Critiqued Assignment #3: Not Flat / "Shambles"

Abstract

This is a digital photograph of Gracie Collier's mixed media artwork. It was submitted as the third critiqued assignment, "Not Flat," on April 4, 2017, in Erin Harmon's Intermediate/Advanced Painting class. The student's artist statement for this work reads: "The graphic qualities of the cardboard cut outs adds a sequential feel hinting at narrative. The earthy and blue colors both ground and depress the piece, the toll of living. Layers cover but fail to do enough or do too much, which were meant for a desperate and futile feel where no matter what measures are used, obscure image, physical barriers, or never-ending superfluous talk, are never enough. The undefined face with the graphic body parts were to hint at the hollow mask pointlessly defended despite its necessary components lying outside. Faded lines echoing the forms painted and the cut outs, being topographical yet organic, trying to covey time and space in the abstract human being. Content found lacking and form not working well but considering the piece as an experiment such is expected. Solutions to previous problems found problematic by peers, try new path? Again, question of what is my content."