Noelia
My exhibition seeks to explore the themes of Life and Death through a vivid array of colours, motifs and patterns. My artworks are primarily influenced by street style and pop art, and I've delved into neo-expressionism to create pieces that deviate from traditional forms of artistic expression. My focus has been on utilizing spray paint and skeletal imagery to bring my ideas to life. When presenting my work to the viewers, I encourage them to form their own interpretations and emotional responses. I chose the topic of life and death because I had experienced the homicide of a family member, which allowed me to emotionally connect with it. Each person's unique background with life and death will influence their perceptions of my art, and it's up to them to decide what they see and feel. However, my ultimate aim is to convey the message that there is life beyond death. In other words, it's not a final farewell because there is always something beyond and a life to celebrate.
My works are characterized by a freestyle form, created using a blend of acrylic paint, charcoal drawing, mosaic, ceramic, and spray paint. These pieces are all interconnected by the theme of Life and Death, which are inevitable and natural consequences in our existence . I've created seven pieces inspired by Basquiat, using vivid spray paint colours and skeleton figures. Additionally, two of my larger paintings belong to a series that features a skeleton body part, namely the ribs and the skull. Pieces such as Evil pieces and Backpack-stabber adopt a more gothic theme, using dark colours such as black, dark red, and blue to convey the concept of Life and Death in a less colourful way. I've also drawn inspiration from Antoni Gaudi's style of design, and his use of colourful tiles to explore modernism. In some of my pieces, I've employed the use of tiles and ceramic to similar effect. Furthermore, Gustav Klimt's painting on "Life and Death" has been a significant inspiration for me. His use of colours to divide his painting into two, with one side representing death and the other life, has influenced my ideas in creating most of my pieces. All my pieces link back together and follow the theme where sometimes death is not always evil and the afterlife can be a new journey of vibrant life. My artworks communicate this theme through visual appearance, colours, symbols and motifs. Through my artistic journey, I've discovered my identity as an artist and grown into my unique style.
I exhibited my artwork in a small enclosed room. The main entry frames my large acrylic painting Open Secrets and this immediately draws the attention to the glowing character of my work, and I decided to use black light to further illuminate the piece. I choose to put the brighter artworks in the inner space to give a shock appeal and have accents of silver and gold that link them all together. I utilised the outside entry wall to put my other big skull painting so that it would have more space and visual impact. I added the pieces that belong to a darker theme about death and evil spirits outside the room. I purposely organised my artworks to contrast one another and maintain a balance of colour, scale and theme.
As the audience steps into my space, my intention is for them to immediately immerse themselves in the vibrant world of street art style and pop art. They are free to express themselves in any way they choose, while gaining a deeper understanding of these captivating art forms. By seeing my artwork, I want the viewer to determine whether they feel excitement or unhappy, and whether they are reminded of anything from the past that could be a loved one. The vibrancy in motifs in many of my pieces show the celebration of life and everything that comes with it.
Eyes on Me (November, 2022)
Acrylic and spray paint on canvas
122 x 250 cm
Eyes on me was inspired by the idea on how skeletons can be more lively than humans. Skeletons are typically shown as bad or depressing, yet in this artwork, their lives are as full of colour as one can imagine.This painting has vibrant spray paint colour which makes the skeleton head popout of the artwork even its golden tooth, the background and skeleton juxtapose one another creating a one of a kind painting. This painting was influenced by basquiat and Theodore skills in creating street style skeleton figures like paintings.
