'Freedom' Project - Exhibition - Critical Analysis x2

The first artist’s work in the exhibition that I chose to analyse was Cody Priest’s work. She is a female artist and her final piece is an A1 sized, 3D, rectangular wooden board with wood cut-outs of butterflies and a person letting birds fly off free, out of their hands. The birds were cut out of the wooden background and the butterflies were wood cut-outs that were stuck onto the wooden board. It is landscape and she has filled all of her space up. She has used vibrant colours in the butterflies like orange and red against black which makes them bold and draws your eyes to them first. The background is blue which looks natural like a sky at mid-day. She has also used cool colours like blue, red and a bit of yellow. Her work sets a peaceful and relaxing mood as the butterflies are a symbol of freedom and happiness. The acrylic paint she used gives the piece texture and the nails she used to represent wind spirals when the butterfly is flying, is a good, creative and unique mark making technique. She has mixed media because she has used: acrylic paint, different types of wood, nails and wood cut-outs. I really love her final piece as it has a very creative 3D effect which draws attention to it straight away in the exhibition. I also love the colours she has used; the vibrant red 7 orange butterflies contrast against the blue background and the black outlines of each drawing on this final piece help them to stand out the most and bring them to life.

 

 

The other artist’s work I chose to look at in our exhibition was Laura Jepson. She is also a female artist and her final piece is an A2 acrylic painting on a portrait canvas. She has filled all of the space of the canvas with paint and covered her entire exhibition board with her work. Her final piece is the centre of interest (as are most of the artwork in the exhibition). She has used a lot of warm, pastel colours which signifies happiness, serenity and peace. The drawing is of a hummingbird hovering about flowers. This symbolizes animal freedom and makes you feel relaxed and peaceful when looking at it. The bird is quite realistic and the artists had used some tones to create a 3D realistic effect. She has applied the paint thickly onto the canvas to cover the texture of the canvas and create a smooth, block of colour throughout the painting. The acrylic adds texture and boldness when used thick in this way. I like this painting because it is bright and peaceful, and I like the technique she has used to create depth and tone. She has used each shade of a colour next to each other to create shape, instead of using pointillism or classically blending each shade together in between e.g. on the bird’s head she has used different shades of blue which get darker as they come towards the outer sides of the head, it is the same for the rest of her work – this is her unique/own style.