Alter Ego
Format
Senior Art and Design Exhibition
Faculty Mentor Name
Dan Kasser
Faculty Mentor Department
Studio Art
Abstract/Artist Statement
The artworks for my senior exhibition present the story of Shaiyo Kiyui, a character I have been developing for eight years. The drawings and paintings represent a narrative based in autobiography and my artistic journey to give form to the cruel and darker issues in our society. The premise for Shaiyo’s character is his internal struggle between his gentle nature and the pressure and contradictions of society’s malevolent side. The catalyst of Shaiyo’s conflict began early in his childhood; society bullied him.The external sources, the form and the style of my paintings are derived and inspired by selected autobiographical experiences, contemporary cultural history in America, and finally comic books and graphic novels where many of the darker conflicts in society find an audience. The continuity between my autobiographical sources and the construction of my artworks is derived from my personal involvement in the martial arts and my interest in the philosophy of Bruce Lee, expressed through his book Tao of Jeet Kune Do (1975). Through Lee’s philosophy I learned to divert and reform my anger and feelings of victimization through an integrated lifestyle of physical, mental, and spiritual wholeness. My artworks are designed to tell that story in a short hand or short story style.Presented as comic book and large-scale, black and white India ink drawings, these works uses the comic book style to create a condensed and exaggerated narrative for the story of Shaiyo Kiyui’s awakening to his inner strength and self- defense.
Location
Reynolds Gallery
Start Date
18-4-2012 6:00 PM
End Date
18-4-2012 8:00 PM
Alter Ego
Reynolds Gallery
The artworks for my senior exhibition present the story of Shaiyo Kiyui, a character I have been developing for eight years. The drawings and paintings represent a narrative based in autobiography and my artistic journey to give form to the cruel and darker issues in our society. The premise for Shaiyo’s character is his internal struggle between his gentle nature and the pressure and contradictions of society’s malevolent side. The catalyst of Shaiyo’s conflict began early in his childhood; society bullied him.The external sources, the form and the style of my paintings are derived and inspired by selected autobiographical experiences, contemporary cultural history in America, and finally comic books and graphic novels where many of the darker conflicts in society find an audience. The continuity between my autobiographical sources and the construction of my artworks is derived from my personal involvement in the martial arts and my interest in the philosophy of Bruce Lee, expressed through his book Tao of Jeet Kune Do (1975). Through Lee’s philosophy I learned to divert and reform my anger and feelings of victimization through an integrated lifestyle of physical, mental, and spiritual wholeness. My artworks are designed to tell that story in a short hand or short story style.Presented as comic book and large-scale, black and white India ink drawings, these works uses the comic book style to create a condensed and exaggerated narrative for the story of Shaiyo Kiyui’s awakening to his inner strength and self- defense.