I took a serigraphy, or silk-screen printing, class this semester and this is the semester project. We were assigned to create a unified body of work. My project was based on hands and their capacity to show emotion, or relate to emotion.
"Fear"
For this piece I used the reductive rubylith technique. I cut layers of rubylith out to make the different layers to be printed. For this piece I wanted to express fear as an emotion. I also wanted it to express self-doubt, and how fear comes from self-doubt and holds you back as an individual. The hand holding the other hand is meant to symbolize this self-doubt and how it constrains you from doing what you want to do. For the longest time I had a lot of self-doubt about my abilities as an artist. But once I got rid of that self-doubt I was able to really develop my skills and become successful. The dripping dark red liquid isn’t supposed to be blood but it implies blood. It’s meant more as negative emotion visualized as a dark goopy substance. The lines are opposing directions because it shows the push and pull of emotions, wanting to rise to the challenge pushing you forward but fear of failing pulling you back.
"Drive"
I used hand-drawn stencils for this piece. I drew with sharpie on vellums and then used the vellums as stencils to expose on the screen. I wanted to express passion and motivation in this piece. Passion is often described as like a blazing fire, so I wanted to express it like that. Even though passion is a fire, it’s still attainable and you can still hold it. The hands holding the fire is me expressing how I was able to hold and control my passion, in a sense. It still could blaze up any time, since it is fire. The heart in the middle is supposed to symbolize how when you’re passionate, your heart is on fire and you’re in love with what you do. But at the same time you aren’t in danger of being burnt or hurt too badly by the firey passion. It surrounds and consumes your heart but your heart is still there. I also added the little whimsical ribbons and circles because, even though passion is a blazing fire, it’s still fun!
"Affection"
I used computer generated stencils printed on vellum for this piece. I printed out the different levels of CMYK on the vellums to expose. For this piece I wanted to epxress love with the hand symbol of love. I made it a more universal love, instead of the usual love between people. The galaxy pattern suggests a universal being of love that underlies the entirety of the universe. The lines coming out of the center also suggest the exploding of love and the big bang. It also suggests the rays of love being like light in the darkness, piercing the darkest corners of the universe and bringing light with it.
"Peace"
I printed out the different levels of CMYK of the image for this piece. I used these vellums to expose the screen. I was trying to express inner peace, while using the peace hand symbol. I didn’t want it to look like the typical peace sign artworks, so I tied it into the hindu idea of shanti and inner peace with the universe and enlightenment. The background pattern is a meditation mandala. The main figure is in a medidating pose. The colors suggest the main elements, like the primary colors, but muted. The peace sign hand is dissolving into smoke because that kind of inner peace is often fleeting in such a busy world. It also suggests mysticism. The overlapping layers of the figure and the outlines of the figure suggest transcendental states of being.
