ACRYLIC ON CANVAS
HOW CUM
Size: 30.48cm x 60.96cm Medium: Acrylic on canvas Completion: September 2019 Female empowerment inspired by Norman Rockwell's Rosie the Riveter and the subject inspired by the Rolling Stones logo, How Cum communicates the senses during a female orgasm. Just like Pablo Picasso created a reaction to war by making Guernica, I reacted to the topic of the female orgasm. How come the male orgasm is not taboo, but the female orgasm is? By displaying different female's reactions during climax I wanted my audience to ask questions and realize that this topic is natural to the human body.
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INSPIRATION
Since this is a widely known logo from the Rolling Stones, I specifically wanted to use this idea of the mouth sticking it's tongue out. By using this idea I knew that it would catch my audiences attention. I wanted to be able to immediately catch their attention so then they can learn my perspective on female orgasms being taboo. Not only would this catch attention because of people making the connection from the Rolling Stones, but also with drugs. By placing blue candies on the tongue, many people would think this painting could be about LSD. Although, my idea was to portray the female orgasm as something powerful and surreal as LSD
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In this painting I knew that almost everyone sees this as the universal poster for female empowerment. I wanted to detect how why or how I could use aspects of this poster to create my own feminist piece. I didn't want to use a female subject because I saw this as being to blunt. I wanted to use a more symbolic subject. In entertainment the female lips are seen as sexual and I thought I could use that to convey a female. I noticed the bold yellow hue is what caught my attention the most. By using brighter hues in the background with a darker contrast with the subject, I would be able to attract an audiences attention the painting.
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In this piece I was captured by the agony in the piece at first. After I did more research I really enjoyed how the piece talked about war and Picasso's reaction on it. Instead of taking aspects visually from thins piece I wanted to use the ideas of the meaning. I liked the take of painting your reaction to a certain topic that can affect a lot of people. I wanted to paint something that would get people talking and thinking more about the topic.
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PLANNING
Many women reported feeling weightless, like the ocean, or a waterfall. This made me imagine a female as being part of the earth. The tone would be more relaxed and peaceful full of warm hues and dark blues and greens. When creating this sketch I wanted people to feel a sense of calmness and peace. Almost all woman feel their most vulnerable while nude and I wanted to portray that idea. I created a female feeling content with herself and more comfortable in her state of vulnerability. She has the trees to lay with, feeling confident being her natural self. While the sun rises she is ready for a new day, to awaken, and feel refreshed after climax.
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When a female starts to get feels of sexual arousal they reported to have a drum-like beat from the blood pumping faster and harder inside them. I thought to physically draw a drum would be confusing to most people, unless a female has experienced this before. This piece would be not only explain how females feel, but be able to connect to the more personally. With the change of hues this was able to express how females can reach climax from all different types of stimulates. Also, the movements of the lines was showcasing how a female can have multiple orgasms over a quicker amount of time unlike men.
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I liked the background in my second planning sketch, although I wanted the lines, hues, and movement to look slightly different and have different meaning. I thought I still wanted to use the drum in my painting, but then I realized it would be better without it. By not having the drum in my painting it losses that personal connection between females and this topic a little. Although, I did want females to connect to the piece, I didn't want it to directly explain the feelings females have from climax. Instead I wanted to use more symbolism in portraying the female orgasm. By making my painting more symbolic it will force the audience to wonder what these females are feeling, and made open the door to start a conversation about it.
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PROCESS
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EXPERIMENTATION
I had many troubles trying to figure out what colors to use for the background. To visualize what I wanted to paint I picked different colors I thought I would like and placed them next to each other on a paper. I did this multiple times until I felt confident in the pattern and color choices I wanted to use in the background of my painting.
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REFLECTION
SIMILARITIES
DIFFERENCES
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ACT RESPONSES
Clearly explain how you are able to identify the cause-effect relationship between your inspiration and its effect on your artwork?
With the bold hues from Rosie the Riveter I was immediately drawn to the painting so I knew I wanted to use brighter hues and higher contrast between hues.
What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
The purpose of Guernica was to create a statement in politics about war and this inspired me to create a statement in society's opinions and thoughts on the nature of the female body.
What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, culture,etc. while you researched your inspiration?
Although everyone has different opinions on things, an artwork can become popular sometimes because the meaning is not liked. Just because the meaning is not liked, do not mean this is a bad thing. Sometimes something being talked about is better than it not being talked about at all.
What is the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
I knew I wanted to express female empowerment and taboo topics. This means I had to search up first person reports on females experiencing an orgasm.
What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
That these reactions and propaganda were not liked very much because they were talking about a more bold topic. Sometimes they could make people feel uncomfortable because it is different. I want people to feel uncomfortable and then maybe start talking about the topic more.
With the bold hues from Rosie the Riveter I was immediately drawn to the painting so I knew I wanted to use brighter hues and higher contrast between hues.
What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
The purpose of Guernica was to create a statement in politics about war and this inspired me to create a statement in society's opinions and thoughts on the nature of the female body.
What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, culture,etc. while you researched your inspiration?
Although everyone has different opinions on things, an artwork can become popular sometimes because the meaning is not liked. Just because the meaning is not liked, do not mean this is a bad thing. Sometimes something being talked about is better than it not being talked about at all.
What is the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
I knew I wanted to express female empowerment and taboo topics. This means I had to search up first person reports on females experiencing an orgasm.
What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
That these reactions and propaganda were not liked very much because they were talking about a more bold topic. Sometimes they could make people feel uncomfortable because it is different. I want people to feel uncomfortable and then maybe start talking about the topic more.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
“March 26, 1971: Rolling Stones Debut Tongue Logo.” Best Classic Bands, 26 Mar. 2019, https://bestclassicbands.com/rolling-stones-tongue-logo-3-26-18/.
“Explained.” Netflix Official Site, 23 May 2018, https://www.netflix.com/title/80216752.
English, Teresa. “Rosie the Riveter's Journey from Propaganda to Feminist Icon.” Medium, Medium, 1 Aug. 2016, https://humx.org/rosie-the-riveter-985cd6e3a8a4.
“Guernica, 1937 by Pablo Picasso.” Henri Matisse, https://www.pablopicasso.org/guernica.jsp.
“Explained.” Netflix Official Site, 23 May 2018, https://www.netflix.com/title/80216752.
English, Teresa. “Rosie the Riveter's Journey from Propaganda to Feminist Icon.” Medium, Medium, 1 Aug. 2016, https://humx.org/rosie-the-riveter-985cd6e3a8a4.
“Guernica, 1937 by Pablo Picasso.” Henri Matisse, https://www.pablopicasso.org/guernica.jsp.