VIRTUAL SENIOR SHOW: Lucinda Schwarz

Tue, Mar 9, 2021, 12:00 am to Sun, Mar 28, 2021, 11:59 pm

The work I make varies greatly depending on the emotional state I am in, what is going on in the world around me, and how I am perceiving it. There is a constant push and pull between pressure on myself to create and wanting it to be a pleasurable experience. This also turns into battling making meaningful art or just making art for the sake of having fun. I think in order for me to have a healthy relationship with art and myself there needs to be a combination of both meaningful and carefree art.

My mediums range from digital art, photography, mixed media including colored pencils, paint, and graphite, to 3D art with clay sculpture and welding. My process usually begins with observing my environment or entering another person’s environment to feel inspired. I love to watch how people live out their individual lives in such subtly different ways that are apparent through their spaces and actions. These studies that I have conducted are apparent in my photography because they mainly consist of portraits. I try to capture people in their most natural states so the viewer could get a sense of their energy and space. I have also experimented with long exposure to abstract the human form and make the images look ghostly or surreal.

My digital art and collaging is an example of art I make to just enjoy my time and explore my own brain, and sometimes my body. I think it is important to do self exploration with my art by trying to surprise myself and move without boundaries. Art is an ever changing process for me and I don't want to limit myself in any medium, subject, or concept. My goal within my artistic process is to always fully allow myself to move forward without hesitation and much thought because I have learned that my overthinking habits stunt my artistic growth and essentially prevents me from creating.

During the past 4 years my relationship with art has taken many forms. I have felt frustration, sadness, impatience, and dissatisfaction with my practice at different points. I have finally come to a place where I have accepted that creating art is necessary to my fulfillment in life as well as to stay true to myself. I strive to push myself in my art practice to create as much as possible without judgment of my own work, and create space for myself to be as free as possible in my life in general, but also within the art realm.

Description for images 1-5: This series of images were created from pictures I took of my own body. I abstracted the images by overlapping, zooming in, and editing them using colors that correlated to the emotions I felt when viewing the photographs. I wanted to show my body in a very raw yet heavily edited way to exaggerate the folds, squishiness, and fleshy reality of the human body.