AP Art and Design Sustained Investigation
Senior Year 2019-2020
|
|
|
|
|
About the Sustained Investigation:
My sustained investigation was guided by an inquiry into the human mind. Originally an exploration of human nature, but over time my investigation evolved into a study of our most basic fears, desires and instincts.
My background in paleoart and landscape painting was very useful to me. The sustained investigation allowed me to combine these two practices together, something I’d never imagine doing.
Science fiction has been my source of inspiration. After reading or watching, I would always start with the sketchbook, where I would jot down several ideas and work out morphology. To me, the best way to communicate my message was through the re-contextualization of monsters (commonly used in the sci fi genre) by altering their anatomy, the setting or time.
For example, "Save the Suppliant Soul" represents isolation/abandonment. "Close Your Eyes" shows childhood trauma, whereas "Rip and Tear" shows irrational fear among adults. Every piece explores a dark human quality. Each monster symbolizes one of these traits, and are ultimately pitted against one another in "A Shroud of Dreams" as figments of a person’s imagination, metaphorically vying for control of the mind.
My background in paleoart and landscape painting was very useful to me. The sustained investigation allowed me to combine these two practices together, something I’d never imagine doing.
Science fiction has been my source of inspiration. After reading or watching, I would always start with the sketchbook, where I would jot down several ideas and work out morphology. To me, the best way to communicate my message was through the re-contextualization of monsters (commonly used in the sci fi genre) by altering their anatomy, the setting or time.
For example, "Save the Suppliant Soul" represents isolation/abandonment. "Close Your Eyes" shows childhood trauma, whereas "Rip and Tear" shows irrational fear among adults. Every piece explores a dark human quality. Each monster symbolizes one of these traits, and are ultimately pitted against one another in "A Shroud of Dreams" as figments of a person’s imagination, metaphorically vying for control of the mind.
A Shroud of Dreams
A Shroud of Dreams. Oil on white canvas. April 21, 2020
|
Height: 36 in
Width: 48 in Materials: Oil paints, linseed oil. Processes: All 13 monsters compose the human identity. Painted a war for dominance of a struggling mind. |
"And lastly, a shroud of dreams,
so that you might see these nightmares with open eyes." Eris Morn Destiny 2: Shadowkeep (2019) |
Concept I. Pen & ink. March 4, 2020
Behind the Teeth:
|
Timelapse. Oil on white canvas. March 4, 2020 - April 21, 2020
|
1) Underpainting Layer. March 14, 2020
|
2) First Color Layer. March 27, 2020
|
3) "Overpainting" Layer. April 21, 2020
|
The Pantheon of Darkness
The Pantheon of Darkness. Pen & ink. September 4, 2019 - March 22, 2020
|
"...who binds the writings to reality, word to deed.
To place a vow in his book is to be bound, body and soul, to its fulfillment. A covenant even Death must give pause to break." Allen Williams Book Binder |
Height: 18 in
Width: 24 in Materials: Drawing pencils, pen and ink. Processes: Re-interpreted external source w/ pencil. Finalized ideas w/ pen. Worked nonstop from Sept. to March |
|
Monthly Progress. Pen & ink. September 4, 2019 - March 22, 2020
|
Concept I. Drawing pencils. November 18, 2019
|
A Placid Island of Ignorance
"We live on a placid island of ignorance
in the midst of black seas of infinity, and it was not meant that we should voyage far." H.P. Lovecraft The Call of Cthulhu (1926) Height: 24 in
Width: 18 in Materials: Drawing pencils, pen and ink, oil paints, linseed oil. Processes: Painted diver sinking into abyss to emphasize living at the edge of chaos/on the brink of insanity. |
A Placid Island of Ignorance. Oil on white canvas. March 2, 2020
|
Behind the Teeth:
1) Underpainting Layer. February 18, 2020
|
2) Underpainting Layer. February 20, 2020
|
3) First Color Layer. February 24, 2020
|
4) "Overpainting" Layer. February 24, 2020
|
Salvation
|
Salvation. Oil on white canvas. February 18, 2020
"And soon we will answer...
