Curatorial Rationale

The collection of works I selected were created to reflect the many different definitions of beauty we have in modern society and the impacts of this idea on individuals today. The artworks I chose in my exhibition each concentrate on a different aspect of the idea of beauty, exploring these concepts through a variety of portraits and depictions of subjects that may not be considered conventionally beautiful. Through my deliberate choice of materials such as a combination of many different paints, burnt pages from a novel, and experimental photography, I intend to guide my audience to reconsider what they believe to be their definition of beauty. I hope to spark conversations about what we consider beauty in our everyday lives and reevaluate what harm these definitions may bring to individuals.

In order to convey the many different messages I wanted to convey about the nature of beauty, I had to take many different approaches to my artworks. One of my primary mediums present in this collection was watercolor. I loved the complexities the simple substance could create, and I felt that the use of various techniques with watercolor such as blotting and salt were a useful way to communicate to my audience. Beginning this portfolio, I also knew I wanted to experiment with many mediums that are often considered unconventional. For instance, I was deeply inspired by the techniques and conversations sparked by the work of Jackson Pollock, and I paid tribute to his paintings in one of my pieces. I was also inspired by many other experimental artists such as Pavel Platanov and Alexander McQueen, and I tried to mimic these fashions by including elements such as burnt pages and sculpture incorporated into my photography. 

While composing my pieces into the final presentation, I wanted to consider how my audience’s eyes would move across my artworks. Since the pieces are displayed in an array against one wall, I wanted to guide their eyes around each work, maintaining a balance across the composition.

Since the English language reads left to right, the first artwork of my collection, Falling from Vanity, draws viewers’ attention to the very left side of the arrangement. The painting introduces the idea of vanity and the potentially harmful effects of beauty on individuals. This piece then guides the viewer to look down, as the subject of the artwork gestures downwards with his arm. Here, my sculpture piece and first photograph are presented. These pieces develop the concept of broken beauty, an idea that I further explore in additional works. Viewers then continue their journey upwards with the growth of the bonsai tree in my statue, Snipping Away, to explore many more definitions of beauty in our society. 

Through the bottom four artworks, I intend to invoke conversation amongst my audience members about what they consider beauty to be, as these artworks all depict contrasting ideas of beauty and the beautiful. I also had to take color composition into consideration. As I have many watercolor pieces in this collection and only one piece that lacks any color whatsoever, I chose to create a sort of frame of watercolor pieces drawing viewers’ attention to my charcoal drawing. I placed each of my two watercolor portraits around this charcoal piece, as if the subjects were looking and leaning inward towards the middle.

Finally, viewers complete the collection with my tryptic series of photographs at the top of the right side of the collection. These photographs depict my own experiences with being an individual in a society that values beauty and the exterior image so deeply. I feel that these images indicate the problems with restricting and ever-changing beauty standards, and they are the call-to-action for my audience. I hope these photographs, as they are the last pieces to catch viewers’ attention, leave people considering what they can do to help deconstruct the toxic nature in which beauty is so often used.