BASQUIAT ARTIST STATEMENT

Basquiat Artist Statement 

The term I chose to focus on in this piece is "Tension" . I displayed the use of tension with the lines scribbled along the crouching person's shoulders and leading to the butterfly, making the work seem chaotic and almost uncomfortable, while still leading your eyes easily. I feel there is also tension in the use of negative space. 

Concept: The assignment was to choose a social issue we felt passionately about, I chose domestic violence.

The scribbled lines in place of the head of the crouching person communicate the feelings a victim of domestic violence may experience: chaotic and helpless. The lines leading to the butterfly obviously symbolize the fact that the butterfly seems to be (if indirectly) causing the conflict. 

I chose the butterfly as the antagonist of my piece for two reasons; The purple butterfly is the symbol/logo of many organizations against domestic violence/helping domestic violence victims: in this case, these organizations can often cause more harm to a victim than good, making them feel obligated to get this help and adding stress to their lives. I also used the butterfly as a sense of irony because of the stereotype that butterflies are gentle and fragile creatures, and domestic violence is, by definition: "violent or aggressive behavior within the home, typically involving the violent abuse of a spouse or partner." Similarly to the butterfly, people would assume in a domestic relationship, the two would treat each other with kindness and gentle behaviour, when in reality they are the main abuser in the victim's life. 

I chose a plain white background because much of the time, for victims of abuse, the abusive aspect of their life seems to take control of it, and everything else is just white noise and exhaustion, this is the same for the replacement of the head, the troubles in their life seem to become the only thing they can focus on. The crouching person (victim) is genderless because despite the fact that the majority of abused victims are women, people of all genders can fall victim to an abusive family member or partner.