We are not your friend. We are not your enemy. We are your salvation." The Veil Destiny 2: Shadowkeep (2019) Height: 16 in
Width: 12 in Materials: Drawing pencils, pen and ink, oil paints, linseed oil. Processes: Studied Riven. Used only a palette knife to differentiate from other paintings/lose touch of reality. |
Concept I. Pen & ink. February 10, 2020
Azirim: Underainting. Oil on white canvas. February 12, 2020
|
Save the Suppliant Soul
Save the Suppliant Soul. Oil on white canvas. February 8, 2020
Yog-Sothoth: Underpainting. Oil on white canvas. January 11, 2020
Height: 12 in
Width: 16 in Materials: Oil paints, linseed oil. Processes: Studied The Lighthouse. Painted a giant monster in the sky to create sense of scale/how small we are. |
Concept I. Pen & ink. October 4, 2019
"Should pale death, with treble dread,
make the ocean caves our bed, God who hears the surges roll, deign to save the suppliant soul." Thomas Wake The Lighthouse (2019) |
Rip and Tear
Rip and Tear. Oil on white canvas. February 1, 2020
|
"They are rage, brutal, without mercy.
But you. You will be worse. Rip and tear, until it is done." Doom (2016) Height: 12 in
Width: 16 in Materials: Drawing pencils, pen and ink, oil paints, linseed oil. Processes: Researched Doom. Reinterpreted as a modern hallucination, how the mind produces forms in the dark. |
Spider Mastermind: Underpainting. Water-based oil on white canvas. January 13, 2020
|
Concept I. Pen & ink. January 12, 2020
Where it Leads
Concept I. Pen & ink. November 12, 2019
Manicus: Underpainting. Water-based oil on white canvas. November 12, 2019
|
Where it Leads. Oil on white canvas. December 11, 2019
"Despite knowing the journey...
and where it leads... I embrace it... and I welcome every moment of it." Louise Banks Arrival (2016) Height: 12 in
Width: 9 in Materials: Drawing pencils, pen and ink, water-based oil paints, oil paints, linseed oil. Processes: Used forced perspective to show that blind faith/ignorance of consequences due to fear is disastrous. |
The Dark Below
The Dark Below. Oil on white canvas. November 9, 2019
|
"Six of us went down into the pit. Only one crawled out... Now you must face what lurks in the dark below."
Eris Morn Destiny: The Dark Below (2014) Height: 12 in
Width: 9 in Materials: Drawing pencils, pen and ink, water-based oil paints, oil paints, linseed oil. Processes: Used forced perspective to show that blind faith/ignorance of consequences due to fear is disastrous. |
Close Your Eyes
Close Your Eyes. Mixed media (oil on white canvas + charcoal). November 1, 2019
Concept I. Pen & ink. October 20, 2019
|
"'When you close your eyes... do you dream of me?'
'I don't dream at all.' 'No one understands the lonely perfection of my dreams. I found perfection here. I've created it. A perfect organism.'" David to Walter Alien: Covenant (2017) Height: 18 in
Width: 24 in Materials: Drawing pencils, pen and ink, oil paints, linseed oil, charcoal. Processes: Researched Alien. Painted xenomorph in a kid bedroom to create a surreal nightmare sequence. |
|
Behind the Teeth:
1) Underpainting Layer. October 16, 2019
|
2) First Color Layer. October 26, 2019
|
3) "Overpainting" Layer. November 1, 2019
|
Dinosaurs. Crayon. September 2005
Beyond the Waking World
Beyond the Waking World. Oil on white canvas. November 23, 2019
Height: 12 in
Width: 12 in Materials: Drawing pencils, pen and ink, oil paints, linseed oil. Processes: Studied Azathoth. Centered monster on canvas as both creator and destroyer of all, like a black hole. |
Concept I. Pen & ink. October 7, 2019
Dream-Haunted Skies (Concept II). Oil on white canvas. October 15, 2019
|
"And because mere walls and windows must soon drive to madness a man who dreams and reads much, the dweller in that room used night after night to lean out and peer aloft to glimpse some fragment of things beyond the waking world and the greyness of tall cities. After years he began to call the slow-sailing stars by name, and to follow them in fancy when they glided regretfully out of sight; till at length his vision opened to many secret vistas whose existence no common eye suspects. And one night a mighty gulf was bridged, and the dream-haunted skies swelled down to the lonely watcher's window to merge with the close air of his room and make him a part of their fabulous wonder."
