Vangel Imre,Neon Saint
How this image came to being:
- I was looking at fine examples of portrait photography either for inspiration or for direct reference and drawing. I stumbled on a very interesting image called "Rock Face" by John Swannell. The author used a nude female model and inspired by surrealist Rene' Magritte's "Son of Man" produced a nude study with a rock covering his model's face. The image was by itself very interesting and aesthetically pleasing as the emphasis is on the model's figure which is universally harmonious. As I was thinking of a possible way to work with this image I placed a thin white sheet of paper on the picture and started tracing the nude silhouette with pencil. At this point I decided to explore the ways colour could suggest meaning. I wanted to use only a few bright tones and work with materials that allowed me more control over the lines. For that purpose I chose felt tip pens. I picked blue for the silhouette itself because I associated the colour with water, an element I believe suitable to represent female nature. At first I coloured the central parts of the silhouette roughly, with loose strokes, leaving a lot of white areas surrounding them. The result reminded me of vapour, but it somehow looked unfinished, so I coloured the white spaces.
The outer line of the silhouette is done in green which I felt would correspond well with the yellow I used for the energy field surrounding the figure, which I later developed into a halo around her head to add religious subtext to the image.
At this point it was only the female silhouette with the energy field/halo surrounding it against white background. I thought of adding geometrical beam-like lines coming from the central image, but left this idea for a better, more efficient and interesting solution. I chose to place the figure using collage in what I found a contrasting environment- a newspaper text-only page, which is a part of our everyday lives and culture. In my view this combination not only made the silhouette stand out even more, but added some more subtext to the image. I still had the problem of the eye being distracted by the background text, so I found a solution by adding vertical parallel orange lines surrounding the image, which I believe direct the viewer's eye. And to give it a more finished look I drew a frame, again in orange and left my initials in my native language, at the top right-hand corner- that's the way I sing my drawings.
Some possible interpretations:
As I was making this drawing, several ideas on how to name it came to mind:
- the rather descriptive and a bit misleading "Androgynous Silhouette in Blue"guiding the viewer to think of the figure as a sexless being (I believe in Orthodox Christianity some types of angels are considered androgynous) ;
- "Modern Day Miracle", which could be derived from the contrast between the energy lit figure and the common newspaper background;
- "Inner Strength", a name suggested by a friend, because of the aura-like feel the use of colour gives it;
and the final name I chose "Neon Saint", suggests this image is a modern interpretation of an icon.
Icons are popular in Eastern Europe.
It may also be seen as a comment on modern celebrity-based culture- stars appear in the news-papers and are worshiped and followed by millions.
How this image came to being:
- I was looking at fine examples of portrait photography either for inspiration or for direct reference and drawing. I stumbled on a very interesting image called "Rock Face" by John Swannell. The author used a nude female model and inspired by surrealist Rene' Magritte's "Son of Man" produced a nude study with a rock covering his model's face. The image was by itself very interesting and aesthetically pleasing as the emphasis is on the model's figure which is universally harmonious. As I was thinking of a possible way to work with this image I placed a thin white sheet of paper on the picture and started tracing the nude silhouette with pencil. At this point I decided to explore the ways colour could suggest meaning. I wanted to use only a few bright tones and work with materials that allowed me more control over the lines. For that purpose I chose felt tip pens. I picked blue for the silhouette itself because I associated the colour with water, an element I believe suitable to represent female nature. At first I coloured the central parts of the silhouette roughly, with loose strokes, leaving a lot of white areas surrounding them. The result reminded me of vapour, but it somehow looked unfinished, so I coloured the white spaces.
The outer line of the silhouette is done in green which I felt would correspond well with the yellow I used for the energy field surrounding the figure, which I later developed into a halo around her head to add religious subtext to the image.
At this point it was only the female silhouette with the energy field/halo surrounding it against white background. I thought of adding geometrical beam-like lines coming from the central image, but left this idea for a better, more efficient and interesting solution. I chose to place the figure using collage in what I found a contrasting environment- a newspaper text-only page, which is a part of our everyday lives and culture. In my view this combination not only made the silhouette stand out even more, but added some more subtext to the image. I still had the problem of the eye being distracted by the background text, so I found a solution by adding vertical parallel orange lines surrounding the image, which I believe direct the viewer's eye. And to give it a more finished look I drew a frame, again in orange and left my initials in my native language, at the top right-hand corner- that's the way I sing my drawings.
Some possible interpretations:
As I was making this drawing, several ideas on how to name it came to mind:
- the rather descriptive and a bit misleading "Androgynous Silhouette in Blue"guiding the viewer to think of the figure as a sexless being (I believe in Orthodox Christianity some types of angels are considered androgynous) ;
- "Modern Day Miracle", which could be derived from the contrast between the energy lit figure and the common newspaper background;
- "Inner Strength", a name suggested by a friend, because of the aura-like feel the use of colour gives it;
and the final name I chose "Neon Saint", suggests this image is a modern interpretation of an icon.
Icons are popular in Eastern Europe.
"They are literally an image of Christ or a Saint. They are stylised and tend to look similar, the reason being, that the artist making them was thought to be expressing God's vision rather than a worldly one.The icon was seen not as a man-made image but rather as a divine one.Therefore, any trace of artistic personality was though to be bad"
I chose this name because I found some compositional similarities between the image I produced and actual icons. Neon is something associated with the superficial in modern life. It is a type of light invented by man. Which reminds me of the Atheist statement "God did not create man - man created God" So this image may be viewed as a statement on Religion today.
(Art Theory for Beginners, Zidane Press, London,2006,p24).
It may also be seen as a comment on modern celebrity-based culture- stars appear in the news-papers and are worshiped and followed by millions.
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