BRUTALLY BEAUTIFUL

First of all, thank you to every single person among the people that liked and commented on my previous entry. I'll return the favor shortly. Now, for my Digital Media II class, our first project had to be inspired by a fable or folklore. I chose the story of Man On The Moon, but there are various versions in different languages and countries... but I chose the Vietnamese version particularly because I'm Vietnamese and I grew up with that version. It's basically about this man who discovered the tree of life, and he took it home to nourish it, and saved a lot of people from death and sickness. He later had a wife and she accidentally triggered the tree and it flew back to the sky, the man then jumped and hang on to the tree, and he flew with it to moon.

We had to do 50% on Photoshop, then print it out on watercolor paper, then finish the other 50% by hand. Our job was not to illustrate our stories, BUT find some elements within the story to inspire our work. So of course, I saw the duality theme in this story: SPACE + NATURE / MAN + WOMAN / LIFE + DEATH, etc... so I played on with the duality theme with geometric shapes and organic lines. I like to use a lot of colors because... I'm a colorful person! :)

I use photos from Raffaele's photoshoot and Vanessa's photoshoot. You know I gotta put it to good use, recycle it and turn it to something beautiful... which means the ART is still doing its WORK long after you finish it, that's why it's called "Artwork"

Stars of the Lid — A Meaningful Moment...

PROCESS:

here is the 50% done on Photoshop printed on watercolor paper, ready for a hand job!


my little sister keeping me company a few minutes before she went to sleep


getting in the zone!


sorry but it was so humid that night! I was moving around sweating!


happiness lies in your own hand...



CLOSE-UPS

the writing says my moon, my man / my moon, my man


little miss peacock!

PRODUCT:

(click to enlarge)

You know a lot of people always ask me, "How do you do it? How do you stay single and alone for so long? Does it get lonely?" I always tell them, well, it does get lonely, but I enjoy my solitude. I am happy when I make art, so I don't feel the need to go and be validated by anybody. I want to find love, but not right now in my life. I'm more focused on my work, myself, and my future.


I want to share with you something I read from Kent Nerburn:

“All of us who labor in the arts know that it can be a lonely existence. We often find ourselves living a life of solitary dreams, disconnected from others, and driven by a vision that no one else seems to value or share. On some days, this can be overwhelming. We then thirst for a single voice of understanding that will reach into our solitary lives and reassure us that the path we have chosen is worthy, and that the rewards it offers are worth the loneliness it entails.”