For the next few months until the end of the semester I will be completing a series of 12 paintings. The foundation of my paintings will all be collage, and my inspirations are Khinde Wiley, Aminah Robinson and Ellen Gallagher. I chose these three artist because my concept for my three month assignment is to create a series of portraits of people from my mother’s Ebony magazine. The photos in the magazine are really striking and the portraits are very full and bold unlike the portraits we see today in magazines. My mother’s magazine is from the 1970’s so this era is very “glam” to me. Lastly, since Covid-19 I have not had the energy or even the time to go out and have fun like I usually would almost every weekend with friends. Even though I like partying, the most enjoyable part for me was the process. The process of getting dressed, picking out my outfit and applying makeup are all things that I took time to complete before going out downtown. I found though, that I am able to have that same feeling while creating these portraits. The images are all collage, and the collage aspect is applying “makeup”, or even creating my own jewelry to be added to the images. My portraits are not very large, but big enough to create a magazine “feel” and I hope to frame all 12 before the end of the semester. Currently, I am in the midst of starting my third portrait today, (02/19/2021).
Inspiration:
Below are the images I am currently working on:
I am hoping to add collage elements into these two drawings. The one on the right I have already added elements of jewelry and beads. I also added elements of makeup to it too.