My entry for Adobe’s: The 5th Scream. I went off of the idea of “internal screaming”, I phrase I use often both literally and for comedic effect. In my initial brainstorms, I thought of painting a mouth on the stomach of the figure in the foreground, but I decided not to go too literal. Like the original “Scream” painting by Munch, I wanted the painting to to be obvious in the emotions it is trying to convey, but I also wanted it to be interpreted in a multitude of ways. Munch’s “Scream”, is often described as the anxieties of the modern man. I thought a lot about the anxieties of the current state of the US and the future, and also my own fears and anxieties. I decided to paint a figure that was not screaming in a horrific, obvious manner, but one that had no mouth and appeared to be deeply troubled. This is to convey that we all have anxieties and uncertainties within our lives that trouble us, but many of us may keep those fears within us in order to just get through the day. We might not be able to scream out loud or we may not even have someone to scream to, so we are internally screaming and suffering from our fears.

The figure looks over their shoulder at two other figures: one is screaming and in deep despair and the other puts on a foreboding smile. While I would like this to be interpreted by people in its own way, when I was painting this piece, I thought a lot about my own personal anxiety and fears. I recently graduated, and at 24 I feel like I may never truly be successful as an artist. I have deep fears about employment, success, and finances.