I have created a series comprising eight main pieces, each of which is based on the theme of changing emotions. In the beginning, the girl represented is feeling despair. She’s lost her emotional side, feeling a lack of purpose and substance in the world. As she experiences a range of new, unstable emotions such as sadness, anger and anxiety, she discovers the feeling of hope and then confidence. However, as she gains confidence, her desire emerges as she aims for further heights, and having lost sight of herself having had it all, she eventually loses her emotion-generating head again and loses her emotions.

 

Emotional changes are represented, ranging from the extremes of lack and excess of matter and mind. For the exhibition, I selected paintings that depict this series, as well as works related to emotions, to bring coherence to my work. I also selected artworks that fully express my diverse painting and technical skills.

 

One of the main subjects of my work is the character of a girl. This is because I believe it to be an efficient way of representing the emotional side of the work, as well to connect with the audience.

 

As another motif, I depicted pedestrian lights in my work. The pedestrian lights, which we see on a daily basis, only represent two poles: stop or go. For example, in Despair, I depicted a pedestrian light not functioning to express the lack of judgement due to material lack, while in Anger, the red light, which means stop, is broken, indicating that the destruction caused by anger will not stop. Thus, these two motifs give my work a deeper meaning.

 

Before I started to study Visual Art at IB, I painted with the single purpose of technical prowess. I was obsessed with beauty, and with the recognition of others. My main purpose was developing these skills, without minding their meaning. However, after viewing the work of many students and artists in IB studio work, I learnt that art cannot be valued based on skill alone, and that each individual artist has a unique personality and value, and that all works have a beauty that cannot be compared. From this, my purpose for practicing painting has shifted to allowing my creativity and individuality to fully develop and expand my options for expression.

 

By curating my artworks, I have considered different aspects. Firstly, I considered the meaning of each piece and the height at which it should be placed. For example, the work Sorrow depicts the sea, therefore I placed it under a board at the center height of the wall in my booth, which I regarded as the ground. In the vertical arrangement of Hope and Anxiety, I placed Hope, which has a more positive meaning, on a higher level. The meaning of each piece influences the height of the display. In addition, each of my paintings has diverse and varied characteristics. Therefore, I considered how they could be placed next to each other so that they complemented each other and did not drown out each other's impressions. I have tried to create a visually balanced arrangement, taking into account the colors, the size and the characteristics of the works. There are three major breaks in my series of paintings: beginning without emotion, gaining confidence and losing emotion again. For this reason, the two paintings depicting the beginning and the end were placed at the two extremes of the exhibition booth, while the most emotionally stable work, Confidence, was placed at the front of the booth so that the general flow of the series could be clearly seen.

 

Emotions are something that we continue to feel throughout our lives, therefore through the theme of my art, I want people to think deeply about their own feelings again. I also discovered that color plays an important role in influencing emotions, thus I insisted on changing the colors significantly to match the theme of my artwork. Therefore, I hope audiences will enjoy the exhibition and enjoy the slight change of emotions in accordance with the theme of my art.