The Artist Statement/RATIONALE
Daniela Brenes
Through all my pieces the theme that
connects them is the mysteries of death. My theme wasn’t chosen at the
beginning of the course instead it evolved. Why I unconsciously drew and made
my artworks related to death is because of the death of my grandfather, which
was when I was about 5 years old. This event marked me so much because during
my first years I pretty much lived with him and my grandmother, he would go
live me at school and teach me things. The day he died I wasn’t allowed to go
to the funeral nor say goodbye to him, this can be why my works relate to
death.
My works vary between being 2D, 3D,
and a print. The reason why most of them are 3D is because I don’t feel that
comfortable drawing and painting, instead I prefer 3D objects where I don’t
necessarily need to paint. In the 2D artworks, a still life and a
self-portrait, I made use of acrylics for the still life and oils on the
self-portrait. Before the self-portrait I had never used oils so I had to
practice before and learn about them. This also happened with the print. For
the 3D works I used different materials. In “Escaping Skull” I used DAS and
acrylics. It was also the first I used DAS, which made it more challenging. The
circle in which the skull is placed has different textures to create a sense of
depth and woods. Finally in “Taking from
Earth” and “Shutting Down” I used clear acrylics sheets and strings. The choice
of using these was to achieve a transparency because when persons die people
are able to see through them, many times get to know things about them others
didn’t know.
The way my works are being displayed
contribute to the meaning by adding more information to certain works. For
example “Taking from Earth” has to be on the floor and have the strings hanging
from the ceiling for the viewer to see the shape. It has to be on the first
floor of the building so the audience can be able to see it from the second
floor. The displays helps convey the
meaning to he audience by placing together certain works that make sense
together to show the connection.
Holding our Souls by Danniela Brenes
Linocut print. 29.21 x 44.45 cm each
The
intention of this piece was to try a new technique, which was printmaking. The
drawing was inspired by the collage I mentioned on the “Escaping Skull”. The
meaning of this work is some people
never let go of others after death. I wanted to achieve a feeling of not being
able to let go of someone and having to deal with the memories forever. The
main reason of the colors comes to create a representation of Earth, the green
representing land, pink the sunset and blue the sky and universe.
Escaping Skull by Daniela Brenes
DAS and acrylics. 37x37x15 cm.
The
inspiration for this piece came from a collage I made out of magazine cut-outs.
The Earth, I made it in a round wooden board, the intention of doing it round
was to make it look as a hole and the skull was coming out of it. I painted the
wood with a pallet knife to create texture, causing the audience to think of it
as branches. The skull is not white for it to seem as if it was dirty. The symbolism of the skull is death making
the meaning of this piece to be a soul escaping death.
Presence by Daniela Brenes
Acrylics on canvas. 40.6x50.8 cm.
In
this painting what I was trying to achieve was to make a painting of a picture
of a tea set in my grandmother’s house. Since my theme is the mysteries of
death the way in which the tea set connects to the theme is the fact that it
was in my grandmother’s house, the place where my grandfather died. The smoke
coming out of the tea pots represent his presence in the house as well as in
the family.
Taking from Earth
Medium: Mixed media
Size: 1.88x80x2.55 cm
For
this project my inspiration came from the TV series Dexter. The idea of using
strings and having a body, came from the scenes where the main character used
certain techniques to know where the blood splatters came from. The main idea
of doing this piece is to give a sense of levitation and as if the soul of the
body is taking off of Earth after its death. This could represent how the
body and soul separates but at the same
time sometimes can decide whether to stay or go.
Self Portrait by Daniela Brenes
Oils on canvas. 35.6 x 27.9 cm.
This
self portrait was the first time I used oils, I had to learn how to combine and
paint with oils. For this piece I decided to paint my self a surprised facial
expression, the reason for this is as if I had just seen someone’s death or a
spirit. By having this facial expression the audience can be able to relate to
this feeling and expression.
Exhibition Set up
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