In her piece “Wish you were here”, the artist creates three types of postcards by superimposing a variety of images associated with happy thoughts/childhood memories onto the backdrop of hospital scenes to create imaginary stills. While certain elements such as repetition, color and content link the three pieces together, each one captures a different aspect of the implied feeling of comfort within the hospital environment. Physically, they are printed onto glossy photo paper but none of them are of the same size.
The image of a little girl, in a pink dress, acts as one of the unifying elements of this composition. Her presence and prominence in all three postcards almost seems to suggest that her character plays the role of the protagonist in this piece.
The artist skews the saturation of colors to create a warm color environment, mostly characterized by the girly, pinkish tint. The presence of balloons, puppies, flowers, candles, Santa Claus and an X-mas tree coupled with the color pink, virtually recreates a sort of comfort zone for this little girl.
The presentation technique of placing the postcards in a basket with a price tag and purchasing instructions suggests that these postcards could very well be sold in a retail outlet, which lends to the belief of normalcy that the artist is trying to establish.
The issue of life & death and the roles hospitals play in this case is also addressed with the presence of heart-rate monitors in all three postcards. The exact image used is that of a snapshot of the screen of the monitor placed in a picture frame. The fact that it is present in all three postcards suggests that the concept of death is omnipresent in a hospital. The image also serves different functions in each postcard, ranging from being a painting on the wall, to serving as a tray for the little girl, to serving as something for her to hold onto while in bed, which could be a play on the ability of the little girl to embrace serious concepts like death and suffering.
However despite this girly and comforting environment, the entire composition possesses subtle overtones of eeriness and peculiarity. The viewer can’t help but feel that at multiple levels, this seems a little “messed up”. This feeling is reinforced on looking deeper into the composition and realizing subtly visual elements such as the legs of girl protruding out from under the carpet or the fact that Santa Claus is actually trying to look up a little girl’s skirt.
The artist successfully portrays the idea of a hospital as a safe space as well as the implied eeriness of this idea, through her piece.
This blog has been created as a space to post and critique project examples from our class. ART 111 "Introduction to the Studio" is a beginning level studio course designed to introduce and ground students in core principles of art making in a rigorous, hands on studio. These principles will be taught through a series of practical exercises using traditional and digital tools. Emphasis will be placed on developing skills, knowledge of materials, methods of observation and translation, collaboration, discussion, and creative discipline.
In her piece “Wish you were here”, the artist creates three types of postcards by superimposing a variety of images associated with happy thoughts/childhood memories onto the backdrop of hospital scenes to create imaginary stills. While certain elements such as repetition, color and content link the three pieces together, each one captures a different aspect of the implied feeling of comfort within the hospital environment. Physically, they are printed onto glossy photo paper but none of them are of the same size.
ReplyDeleteThe image of a little girl, in a pink dress, acts as one of the unifying elements of this composition. Her presence and prominence in all three postcards almost seems to suggest that her character plays the role of the protagonist in this piece.
The artist skews the saturation of colors to create a warm color environment, mostly characterized by the girly, pinkish tint. The presence of balloons, puppies, flowers, candles, Santa Claus and an X-mas tree coupled with the color pink, virtually recreates a sort of comfort zone for this little girl.
The presentation technique of placing the postcards in a basket with a price tag and purchasing instructions suggests that these postcards could very well be sold in a retail outlet, which lends to the belief of normalcy that the artist is trying to establish.
The issue of life & death and the roles hospitals play in this case is also addressed with the presence of heart-rate monitors in all three postcards. The exact image used is that of a snapshot of the screen of the monitor placed in a picture frame. The fact that it is present in all three postcards suggests that the concept of death is omnipresent in a hospital. The image also serves different functions in each postcard, ranging from being a painting on the wall, to serving as a tray for the little girl, to serving as something for her to hold onto while in bed, which could be a play on the ability of the little girl to embrace serious concepts like death and suffering.
However despite this girly and comforting environment, the entire composition possesses subtle overtones of eeriness and peculiarity. The viewer can’t help but feel that at multiple levels, this seems a little “messed up”. This feeling is reinforced on looking deeper into the composition and realizing subtly visual elements such as the legs of girl protruding out from under the carpet or the fact that Santa Claus is actually trying to look up a little girl’s skirt.
The artist successfully portrays the idea of a hospital as a safe space as well as the implied eeriness of this idea, through her piece.