Gallery

"Tied Down"

My piece was made to present the feelings of being stuck in rejection, being tied down, and gasping for air. One of my art styles is to draw in a very childish and colorful way, but the center of the piece is a very dark concept. I think this can cause people to feel uneasy, as if it is supposed to be a very happy picture. For this piece, I originally wanted to add more 3D elements, like fake leaves for kelp. Still, because of an injury I had received, I ended up just doing this piece with alcohol markers for the base, paint markers for color blocking, and colored pencils for shading. For this project, my class was assigned to write 25+ facts about ourselves. These papers were then later randomly distributed. With the paper, I got a few things that stood out to me: rejection, feeling stuck, masking, and how much he loved the ocean and the color blue. This is how I tried to represent these facts!

"The safest American school"

Since Uvalde happened in 2022, my interest and anger towards school shootings have grown. The idea of someone going into a school with the intent of killing prey that has no way of protecting themself sickens me. Children are the most innocent, pure versions of humans, making them, sadly, an easy target.

For this piece, I originally just planned on making a portrait of the kid with a deer head, but I am very glad I added more to it! The sign I added is actually a quick sketch I had made two years ago as an art class warm-up, the prompt being "your worst fear." This drawing is really a mash-up of concepts: school shootings, innocence, hunting, and the difference between the symbolism of deer and rabbits.