SERIES II: COPING
My second series deals with a more specific and personal concept that I am close to, which is why and how human beings cope with situations or other people. It is both an extension and continuation of my previous series, specifically branching off of the last piece in my first series, “Better?”. Coping is also a uniquely human thing to do, as animals do not truly try to cope with traumatic events due to it showing vulnerability, compromising them in their environment. Humans have a much more intimate relationship with coping, unlike others, because we experience it in such a complex and extended manner. Each piece in this series is meant to be interacted with in one way or another.
To make this series even more personal to me, many of the art pieces are related to mental illnesses or disorders that I either experience or am closely associated with. Though coping can be due to multiple reasons, the ones that my pieces focus on largely are coping with mental issues and traumatic events. As such, there is reason to why each piece is to be interacted with. It is to serve a double meaning of that you cannot touch an artist's artwork, much like you cannot get help unless you want it or accept it. The interaction is vital to this series, as it allows me to push the message of my work.
This series also marks one of my most experimental periods of my art career, as up until now, I was largely a digital artist. I worked mainly in wood for most of my 3D works and was able to expand my art skill, as well as improve myself. I found myself enjoying working with 3D, even though I was fearful and uninterested at first. However, I've grown as an artist and am thinking of working with 3D some more in the future.
To make this series even more personal to me, many of the art pieces are related to mental illnesses or disorders that I either experience or am closely associated with. Though coping can be due to multiple reasons, the ones that my pieces focus on largely are coping with mental issues and traumatic events. As such, there is reason to why each piece is to be interacted with. It is to serve a double meaning of that you cannot touch an artist's artwork, much like you cannot get help unless you want it or accept it. The interaction is vital to this series, as it allows me to push the message of my work.
This series also marks one of my most experimental periods of my art career, as up until now, I was largely a digital artist. I worked mainly in wood for most of my 3D works and was able to expand my art skill, as well as improve myself. I found myself enjoying working with 3D, even though I was fearful and uninterested at first. However, I've grown as an artist and am thinking of working with 3D some more in the future.
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Realities-
Mixed media, September 2017 (Digital prints and foil on wood) - INTERACTION: Please open carefully from the bottom knobs. Right door opened first. This piece marks the start of my second series, coping. Often, I utilize creating ideals of myself and situations. This both forms and distorts the perception that I have. The piece opens like a door with the knobs on the bottom. The left door is my "ideal" self that I have created while the right is my self-perception; how I view myself. When opened, it displays the "reality" but is nothing close to realism, which acts to represent the distortion I have created due to the use of escapism. With the extreme state of my mind during harsh times, I creates these unrealistic ideals for myself and distort my self-image to the point where I cannot decipher between any of these "selves". |
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duality-
Mixed media, October 2017 (Digital print on wood) - INTERACTION: Gently slide the interlocked piece of wood back and forth. Due to extreme escapism and severity of my mental illness and disorders, I have created multiple identities and personalities in attempt to cope. This piece has a piece of wood that you slide back and forth to reveal both figures, signifying the struggle I face when trying to find my "real" self among the identities, unable to discern which one is the "original". Though the identities exist to help me cope, this has also given me much grief. Much of my woodwork is painted black, though this wood is purposely left blank, to express that no matter how much I bare myself, I still fight to try and figure who I am and fail. |
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look at yourself-
Mixed media, January 2018 (Gouache, watercolor and mirror on wood) - INTERACTION: Look through the peephole! Please do not touch or move. Often, coping can end up doing more harm than good. There comes a point when you must face what you are doing to yourself and come to terms with that it may be harmful. When you peer through the peephole, the inside of the box shows a mirror. The other side of the mirror is a distraught portrait that is reflected, as if it was your reflection when looking. The piece seeks to portray how you must truly see and admit your poor coping mechanisms before they cause even more harm. The title is loosely based off of the phrase, ¨Take a look at yourself in the mirror!¨. |
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put together-
Mixed media, March 2018 (Acrylic and spray paint on cardboard) - INTERACTION: Take the puzzle pieces out of the box and solve! When finished, please take apart and place back into the box, putting the top back on. This piece is a puzzle that is very difficult to solve, as there are no edges to the piece, pieces missing and the box it comes in contains pieces that do not match with the puzzle at all. It is to represent often how difficult it is to try and power through the coping process and how it is hard to feel "complete". The frustration that comes with trying to become better and losing yourself repeatedly is a feeling I experience frequently, as well as a feeling I know others have. |
one day someday-
Mixed media, November 2017 (Glow in the dark paint on digital print) - INTERACTION: Use the flashlight to make the scars glow. Please return flashlight onto pin. In contrast to the rest of my works which have been largely negative, this piece portrays a very positive goal. It is the hope that after all of the arduous effort to cope, it is possible to some day reach a better place in life and it will all be worth something. Despite the scars a person collects and may never be rid of, this piece shows you can still reach happiness. The scars in the piece are painted with glow in the dark paint, a UV flashlight provided in order properly see them. The purpose of adding the scars is personal to me and is also homage to scars that some of my original characters have. These scars, whether physical or emotional or mental, are what helped me learn from my existence as a human to grow and move forward. As much harm as they might have caused me in the moment, I appreciate them as they hold a significant importance to me since they hold intense events and feelings. |
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healing: i am-
Mixed media, March 2018 (Digital prints on illustration and foam-core board, thread) - INTERACTION: Pick up the comic and read! Hold by the binding and tilt to the left side the further you read. The inclusion of this comic is to illustrate my personal journey through coping. Each page is harder to turn because of the method I used to bind the book. It shows the cycle through loops, feeling that I am finally okay and stable only to relapse and fall back into poor coping mechanisms, and the eventual return towards a more positive coping. Truly getting back on track, healing and bettering myself. Each section in the book is created with a different style to push these parts of the loop. - LINK TO FULL COMIC |
the smoke after the fire-
Mixed media, March 2018 (Acrylic and cotton on wood, scented sprays) - INTERACTION: Lean in and smell it! The end of my exhibition comes with a piece that you must smell. The title suggests that the cotton on my piece would smell like smoke but actually is a very sweet and light smell. This is to say that after all of the things I have gone through and experienced, weight will be lifted off of me and the aftermath of my poor coping is that I will finally recover. Smoke is often the aftermath of a fire, as it is usually the only thing left other than ash, signifying the end, but also new beginning. With this piece, I thought more of the positives of such destructive behavior when it comes to coping. After the realization of such negative habits, the struggle of trying to heal and improve yourself is difficult and a long journey. However, once all is said and done, you will have not only healed, but you are able mohave the experience of trudging through such bad events and are much stronger. You are able to decipher and recognize these poor coping mechanisms and events much easier in the future and be able to fix them quicker or avoid them all together. The smoke after the fire means that the fire is over. Though it still hurts to breath in the smoke, in time, it will dissipate. And then breathing will seem so much easier. This pieces marks the end of my second series. I'm hoping to continue my work underneath this broad theme of human experience and existence in the future, branching out in other concepts and topics and hoping to improve as an artist further. I'd like to try and explore new mediums an methods as well. |