Fantastic Five: Theme and Idea Sketch

 Like how we were given three themes to work off of in Art Portfolio One, we were again given three themes to develop our ideas. I feel like they are quite similar to the general ‘idea’ of the themes from last term, where it is composed of one abstract theme which is up for interpretation, one art movement or painting style and the last theme being of nature or Earthly themed. The three themes that were given to us were: Spiders from Mars, Renaissance and Oceanic.

 Oceanic theme was the first and most attractive theme that had caught my eye; ocean or water-related themes were quite common in Korea, so I had thought that I would be able to integrate parts of my culture into this theme. My initial thought process involved integrating ocean-based mythology into this project, which later developed into integrating oceanic children’s tale (one that I have thought of was ‘별주부전‘ [Byeol-Ju-Bu-Jeon], a story of a oceanic turtle and a rabbit). I had also taken a more direct approach to these theme as well, thinking of how the deep sea creatures can be twisted into the horrors of modern society and the toxic parts of Korean community or society (not to say that it is only Korean society that is faulty).

 Renaissance was the theme that caught my interest as I searched some ideas that may be related to Renaissance. I relate the Renaissance period as the movement where it is human-centered, where the human figure, emotions and development were emphasised, and I have found an interesting artist named Bruno Catalano who used the human figure in a unique way to show humanity in travelling. To better relate his works to my subject area while also remaining close to the theme, I had an idea of integrating Keith Haring’s illustrative and cartoonish style to Catalano’s depictions of humanity.

 I was least drawn to the theme Spiders from Mars, perhaps due to my natural aversion towards spiders and my lack of background knowledge to this theme. David Bowie was one of the core ideas of this theme mentioned during our lecture, and while I knew of him as an influential figure during his time (and is still influential now), I felt no attachment to it. I did, however, find the alien aspect of this subject fascinating, possibly due to my interest in the grotesque and unknown (Cthulhu-like), and I was especially interested in the event that had occurred in Studio Artemio Franchise. I still do not have a clear idea for this theme, however with my discussion during my lecturer I have thought of integrating biophilic design, the patterns that occur in nature like in trees or spider webs (Fibonacci sequence), if I ever decide to pursue this theme.

 Below are the sketches I have developed for the themes. It can be seen that I was especially focused on the Oceanic theme, researching into some Korean mythology and ideas of ocean and water in my culture, and it will most likely be the idea that I will be using for my final project.