Dystopian Fairy tales

Taking great inspiration from Angela Carter’s series of short stories The Bloody Chamber, subverted and twisted re-imaginings of classic fairy tales and legends that delved into the perversions of humanity and the conflicted ideals of sexuality, gender love and identity. In particular I was interested in the stories; The Bloody Chamber, about a diabolical Marquis who finds pleasure in feminine beauty and sexual innocence before destroying these and then physically killing it; Wolf Alice, in which a young girl thinks shes a wolf and can’t comprehend her own image in the mirror and her guardian is a twisted man who has become a monster after attempting to uphold his masculine identity; and The Tiger’s Bride, subverting the story of Beauty and the Beast into the tale of a daughter disillusioned with her father’s betrayal of her in gambling her away for other possessions, and she learns not to fear but embrace the Tiger’s true bestial nature as she becomes a beast herself.

 Therefore I set about creating my own version of contemporary fairy tales drawing on the historical tropes, tales and dialogue that these created. Initially I ambitiously attempted to re-imagine and refine 6 stories, two of which were not based on any particular story, but felt they didn’t have as much impact or were as focused and so focused on 3 illustrated story concepts instead of creating a confused book in order to give them greater impact and a more defined and powerful tale to tell and in order to create an open dialogue between the image and text in a similar vein to Barbara Kruger or Lawrence Weiner whilst drawing on the illustrative narrative language of  fairy tales. My main pieces ended up being based upon Bluebeard, Little Red Riding Hood and the mythological persona of Pan.

           

Quickly pen lined copies on acetate in order to project them bigger onto canvas.

29.7 x 21 cm

Fine liner pens on Bristol board.

Trying out a more strikingly illustrative style with more defined and detailed lines and strokes.

42 x 29.7cm

Tonal pencils on paper.

21 x 29.7cm

Watercolours and pencil on watercolour paper.

Experiment with paper cut outs on black card and writing.

21 x 29.7cm

 

Initial pencil sketch.

21 x 29.7 cm

January 20, 2016 by InfinitelyElise Categories: My Artwork, research, Uncategorized, UniversityTags: Angela Carter, anthropomorphism, Barbara Kruger, betrayal, dystopian, fairy tales, femininity, gender, ideals, identity, inks, Lawrence Weiner, legends, masculinity, pencils, pens, re-imaginings, reality, sexuality, The Bloody Chamber, traditional, watercolours, Wolf Alice Leave a comment

Kingdom Come

I have always been interested in the evolution of social and cultural ideologies in a time of constant, in-exhaustive mass media consumption. Not only this, but how these newly forged ideologies are anchored in our past and our obsessive nostalgia with the religious, fantastical and supernatural. How are these ideals portrayed and warped? I was particularly struck by the constant language of progression within our media and society which ignores the moral and ethical development in favour of unsustainable aesthetic and capitalistic expansion. The themes and imagery of ‘man vs nature’ is one that is often used, simplified and trivialised in relation to humanities need to appease its egotistical image of dominance above all things in the most superficial manner. Our media and ideals are filled with superlatives; whos the prettiest, the sexiest, the richest, the most powerful? These ideals form a part of a new social religion worshipping the progression of these superficial ideals in a way which is not only self-defeating, but self-destructive.

The imagery of religion and iconoclasm is always very inspirational to me in the devotion and intensity they are able to create, images which create such impact through the pure act of simulating an imagined act, scene or deity. I was also interested in the way in which animals are often drawn into religion and its symbolism, often acting as mirrors or metaphors onto the human condition. Not only this, but also a tangible object on which to project ideals and beliefs that are inconceivable in the guise of a human. Humanities deepest and darkest natures have always found their truest reflection in the abstraction of the animal kingdom and in anthropomorphism, relating to some raw version of our natures that are expressed without filters or distorted aesthetics of our own ideals. As I was researching the relationship of animals and people within a conceptual and artistic confine, I came across Beth Cavener Stichter who expresses that “there are primitive animal instincts lurking in our own depths, waiting for the chance to slide past a conscious moment.” Cavener’s contorted, enchantingly haunting sculptural forms inspired me to explore humanities relationship to its animal shadows.

