Curatorial Rationale

In these artworks, I wanted to explore the plethora of ways to express the feeling of fear and anxiety hidden within. In order to effectively accomplish this, I utilized colors to create eerie pieces of work. For many years, mental health has been stigmatized and numerous have been silenced from voicing out their inner struggles as some people don’t understand what they were experiencing. Through my pieces of work, I hope to bring more awareness to this by representing these inner struggles. My intent is for viewers to experience the chaos by stepping into the realm of grasping a bit of the darker truth that people are hiding from the world. 

 

When arranging my artworks, I wanted to express the gradual progression of chaos and intensity. In my intial artworks, I hoped to ease into expressing mental health by beginning to deal with expression of emotions. My exhibit must be viewed from left to right. I placed “Feel Sound” in the top left as my first artwork because this explored how to express emotion through the use of colors and textures. This allows the viewer to be aware that in this exhibition, colors symbolize emotions which is integral to understanding my pieces. The second artwork is “Watch” as this is less intense than the rest of my artworks. This is meant to show that innocence conceals true fear. The next piece hung is “Claws” because the eyes creates eerieness within the viewer as it stares. The eyes cry for help from the entrapment that one feels. 

 

I placed “Beware” as the first artwork in the second row because it is more intense. The multiple eyes create not only chaos, but leaves viewers with an unsettling feeling as if they are being watched. This background shows that we must look beyond the outer layer in order to find what is hidden. The second piece from the left in the second row is “Seeing Double” as color is more prominent which increases intensity. The blue-green color represents sadness and the red conveys anger. The person not fully smiling creates a sort of uneasy feeling for the viewer. The double shows a dissection of the main figure and signifies that we are looking between the layers of facade that people put up. The last artwork in the second row would be “Hiding” because it is more intense as it breaks through the facade. On the right side, the person represents the facade, but on the left side we take away this layer of skin and see what truly goes on inside the mind. Chaos is shown through the mix of colors.

 

In the last row, I begin with the piece, “Bursting” which fully breaks through the facade that the outside world sees from people dealing with mental illnesses. The bright colors dripping out of the skull create chaos and represents the inner battle of emotions that have broken out. The skull on the right of this piece portrays all the colors which signify the unrest that makes up the mind. Yellow represents joy, red & orange expresses anger, blue conveys sadness, and etc. 

 

“Deception” would be the second piece in this row as it is the second most intense artwork in this exhibition due to the eerieness of the skull. I blended bright and dark colors to create the chaos of emotions. The skull is revolving around these mix of emotions. Generally, people associate bright colors with happiness, but this artwork represents the alternate side where these bright colors create chaos. The skull represents people without their facade. The bright colors dripping out of the mouth portrays the chaotic inner struggles that want to explode. Lastly, “Darkness”  will be my final piece because it is the most intense since it is similar to a human’s skull as it is 3D. We are able to see this naked skull and the emotions that splattered within the head. The eerie smile of the skull represents what people show to the world even though that is not what they are feeling inside. 

 

These artworks allow for viewers to experience some of the chaos that people dealing with mental illnesses undergo. The fear that these artworks cause the viewer to experience conveys the harsh reality that people are going through issues like these, yet we are frightened by only having a glimpse of what these people are feeling. Viewers are able to step into the brutal reality that many are going through, but conceal to the outer world.