THE AWAKENING PROJECT
I had a dream that I was painting a female nude and that I had stepped away from the canvas. When I came back she had stepped out of the painting and was looking at herself and the space she had left behind on the canvas. She asked me why I had painted her like that and I didn't have an adequate answer.
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So this project became an answer to two questions. One, can I convincingly camouflage a live model into a lifesize painting on canvas; and two, why are women continually portrayed in media in hyper sexualized imagery.
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The viewer may argue that these nudes feed into the sex appeal of women in media, however, I ask you to think of these pieces in terms of form and function. Blue the first piece, was an experiment to see if we could make the vision of my dream reality and camouflage a live model into a life size canvas. It took 6 hours of painting and a 10 hour shoot day. Fire, the second piece, was and exploration of how far I could take the creative form in the medium. It took 9 hours of painting and a 12 hour shoot day. The final piece, The Awakened, is my artistic discussion in response to my initial question of the portrayal of women in media. The models chosen for this piece, though alike in physical
form, come from very different spectrums of the modeling and image making industry. Both through their career experiences have ended up in polar opposite positions in their work, but both have shared experiences of hypersexualization and have been marginalized in different ways by the same industry. Sexism, Ageism, Objectification to name the obvious and generally for the sake of advertising. Sex via art for sale.
The goal of this piece is to honour the natural beauty and form of woman, while creating atypical imagery that, while it may peak the viewer's sexuality, is meant to disrupt, distort and disturb the sexual attraction that arises. Finally, the piece is meant for you to create your own discussion in your own individual context.
-David Chin, Artist.