Self Portrait Series
All artists at some point in their life have been presented with the so-called Self Portrait project. With a self-portrait there are endless possibilities to the end result. Depending on the mind of an artist a self-portrait can be the literal meaning and depict the artist in the most realistic way possible; others might approach it in a strictly abstract sense, which maybe with just simple color and shape. The concept of the self-portrait has always been something that I have struggled with over and over again; therefore, I keep experimenting with different ways to portray my self, spirit, and personality. As I gained more of an interest in anatomy and medical art I decided to convey myself through a portrait of anatomy.That was the theme of this portrait series, the real experimentation came with the construction of each piece. I decided to push the limits of my skills in Photoshop a second time. The first time was with the piece titled "The Senses." "The Senses" poster was successful, but after this piece, I really wanted to push the limits of working with textures found in the human body. "The Senses" poster gave me a starting point and formula for how to create a muscle texture, now I was left with the challenge of creating bone, ligaments, veins, etc. The uniqueness behind this piece is that I created all of the human tissues with photos of inanimate objects. The idea was challenging and interesting; creating human tissue from textures of objects having no life. I created each individual piece from a different photo of a texture of an inanimate object. For example, I used a close-up photo of the texture, corrugated cardboard to portray muscle. As another example I used a texture of plastic tubing for the veins. The project took me one semester to complete. Overall I am quite pleased with the outcome. I created an anatomical portrait of my inner self and made it beautiful. What most would look at in disgust and see the image of their own anatomy unpleasing to view, I see it as a complex work of art and a world of intricacies and color.
