Sofie

This exhibition includes a collection of artworks that pay homage to the adrenaline-pumping world of Formula 1. I have chosen F1 as my subject as it can be considered an obsession of mine. The exhibition is representational and detailed, where some of the artworks include texture. In the pieces I focus on the perfection of the reflections and the lettering to be able to create the complex imagery. I have explored photorealism, this is a genre of art where the artwork is based on a photograph and reproduced as realistically as possible. At the same time, I have made the backgrounds of the paintings abstract, to allow the photorealistic objects to protrude from the surface.

The ceramic sculpture, Sphere with Cut Outs, was my first artwork I created that happens to be the only three dimensional piece in my exhibition. This piece inspired me to look further into F1 as the shape of the sculpture represents the shapes within the sport, like the wheels or the helmet. From this I created my first representational artwork on F1. This was a charcoal and chalk drawing, Verstappen Helmet,  based off of a photograph I had taken of a miniature F1 helmet I own. This influenced me to then continue looking into F1 through creating large scale photorealistic pieces. For the most part I have used acrylic paint and the grid technique to be able to create accurate angles and perspectives which was inspired by Davis Cone with his more industrial photorealistic paintings which look into reflections and the shine of various materials. I have created two complete black and white pieces, where the Formula 1 Crash painting is the only composition that has a car coming slightly off of the side of the frame, following the rule of thirds. Another, Verstappen Celebration, is predominantly made from the colors red, yellow and blue, due to the colors of the logo of the Red Bull team. For this painting I was inspired by Chuck Close’s gridded compositions and decided to split the composition onto six separate canvases. While the majority of the artworks are black and white that include an aspect of the composition to have bright colors like red and yellow, to be able to create a clear contrast between the backgrounds and foregrounds. Furthermore, I was inspired by Gerard Richter who is known for creating abstract paintings using his squeegee technique for the backgrounds from the F1 motion, Senna Red and the Textured Mini Cars. These blurred backgrounds were created to show movement and portray the intensity and energy of the sport. I added two more charcoal drawings, Schumacher Ferrari and Verstappen vs Hamilton,  of the same size but landscape instead of portrait to be able to bring back the drawings, so that I could create one wall with sketches.