ILLUSTRATION
THE LAST MEAL
Size: 40.5cm x 32.4cm Medium: Illustration Completion: October 2019 It is ironic how politics and religion are not supposed to go together, yet many people bring religion into politics. With climate change becoming a bigger problem our leaders: Jair Bolsonaro, Donald Trump, Zulkifli Hanson and Vladimir Putin continue to hurt our planet, letting the unsustainable production of palm oil continue. While they all laugh and have fun in their offices the rest of us are worried our last meal will be coming sooner than expected. By using the same setting of The Last Supper in The Last Meal I intend to anger my audience to capture their attention and direct it towards the dangers of unsustainable palm oil.
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INSPIRATION
The Last Supper consists of Jesus and his 12 disciples eating their last dinner before Jesus's crucifixion. With six of his disciples on the right of the painting and the other six on the left, Jesus sits in the middle with the center point of the piece located right above him. I liked the title of this art work because I thought it would convey my meaning to my art work well. Instead my piece would be called "The Last Meal". This would express that we as a society do not know when our last meal will be, it could be breakfast, lunch, or dinner. I wanted to recreate this piece not only because of the symmetrical balance, but since politics and religion are not supposed to mix I wanted to create that irony in my piece. Even though my artwork will have nothing to do religion I wanted to have the setting the same so that my audience can be captured by what they think is the comparison of politics and religion.
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This piece reminds me a lot of The Last Supper because of the symmetry. Although this piece is a spin off of Norman Rockwell's Freedom From Want. I liked how the setting was exactly the same as Rockwell's painting because it showed that exactly where the inspiration was from. This gave me the idea to keep the setting the same in the Last Supper instead of trying to recreate something similar. Also it made my meaning become more expressed if I kept the setting the same. Everyone would know what my inspiration is making it easier to then see the changes I made in the painting.
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PLANNING
This perspective I only wanted to have one person eating at a table. In the background there would be money stacked high to express this person is rich. Then I would have the person eating cereal, but the cereal is made out of trees showcasing all the trees that are being cut down do to unsustainable palm oil productions. I knew I wanted to talk about climate change happened and how America does a lot a bad things to make this problem bigger. Instead of expressing all of the causes of climate change, I figured I could just keep it to talking about palm oil. What this person says in the chat bubble I wanted to make it very ironic. This would be able to express many people in America and how they are oblivious to what causes climate change.
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In this sketch I wanted to use asymmetrical balance in my piece. This would be able to show the contrast of the bad that palm oil does to our environment, but also how is helps society profit. I would be able to do this by having only one window on the wall, it could be showing the burning trees from the illegal deforestation. On the other side of the window, in the house, I could have wall plaques of stuffed animals killed for ascetic. The ascetic is a personal benefit, but it also shows that innocent animals are being killed so that we can benefit. Also I will draw a pile of cash in the corner to portray that this person is rich. By expressing that this person's house is rich it shows that high class can do something about the unsustainable production.
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Although this sketch did not have many elements to it I knew exactly what I wanted to do from my other sketches. This sketch I was brainstorming my ideas and the setting. To get my point across on how palm oil is not being produced sustainable, I figured if I used political leaders in my product my audience would be able to make that connection easier. Since I would be basing my setting around The Last Supper I did not want to make any political leader in Jesus's spot. I still kept the amount of people even, but I made the middle space empty. This was able to express that it is not just one leaders fault for the unsustainable production. I thought about different countries to use leaders from and which leaders I would use. I finalized it down to the USA, Russia, Brazil, and Indonesia. I thought to use Malaysia since that country is the second highest production of palm oil, but I thought Indonesia would be a better choice since it is the highest production of palm oil.
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PROCESS
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EXPERIMENTATION
Before using certain colors on my illustration board I tested them on a separate sheet of paper. By doing this I was able to see which colors I would want to use more. I also was able to use the same paper to be able to blend colors together. I was able to test out different ways of blending, for example which colors blended better with each other or which color should I use as the base before overlapping another color. Anytime I wanted to blend colors together I used an extra sheet of paper to test out the technique I was going to use and the colors before I used it on my final illustration board.
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When coloring the ceiling of the room I wanted to make the symmetry of color equal throughout the piece, so I wanted to add purple in the ceiling. Since there was already purple in their chairs I thought that it would be a good idea to add purple vents to the ceiling. I didn't test the color before using it on my board, it was too bright. Also, I did not the vents on the ceiling. To cover it up I used dark brown to compliment the table. Though, that didn't cover the purple all the way, so I used black. Which worked well, although it takes away from the center of the piece since it turned out to be the darkest color in my piece.
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REFLECTION
ACT RESPONSES
Clearly explain how you are able to identify the cause-effect relationship between your inspiration and its effect on your artwork?
I was able to use the same techniques of a one point perspective to be able to showcase that in my art piece.
What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
Leonardo Da Vinci wanted to express a story from the bible. So he knew the setting and the subjects he was going to put in the painting.
What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, culture,etc. while you researched your inspiration?
Many people get offend when religion is used in another artwork. They think that just because a religious artwork is used that the artist is trying to attack that religion, even if their piece has nothing to do with religion.
What is the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
I knew I wanted to make a political piece so at first I looked for political cartoons, but I didn't like how there was no setting. Since I knew I would incorporate religion a little in my piece I looked at religious piece and found one that I liked the setting and symmetry.
What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
That the desciples didn't know anything that was happening until Jesus told them. This is how the political leaders are, they keep "secrets" from the people until they feel it is right to showcase what they really are planning on.
I was able to use the same techniques of a one point perspective to be able to showcase that in my art piece.
What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
Leonardo Da Vinci wanted to express a story from the bible. So he knew the setting and the subjects he was going to put in the painting.
What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, culture,etc. while you researched your inspiration?
Many people get offend when religion is used in another artwork. They think that just because a religious artwork is used that the artist is trying to attack that religion, even if their piece has nothing to do with religion.
What is the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
I knew I wanted to make a political piece so at first I looked for political cartoons, but I didn't like how there was no setting. Since I knew I would incorporate religion a little in my piece I looked at religious piece and found one that I liked the setting and symmetry.
What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
That the desciples didn't know anything that was happening until Jesus told them. This is how the political leaders are, they keep "secrets" from the people until they feel it is right to showcase what they really are planning on.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Collinson, Gary. “Deadpool 2 Thanksgiving Poster Riffs on Norman Rockwell.” Flickering Myth, 16 Apr. 2018, https://www.flickeringmyth.com/2017/11/deadpool-2-thanksgiving-poster-riffs-on-norman-rockwell/.
“15 Facts About Leonardo Da Vinci's The Last Supper.” Mental Floss, 2 Apr. 2017, https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/64372/15-things-you-should-know-about-last-supper.
Zelazko, Alicja. “Last Supper.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 16 Apr. 2018, https://www.britannica.com/topic/Last-Supper-fresco-by-Leonardo-da-Vinci.
“15 Facts About Leonardo Da Vinci's The Last Supper.” Mental Floss, 2 Apr. 2017, https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/64372/15-things-you-should-know-about-last-supper.
Zelazko, Alicja. “Last Supper.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 16 Apr. 2018, https://www.britannica.com/topic/Last-Supper-fresco-by-Leonardo-da-Vinci.