Figure Drawing 2013/14

Figure drawing is an important yet difficult skill to master. Art I students learned about human anatomy and proportion while practicing observation skills, sighting techniques, gesture drawings, and ways to capture the pesky illusion of foreshortening.

The work you see displayed here was inspired by the paintings of Kehinde Wiley. His portraits are based on photographs of people who assumed powerful poses pulled from master works of art. Like Wiley’s models, Art I students were photographed in a pose carefully selected (by them) from art history. 

Also like Wiley’s paintings, the backgrounds of these pictures are important. In this case, the patterns were created by digitally tiling a previously created design, which is based on each student's name. In this way, the concept of "self-portrait" is reinforced and influences the reading of the work as a whole.