DATE COMPLETED: MAY 1, 2016

TOTAL HOURS WORKED: 25

I appropriated this image of Reed College classmate Carolina Daley off of Facebook.  

 

Her photo has all the rich browns and deep colors that one associates with the film stocks of the 1960’s, but it was more the pose that interested me. There was something almost “Spirit of ’76” about her apparent determination and that heavily bandaged knee. It also seemed an interesting counterpoint to Sammy, my previous Figurines drawing. Sammy, the clicheed femmy looking one, has a cartoonishly over the top weapon - a skull mace.  But Carolina, the one with tom boy hair and a skinned knee, has flowers.  The weaponized girl seems relaxed while the girl carrying the symbol of peace seems on a mission. 

 

I am well aware all this starts to sound a bit glib when one takes the time to describe it. And while issue-ish topics like gender norms, femininity, innocence, and aggression can all be interesting subjects, they weren’t the main reason I chose the image.  I also thought that those intense noonday shadows were fabulous.  Carolina’s facial features are hidden almost entirely in shadow; nevertheless, she is recognizable simply for the subtle ways that the blacks and near blacks interact.  I also loved the “floaties” of shadow under the arms.  Unfortunately with this kind of shadow one starts to lose detail in the highlights.  I had to do a good bit of forensic reconstruction, particularly in the hands and in the flowers. I fear only some of it may have been successful.

 

But that just didn’t matter.  The way that the whole image (even mimesis itself) seemed to break down in the grass was for me the main attraction. Stippling dots had been for me a symbol of irreducibility, so I guess it would be fair to say that I am fascinated by the idea of units.  The shadows on the grass (because they are so intensely dark) seem like fragmented shards of just pure black.  Fiercely determined Carolina is emerging (or dissolving, depending on your point of view) from that thatch of blacks almost like an image emerging from a pool of spilled ink.  It even reminded me a bit of the small pieces in a much older Figurines drawing, Contact. 

 

Anyway… I liked all these aspects of Carolina’s photo, so I went ahead and stole it for my drawing!