Duality Portrait

First let me explain the assignment. We had to express our personality in 2 contrasting ways, but however, somehow unified- such as good and bad. Then we had to take our idea and express in an medium as long as it truly expressed your idea in the best way. ( such as being sad, you use water colour, to show droopy and messy lines, etc)

In my duality portrait I express my 2 personality traits of being unique, and being persuaded easily. I myself think I'm unique. Well I know everyones unique in their own way, but we all seem to follow the same rules, same "acceptable" traits that make us normal in society. I try not to be like society, what's the point of being everyone else? However, I'm easily persuaded, i want to be unique, however people around me influence to be like them, dress like them, act like them, just so I can fit in without being judged.

So I expressed these 2 traits with acrylic on canvas, with a really ugly looking man with society in the background. Don't get it? let me explain...

 Society is in the background, notice how they all look the same, only with minor differences (such as height and width) because everyone wants to be the same, or copy other people. This is what makes them gray and bland, because they don't try to be interesting, just accepted. I am the weird orange guy in the foreground, unique, different, stands out in many ways compared to society. However, being unique is being ugly, you are looked at differently with disgusted faces, people think you're weird, different, strange, etc.. Thats why the orange guy is ugly, because being different isn't good, its bad, and society tries to make you be like them, when they eye you down in disgust. Thats when my other personality trait comes in- being persuaded easily. The green tree on my head represents my brain, notice how branches of the tree are attached to people f society, since I am easily persuaded, I actually listen to society and try to be like them so I'm accepted, so I absorb information from them into my brain, so I can learn to be the same, and not unique. This where my 2 traits clash; I want to be unique, special, I want to stand out, however, I have the fear of being judged, so I want to be like society and everyone else at the same time.

Well that is my duality portrait, hope you like it! :)

Chuck Close

This is one of my favourite artists, a modern painter named Chuck Close creates large canvases of people faces in the most precise detail. This style is known as hyperrealism, an art style which resembles a high-resolution photo with extremely small brush strokes (or other media) Chuck Close's pieces are found in many art museums and galleries around the world.

"Big Self-Portrait"

1967-1968

This is my favourite piece by him, known as the "Big Self-Portrait" this is obviously a large image with Chuck on it. This is acrylic on canvas, and as you can tell its extremely detailed. This piece as been in a number of art galleries, such as the Target gallery and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. There are no visible brush strokes there is a wide range of shade. This piece is effective and visually appealing because its overwhelming to know that this piece is created by acrylic paint with extreme attention to detail.

That is why its my favourite piece- extreme attention to detail. I can't deny that paintings with large globs splattered everywhere isn't nice, but I'm more into detail. Chuck Close really expresses it through his paintings, Because some of his pieces take years to do, and to know he has the patience to do them all gives me inspiration. I'm never really patient when it comes to art, I usually rush things, but I'm trying to be patient, because the final product would be worth it in the end, Chuck Close proves that.

Here are some other paintings by Chuck Close