SW+11

** Lost In the Crowd ** ** October 2012 ** ** Guache+Spray Paint on Wood Board ** ** This piece is the first part of a two piece final project, looking at it like this doesn't really show the message i want to say, when it is completely done hopefully the message will be clearer and understandable. **   **What were the artistic and/or cultural influences for this project?** **Who/what influenced either the composition and/or the style.**

The artistic influences for this piece were two, Banksy and Keizer.They are artists known for their spray paint and graffiti, what influenced me is the way they spray paint their people, they look simple but at the same time they show details that show what the person looks like. Minimal details are applied to their graffiti. I tried to do the same thing with my people in the stencil, their is little detail but at the same time they all look different. Cultural influences came from the old egyptian culture during the 50's and 60's where old egyptian celebrities used to act in well known movies. **What materials/media/processes did you use and or experiment with, and how?**

Many trials were done before carrying out the actual piece, my first trial was deciding whether i will use guache or acrylic, after doing two trials i decided to continue with guache because its smooth and easy to spread and lighten with water, this allowed good shading and also blending different shades together was easier. My second trial was with the spray paint, my first trial wasn't successful because the paint smudged because i didn't wait for it to dry, my second trial however was much better. After these trials i started the actual process, first i cut out stencil of the crown that i will spray paint, after that i stuck it on the wooden board and used grey spray paint, i made sure to leave space for the celebrities. After the spraypainting, i painted in the celebrities with vibrant colors.

**How do you think you have responded to advice and criticism during this project (and during the term), both from fellow students and the teacher. Did you actively seek advice? If so, was it useful?**

I think i responded well to advice and criticism because i think i needed a lot of it in this piece because it's my first piece dealing with spray painting and guache. i seeked help from my teacher on deciding how to show the crowd, before we came up with multiple ideas where i would transfer a picture of a crowd using alchohol, or i would cut out the silhouttes of a crowed and use different shades of gray to paint them in. I also asked for help when i was using guache, i wasn't completely comfortable with that medium yet but after the teacher showed me a few techniques i think i got better and showed improvement.

**C****learly explain the weaknesses/areas for improvement**

I think the weaknesses of this area is that the background is too plain, i think something needs to be added to it to fill it up a little, but i don't think it should be more people, i think it's missing colors or something like that. But at the same time i don't want to fill it up because that would take away the focus i have on the celebrities. I improved in using guache, when i first started the different shades of color werent blended together and looked more like blotches of color making the people look unrealistic.


 * Clearly explain the strengths of the piece **

I think the strengths of this piece is that the main focus is put on the people which is what i wanted to accomplish, i also think there is a good variety of colors. I'm still not sure whether the emptiness of the background is a strenghth or a weakness. I also think the details in the face are good enough to show who the poeple really are.

** What could you take through to the next project and develop further? This could be anything, from a technique to an idea, not neccessarily just the theme. **  For my next project i'm going to do the exact same thing except instead of celebrities, old people will take their spot. The crowd will look exactly the same and the 2 parts will be combined into one piece made up of two series.