  

Ink pen, markers and white paint pen.

Both 14.8 x 21cm

In Memoriam

Ink pen and coloured inks.

21 x 29.7cm

Kingdom Come

Oil paints on primed mdf.

30 x 40cm

Through using the traditional medium of oil paint I wanted to use the hyperbolically paradoxical image of stag in an abstracted, unknown murky setting lifting it from both urban and natural settings to be left in limbo. I wanted to recreate the conflicted human ego, emblazoning its superiority in power and aesthetics whilst in itself, it is at war. Fire is always something to me that is incredibly striking, allowing for blazing contrasts and warping the image with burning light, being both purging and renewing, but an inevitable side effect of attempting to forge ahead. Our ambition burns us away and yet we are stubborn and defiant in its wake, and the world around us burns too, leaving devastation in our wake.

January 20, 2016 by InfinitelyElise Categories: My Artwork, Uncategorized, UniversityTags: anthropomorphism, artwork, destructive, humanity, ideals, inks, man vs nature, mass media, moral, nostalgia, oils, religion, shadow, skull, stag, superficial, supernatural, symbolism, traditional, unsustainable Leave a comment

Fervid

After discarding the concept of attempting to reflect the superficial and destructive ideals of freedom through connotations of the mountainous landscape and the binary opposition next to it of the caged bird, I wanted to step back and refine my concept.

Religious imagery and symbolism has always been incredibly influential to me, in particular the way it aestheticises an intangible, unfathomable concept of a deity and their virtuous, tyrranical and mystical works.

I wanted to abstract the worship of these ideals and banal symbolic images and subvert the superficial worship of them in order to reveal the true destructive and overwhelming power that the hegemonic perpetuation of these images creates. The symbols themselves are lost and de-powered, and in societies attempts to justify and achieve their hopes of these ideals they become more and more harmful and lost in the constant creation and proliferation of these tides of symbols and images.

I also decided to look at a multitude of religious imagery and symbolism in order to reflect that the worship of these aesthetic ideals is almost universally globalised and seeps into all aspects of society and culture through the unrelenting force of mass media and the image.

  

Ink pen, copic/pro markers and white paint pen on Bristol board, 210x297mm

 

Ink pen, copic/pro markers and white paint pen on Bristol board, 210x297mm

 

Ink pen, copic/pro markers and white paint pen on Bristol board, 210x297mm

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Predatory

Biro pen and coloured ink, 297x210mm

January 20, 2016January 20, 2016 by InfinitelyElise Categories: My Artwork, Uncategorized, UniversityTags: abstract, artwork, hegemonic, ideals, inks, markers, mystical, patterns, pens, proliferation, religion, superficial, symbolism, traditional, worship Leave a comment

Inital Concept Evolution and Exploration

Continuation of the works and ideas inspired from William Burrough’s book The Soft Machine (1961).

Started to evolve the concept of twisted dystopian social, cultural and image ideals as hyperbolic extensions and inflations of current ideals. Also wanted to play on the creation of a deity that epitomizes and emblazons these ideals;  abstracted perfection of the ideal body, specifically the female body and the male gaze, false faith and deceit, death and the longing for something fantastical and ‘pure’ to believe in and the symbols that follow these.

Tonal range of pencils, mechanical pencil, coloured inks with nib pen and brush, tortillon.

210x297mm

Coloured inks with nib pen and brush.

210x297mm

November 12, 2014January 20, 2016 by InfinitelyElise Categories: My Artwork, Uncategorized, UniversityTags: aesthetics, art, dystopian, female body, gods, ideals, inks, male gaze, pencils, religion Leave a comment