When I had displayed my dandelion piece I made at our school gallery many people came up to me asking how I came up with the idea or why I decided to make it. I couldn't really explain because the idea just came to me as I lay in bed thinking of how I could stretch my creativity. It came from inside me simply because I like dandelions and I like the lightness and versatility of paper (which is what it's made from)...and I always liked seeing items thrown out of scale. When I used to play Super Mario Brothers on the old school Nintendo, my favorite world was the world where things got really big. I thought it was cute, although it was really frustrating playing it because the bad guys were so big too!
Remember this? :) Anyway, maybe that's why I made a huge paper dandelion?
That aside, I learned that people want to know the story behind the artwork and want to know what inspired a piece. So let me first give you an idea of what I'm going to do and then I'll explain my thoughts behind it.
I am going to need 20 participants who are willing to take a picture of their lips :) and also put in some effort by measuring the width and height of their lips. The end product will look something like this:
I haven't quite decided yet I think it's going to be a two part project. One set of lips will be not be smiling and the second set will be whatever you want to do with your lips without any props. It will be monochromatic meaning only black and white. I will be using either pencil or charcoal. This was the best sample I could make out of a self-portrait I've done in the past.
These pieces are going to be about uniqueness and individuality, but it's also going to be about a couple other things. It is going to be a way to remind us of the many details in our lives that we filter out. It's a survival skill that humans have to simplify and filter the massive amount of information we encounter, but sometimes we filter out too much. There is a time for everything. A time to filter out and a time to pay attention to detail. I want this piece to be about recognizing the overlooked.
In combining a collection of different lips I want to also capture a sense of unity among the variety. I recently watched a video on Youtube called Where the Hell is Matt?. As I watched my heart was warmed and excited as I watched this guy and his crew get people from all over the world to dance together. He brought together all these people with this one video. I can imagine people who participated watching this video for the first time waiting to see when they will show up and then experiencing the sense of connectedness they would feel to all the other people around the world who were in it. There is beauty in seeing unique individuals come together to accomplish and be a part of something bigger than themselves. And so the idea of this project was born.
I think one of the hardest things for me to reconcile about art with my life is that sometimes I find it is a bit lonely. I don't have much of an art community and so doing art can feel isolating. By having 20 of you participate, it is my way of combining my love of connection and my love of art. I'm hoping that I won't have to go hunting for pictures of people's lips, but I might have to ask family or close friends if I can't get enough people :P So don't be shy. You get to be a part of something that brings people together!
So, if you're interested, please comment on the facebook post or this blog and I will send you my e-mail address and we'll go from there. I will be asking you to send me two pictures of your lips (serious and one that expresses you), dimensions of your lips because I want to capture size relative to each other, and send me one word that describes you or something that you value (I am thinking of inscribing the word with it's paired lip in one of the sets I'm going to do).
Yay! I hope that some of you will be as excited as I am! Looking forward to some responses :)
-M
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