This is a showcase of my digital paintings and manipulated images using
Adobe. I prefer digital art to classical painting because I like to be
meticulous about placement and color.
I feel the selected projects reveal the catalyctic focus of my work. The
works shown are either deeply reflective or utilized as research for
real-world applications. I do not wish to highlight my artistic skills,
but rather my tenacity for detail and conception.
Technology and Me
In 2020, I took a class in 2D Digital Art that taught me how to use
Adobe Photoshop through a series of projects.
When asked to consider my own identity in creating this project, I
immediately thought to myself, “well, I’m a student… so there’s that.”
Then, I began to think of myself as more than just a student at an
institution, but a student in life.
As I am naturally curious and willing to sit for hours until I learn
how to merge assets and create a final product which feels seamless, most of my
inspiration comes from the amount of browser searches it took to learn new
software, like Photoshop. While I identify as the type of person who uses
technology to learn and practice skills, I feel as though the technology
we use means more to our identities than many of us currently realize.
The computers in my life hold my creative projects, knowledge, opinions,
social media, an entire history of browser searches and inquiries, and
nearly every form of non-verbal communication I’ve ever had. My PC, in
particular, means more to me than just a material object; it is
sentimental, along with my connection to the World Wide Web.
It is a part of my identity and holds more information than anyone
(except a computer) can comprehensively follow. The majority of my
generation understands this experience, and will be remembered as digital
trailblazers. Once the world has access to lifetimes of data, I forsee
comprehensive presentations designed to practically rebuild someone's
identity. I think about this from time to time. Thus, I must heavily
consider my legacy, now that people after my lifetime will know me
even more intimately than I knew my own ancestors.
Overwhelmed
In 2020, I took a class in 2D Digital Art that taught me how to use
Adobe Photoshop through a series of projects.
At the beginning of the coronavirus quarantine, I noticed a spike in
social media usage among my friends. Until now, I wasn't much of a loner
but the number of messages I had been recieving lately on Instagram and
Snapchat, were becoming increasingly overwhelming. After feeling the force
of 30 messages per day from people I used to know better, I considered
deleting all of my social medias, thus escaping any obligation to respond.
As it turns out, I'm not the only one who recently started feeling this
way. Other accounts have made posts about the toxicity of comment sections,
their pressure to continually post or feel "liked", and the expectation
that someone is always online because who doesn't keep their mobile devices near?
I empathize with the hive-mind of social media users, and particularly the
influence of feed algorithms which keep users present. Social media
usage becomes an addiction just like any other.
Currently, I'm addicted to using TikTok.
Outside My Window
In 2021, I enrolled in a course that taught broad concepts of astronomy.
This particular project was assigned to explore the layering and
color-assignment methods used by astronomers when quantitatively
measuring the colors of stars, gas clouds, and galaxies, done by
observing through different color filters.
This project taught me how astronomers produce multi-wavelength
red/green/blue (RGB) images of an astronomical objects, but with the
source images being my choice.
All semester, I've been sitting at my desk doing classwork while the sky
transforms throughout the day. I sit next to my window and often stare
out towards the trees and into the sky, usually when I'm lost in
thought. I look to the sun and the stars even as I wake up and go to
sleep, its always different but always the same. There's much to ponder
and much beauty to behold outside my window.
Its layers contain a yellow-tinted window to represent the sunlight that
comes through my window each day; blue/green-tinted clouds to represent
the daytime sky, and a purple-tinted starry sky to represent the
nighttime sky.
A Visual Culture
In 2020, I took a class in 2D Digital Art that taught me how to use
Adobe Illustrator through a series of projects.
With the amount of personalizations I have made to my own computer, it is
unique to my personality and not just my hobbies. When we use our
creativity to personalize an object to our liking, we create
something that represents ourselves. Not everything needs
to be personalized to represent our personalities, however.
Fragments of our identity can be found within anything that we use
consistently, as it contains the memory of our experiences. We show our identity
through the way in which we use an object or the way we protect it (if at all).
Whereas I feel my computer holds major pieces of my identity, others would also
tie their identity to things such as a vehicle or room.
A Cold, Desolate Planet
In 2021, I enrolled in a course that taught broad concepts of astronomy.
This particular project was assigned to explore the relationships and
exchanges between arts and sciences. More specifically, the theme was to
imagine myself as an explorer of a new planet, and provide a description
of the scientific reasoning behind my artistic choices.
Over the icy, desolate terrain exists an atmosphere mainly consisting of
nitrogen and oxygen molecules. On this particularly clear night, an
aurora—caused by solar wind particles that excite atoms in the upper
atmosphere—radiates ribbons of cyan and indigo light. These lights
indicate an active magnetic field and a proximity close to the planet’s
north or south pole.
Behind the cozy ice-cave, mountains are pictured alluding to the
existence of plate tectonics and a rocky surface beneath the ice. Above
the mountaintops is an exposed, bright and starry sky containing a wide
reach of star clusters and starlight emissions. This variation occurs
due to ranging distances and temperatures between individual star
systems within our present perspective.
The scene’s main elements are tinted blue to indicate freezing
temperatures on the surface of this planet. A campfire is also depicted
to represent a climate that is habitable given suitable circumstances.
Plants are not pictured for the purpose of maintaining the scene’s
barren environment. Clouds are also not contained by the scene to
provide clear visibility of the painted sky.
The main themes of this artwork are lively illuminations and freezing
temperatures. The ice-cave that’s central to this scene brings these
themes together using a bright, warm campfire.
