Escapism
Vishaka A.
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For this artwork, I wanted to make people feel uneasy. I wanted to invoke a sense of dissent within the viewer to emphasize a war between reality and fantasy. I wanted people to grasp how the unhealthy abuse of escapism leads to denial of your very being. I explored various facial expressions and took inspiration from my own ability to perceive emotions on other people's faces in an attempt to heighten the use of empathy through my artwork. My goal is to express the denial escapism creates through the warping of a face using one’s own hands. Unhealthy escapism leads to the addictive need to disregard and run away from unfavorable situations, which creates denial of reality itself. The juxtaposition of the hands and a distorted face emphasizes the denial of a palpable existence where one’s problems cannot be avoided. I chose to take reference pictures of myself in this lighting and expression because the vibrant sunset colors in contrast to dark purple and blue shadows help transport the viewer into an otherworldly, euphoric setting which emphasizes rejection of the real world. The use of one’s own hands to distort the face highlights how it's one’s own restrictions that inhibit an appropriate coherence of reality. For my process, I first sectioned out the image and painted one portion at a time to fully capture its nuances and details. I then redid certain highlights and colors in order to make the painting as cohesive as possible. Toward the end of my process, I redid the arms because it was too grey and pale, and I introduced more of warmth from the highlights on the face to the lower body.
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Expressing my creativity through visual arts is an outlet for the demanding realities of my life. It is a means to understand myself through an artistic perception of the intricacies of existence, whether it be trivial or significant. It allows for communication beyond the limitations of words.
