MY
This was my final piece for Painting class. Here's a writeup I wrote for the class, describing the piece, my growth, and its symbolism.
If Blade Runner has proven anything, it’s that there is something eerily beautiful about the dystopian city. The bright and alluring left side of the painting emphasizes the glitz and the glam of city life. I suspect that the dilapidated buildings on the right side used to hold many shops and that behind the now boarded-up windows were parties and excitement. Time displays less attractive effects of urbanization. "Urbanization" is too superficial of a word. Perhaps "worldliness" is better. Every "high life" has a "low life," every attempt to party the night away ends in a hangover, every one-night-stand ends in a morning after, and every sin has consequences. As a Catholic, I associate with the lonely figure walking down the road through the dark city "valley," feeling the pull of the superficial, keeping his head down and trudging past temptations and their effects toward the light of a more fulfilling life. I speculate that the figure is all too familiar with the party life; he’s been through the ups and downs, and he walks down the road on the side worn by time and experience. I think he has a better perspective than the figures by the storefronts, many of whom I suspect he knows and tried to convince to join him. He knows that sex, drugs, parties, and money are cheap but take an expensive toll. What has it taken out of him? In his heart, I think he knows he’s supposed to be in the world, but not of it, but I think he doubts himself and feels tainted by the dark past he’s trying to leave behind. While I wonder what the walker feels like, I painted this scene out of my own experiences with sin, desolation, and depression. It’s often after the desolation passes that I realize how much perspective it lent me. At the same time, the danger during the walk through the "valley of the shadow of death" is losing sight of the light at the end of the tunnel or losing the understanding of just how far you've come. As the viewers, we can see that the figure is leaving his shadows behind him and that he’s being bathed in light. The figure only sees how far he has yet to go, at least at this point in his journey. This painting also shows how far I've come on a technical level. When I first started this painting course, my goal was to paint something along these lines. I started an attempt on the second day of class, and let's just say it didn't turn out very well. After practice and study, imitating pictures and reference images, I felt confident painting this based on a sketch I made. I’m quite proud of this one.
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July 2023
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