Advantage (2013).
In this piece, I attempt to convey that although society strips us from our original individuality, we can still establish ourselves as creative individuals.
This can be done by first acknowledging the fact that we are all different biologically speaking, but society masks these differences through the way that it socially identifies and categorizes people in an overgeneralizing manner.
In my artwork this is indicated by the obscuring of a finger print. By putting a film of man-made glue over my finger before I printed it, I attempt to show how something equally man-made as categorizating covers up the finger prints which mark us as individuals. For the 3rd finger print, I still put a film of glue over my finger. But after making the print, I reacted to it by working with the pattern and at the same time, adding to it. This is to demonstrate that it is through our reaction to the knowledge that society takes away our individuality that we can make ourselves stand out as individuals.
The larger artwork is intended to demonstrate how I personally respond to the way our society functions. It is a print of my dominant arm- also made with a film of glue on top before watercolor was applied- holding a paint brush. There is no paint, but rather, a cut out where it’s supposed to be. This allows the “paint” to take form of whatever environment it’s in. With the paintbrush in hand, or rather, as an artist I hope to take advantage of my awareness of socially constructed ideas to stand out as an individual.