H.P. Lovecraft
Azathoth (1922)
H.P. Lovecraft
Azathoth (1922)
Beneath the Loveliest Tints of Azure
Beneath the Loveliest Tints of Azure. Oil on white canvas. October 11, 2019
"Consider the subtleness of the sea; how its most dreaded creatures glide under water, unapparent for the most part, and treacherously hidden beneath the loveliest tints of azure. Consider also the devilish brilliance and beauty of many of its most remorseless tribes, as the dainty embellished shape of many species of sharks. Consider, once more, the universal cannibalism of the sea; all whose creatures prey upon each other, carrying on eternal war since the world began.
Consider all this; and then turn to the green, gentle, and most docile earth; consider them both, the sea and the land; and do you not find a strange analogy to something in yourself? For as this appalling ocean surrounds the verdant land, so in the soul of man there lies one insular Tahiti, full of peace and joy, but encompassed by all the horrors of the half-known life." Herman Melville Moby-Dick, or, the Whale (1851) |
Concept I. Pen & ink. August 31, 2019
Height: 9 in
Width: 12 in Materials: Drawing pencils, pen and ink, oil paints, linseed oil. Processes: Exploration of sci. fi. icons. Used natural elements to depict human morality in science, war, greed. |
Behind the Teeth:
1) Underpainting Layer. September 14, 2019
|
2) First Color Layer. September 22, 2019
|
3) "Overpainting" Layer. October 11, 2019
|
The Screams of Nightmare
Concept I. Pen & ink. September 30, 2019
Height: 12 in
Width: 9 in Materials: Drawing pencils, pen and ink, water-based oil paints, oil paints, linseed oil. Processes: Used forced perspective to show that blind faith/ignorance of consequences due to fear is disastrous. "And where Nyarlathotep went,
rest vanished, for the small hours were rent with the screams of nightmare." H.P. Lovecraft Nyarlathotep (1920) |
The Screams of Nightmare. Oil on white canvas. October 5, 2019
|
Behind the Teeth:
1) Underpainting Layer. October 1, 2019
|
2) First Color Layer. October 3, 2019
|
3) "Overpainting" Layer. October 5, 2019
|
How the End Comes
How the End Comes. Oil on white canvas. September 28, 2019
|
"All life dies,
all worlds too, and if there is perpetual existence, after that - what does it matter how the end comes?" Gravemind, collective mind of the Flood Halo 2 (2004) Height: 12 in
Width: 9 in Materials: Drawing pencils, pen and ink, water-based oil paints, oil paints, linseed oil. Processes: Used forced perspective to show that blind faith/ignorance of consequences due to fear is disastrous. 
Gravemind: Underpainting. Water-based oil on white canvas. September 23, 2019
|
The Only Way
Concept I. Pen & ink. August 12, 2019
|
The Only Way. Oil on white canvas. September 15, 2019
Height: 9 in
Width: 12 in Materials: Drawing pencils, pen and ink, oil paints, linseed oil. Processes: Exploration of sci. fi. icons. Used natural elements to depict human morality in science, war, greed. "Sometimes...
the only way to heal our wounds is to make peace with the demons who created them." Dr. Serizawa Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019) |
Behind the Teeth:
1) Underpainting Layer. August 29, 2019
|
2) First Color Layer. September 8, 2019
|
3) "Overpainting" Layer. September 15, 2019
|
Ungovernable Science
Ungovernable Science. Oil on white canvas. August 27, 2019
Height: 9 in
Width: 12 in Materials: Drawing pencils, pen and ink, oil paints, linseed oil. Processes: Exploration of sci. fi. icons. Used natural elements to depict human morality in science, war, greed. “But now science is the belief system that is hundreds of years old. And, like the medieval system before it, science is starting not to fit the world any more. Science has attained so much power that its practical limits begin to be apparent. Largely through science, billions of us live in one small world, densely packed and intercommunicating. But science cannot help us decide what to do with that world, or how to live. Science can make a nuclear reactor, but it cannot tell us not to build it. Science can make pesticide, but cannot tell us not to use it. And our world starts to seem polluted in fundamental ways- air, and water, and land- because of ungovernable science.”
Michael Chrichton Jurassic Park (1990) |
Concept I. Mixed media (Pen & ink and brush markers). August 25, 2019
|
Behind the Teeth:
1) Underpainting Layer. August 17, 2019
|
2) First Color Layer. August 20, 2019
|
3) "Overpainting" Layer. August 27, 2019
|
