Midterm Project

Midterm Project

Skull of a Skeleton with Burning Cigarette -Vincent Van Gogh

• What is the subject of your image?

The subject of my image is myself in two instances; one of my outward appearance and one of myself trying to escape.

• What is the content of your image?

The content of my project is representing my social anxiety. There are two head silhouettes where one is reflecting how I would act and feel in social settings. The other head is showing the coping mechanisms I would use to escape and relieve stress of social anxiety by drinking or smoking. The monster of smiling heads is just an exaggeration of how I would feel like everyone is always watching me and pressuring me, thus the monster-like figure.

• Why did you make the choices that led to the composition?

I wanted to have two aspects of my social anxiety; one was reflecting my demeanor and the other of what people wouldn’t normally see. I liked the idea that the other aspect of myself was upside down acting sort of like an alter-ego. I initially didn’t make a “smiling monster” but instead had floating smiling heads around the head silhouette. It didn’t interest me and somehow I came up with that monster and was way more satisfied.

• What do you think this image conveys to the viewers?

I think I did a good job in portraying what I wanted viewers to see. I think what would stand out the most is the monster-like figure made of smiling heads. That monster is bearing over my head silhouette and water drops around my head representing sweat would show how it makes me nervous, anxious, or scared even. The head with the skull with a cigarette and drink would probably be harder to tie into the whole picture since it represents my way of dealing with that pressure/stress.

• What artists have influenced your self portrait?

I was influenced by Vincent Van Gogh which is why I included the reference to his “Skull of a Skeleton with Burning Cigarette”. I found out that Van Gogh also had reports of mental illnesses including anxiety which I thought was ironic since I used his painting without realizing that first.

• What techniques have you used to create your self portrait?

I like using newspaper because of the style and coloring of it, not to mention that I have an abundance of it just lying around. The cigarette in my collage was actually burnt on one end to give a more realistic look. Card board backing was used on both head silhouettes to give it a more aesthetic appeal and attention but I think the monster would get more attention which is okay with me.

• Why and how does this project represent you?

This project literally represented me in a portion of my life, mainly high during high school. I’ve had bad social anxiety back then and the only way I knew how to cope with them was to drink to escape reality or smoke to calm me down. I’ve long since stopped habits like that but it’ll always be something for me to look back and reflect on and laugh for how absurd I acted.