the moon and the clouds, where the larger clouds nearer to the viewers and smaller clouds further away, hence this makes the sky seem endless. Thus due to the contrasting size of the subject matter on the canvas, Lucia Hartini create a clear sense of depth on the viewers which allows the viewers’ eyes to travel from foreground to background. This also serves as a tool that magnified the importance of the female figure. The wall nearer to the left side is straight, which probably symbolize her now determination and ready to reach the goal. Whereas the wall nearer to the right is painted in a zigzag manner, it might represent her previous sense of terror as she struggle to be herself and escape away from the public eyes and criticism.

As the she stands in amidst of the brick walls, she might want to suggest that there are a lot of difficulties and social stereotype that kept her in the cage and repress her power. However the cracks on the walls also represent her will to break through the boundaries that trapped her inside. Hence, by showing her power and strong will to success, she takes up most of the space of the painting. Here the natural elements also play a part. As the sky is calm and peaceful, she might want to imply that even though her surrounding is tough, there is still a better world that she is looking forward to and want to achieve. This probably represent her will of been able to fly freely in the artistic field as an artist in the limitless sky.

Lucia Hartini had used contrasting colours in this painting. Srikandi is draped in a dark blue flowy cloth, which also drapes around the brick-red maze-like walls. The dark blue create a strong contrast to the brick walls. As blue is a cool colour, which is usually associated with cool, calm emotions ,while brick-red usually represents more lively and vibrant feelings. This contrast in colour produces a mixed emotion in the viewer. Furthermore, the blue used here also has a hidden meaning. As Srikandi was dressed in blue cloth worn by members of the women’s armies who historically protect the Sultans of feudal Central Java, Lucia Hartini thus depicting herself ready to fight back all the negative stereotype the society had on women. The contrast in colours also allow Srikandi to stand out, complementing her spirit and body posture, suggesting her importance and authority. The skin tone of the figure also appears to be in a very healthy colour of golden brown. This makes the artist looks very strong and superior and confident woman.

Meanwhile the background is painted in a contrasted mood whereby part of the sky is painted a blue grey colour, while the other part is painted a orangey-yellow colour as if there is sunshine after a heavy thunderstorm. It gives a calm and peaceful feeling. In contrast, the foreground that contains numerous pairs of tiny eyes seems to be rather moody. The sky nearer to the brick wall seemed more unstable as if poses a greater danger.

This artwork is painted realistically, adopted academic and traditional painting techniques. Her brushstrokes are well-blended and no track of brushstrokes can be seen. Her painting is very detailed, highly resembled to real life. Lucia Hartini keeps the drapery a soft texture by emphasizing the contrast between the shadow and the cloth while giving the cloth curved edges. The hard edges for the brick wall and the cracks in the wall and creates a contrast with the dress by her use of brushworks as well. Lucia Hartini sculpts herself as a fit and strong woman, smoothing out her brushstrokes while emphasizing the highlights and shadows of her muscles and veins. This further depicts Lucia Hartini as a strong and determined figure.

b) Comment on the influences behind this work

Lucia Hartini’s art is a reflection of herself and the way in which she interprets her environment. Indeed, her art is inseparable from socio-political conditions in Indonesia, where woman is regarded as an obedient subject to male order and admonition. In this respect, up to 1992 Hartini’s subjects seemed to reflect these traditional cultural expectations under which women obediently and patiently placed themselves, victims of sexism. From the beginning of her career in the late 1970s until 1993, Hartini often depicted female figures which can be read as reflections of her own situation. These figures mostly look powerless, passive, vulnerable, obedient and sweet due to the woman’s social status. The time between 1983 to 1992 was a period when Hartini depicted a sense of terror as she struggled to be herself. Of this period, she says: “it tells of my obsession with eyes, especially human (spying) eyes, which frighten me very much. They follow me wherever I go and they always want to watch my business.” This is because female artists like herself are being looked down at as woman has low social status as compared to men. Female artists thus have little or no say in the art field and are often criticized. Many of the female artists cannot stand such strict cultural expectations and turned into the housewife that they are expected to be. This influenced the ray of eyes that is painted in “Srikandi”

Her 1993 work is radically different. Hartini no longer represents a soft and passive figure, instead, she depicts an authoritative, challenging and strong one. In this painting, she projects the daring, strong and powerful character of Srikandi, a daring female knight character of the Javanese shadow theatre, dressed in blue cloth worn by members of the women’s armies who historically protected the sultans of feudal central Java as herself. The figure clenches her fists with muscled hands, her head up, with wide-open staring eyes, constituting a strong, challenging gesture against the spying eyes before her. Here she portrays herself as a female warrior, who fights back sex discrimination in Indonesia. As the whole society discriminated her and do not recognize her as an artist. Thus in the painting Lucia Hatini repelled the critical and doubting eyes of society, which has formerly rendered many women prisoners of tradition. She concluded that women should represent themselves as autonomous subjects having potential which is different but no less capable than that of their male counterparts in this shared her. Hence, the depiction of herself as Srikandi shows the determination and the courage to stand up against the public (spying eyes), fighting for her own rights, as well as women’s rights.

She spent her childhood living, walking around and playing in a natural, quiet and peaceful environment that is different from the neighbourhood where she now lives in a rented house with her children. To her longing for a free and peaceful natural environment, Hartini likes depicting her imagination natural elements, such as in the painting “Srikandi” ---- clouds and moon. All of these are depicted rhythmically by fine lines. . In repeatedly putting fine lines on canvas, Lucia Hartini lets herself be carried away by a personal rhythm, a kind of meditation. Her repeating of lines is like a reciting mantra over and over again, and also by doing so, one can go into a micro-cosmos or transcendental experience where the gap between the real and unreal becomes blurred. The colours Lucia Hartini used are influenced by her mood, for example orangery red may represent anger. This is a kind of psychological catharsis to release stress and boredom as well as fulfilling her aesthetic needs.

The hard, edgy brick walls may represent the social prejudice and the strict cultural expectations society has on her, which like a maze which she trapped in. However, the cracks on the wall symbolize this social hierarchy are slowly eroding. By depicting the cloth covering parts of the wall may suggest that females in Indonesia are slowly becoming more important, and that women are slowly gaining their rights in modern Java.