Trevin's+Art+2+Final+Essays

Art 2 final: Critique of a Social Issue Painting

I believe that this painting represents the struggles that animals go through in the wild. I think it displays how animals are hunted. I also believe that it represents how the poor countries are affecting the animals as well as the people. I believe this is what is trying to be represented because the lion looks to be in pain. The lion has his ribs poking through his side, and the imprints of his ribs are the faces of people, which could represent how people have done this to him. These could be the people who hunted him down. The people could have also hunted the other animals in its habitat so it was left hungry and its ribs exposed. I also believe that it is about animals being abused because in the painting there is a buffalo that looks to have spears sticking out of him. This could represent how people hunt him even though he didn’t do anything to them. It shows how people can sometimes be ruthless to innocent animals. The spears are attached to a string and the string leads back to a person who looks to have a fridge in which he will store the meat. One final reason I believe this is about humans being ruthless to animals is because in the painting there is a scale. This scale has a human hand as its base. On one side of the scale is a head of a human statue. On the other side is the earth. According to the scale, the human is more heavy than the world which could represent how humans, (who are supposed to coexist on earth) seem to think that they are more important than the rest of the world. Overall, I do think that this is what the painting is trying to tell the public. The artist is trying to tell that humans are abusing animals to the point where they can almost not take it anymore. I believe these clues I have found present a valid point to my argument and I will stand by it with confidence.

**Art 2 Final: Artist Statement**

I chose the theme of animal adoption because I have always loved animals, and when I was little I visited a shelter and it made me very sad to see those animals locked in cages. It really affected how I looked at animals in my life. I have always liked the idea of adopting an animal and I thought it would be great to let people know what these animals go through. When first starting this project I had no idea how to do my backdrop. It was tough to decide what approach I should take, the “Happy, adopt a pet” method. Or the “Depressing” method showing what pets go through in a pound. After deciding that, I wanted to know how to put paw prints for the background. I wanted them to look like sponge print but I was confused on how to do that as well. I decided to cut a sponge into the shape of a paw print and use it like a stamp for my backdrop. I believe my piece is successful in the case of trying to reach to the public because it contains facts that dig deep into one’s heart. If there is one thing that isn’t working for me it would be how the pictures are put together. It looks a little like a science fair project which is tough because that’s what I was trying to avoid. If I had a chance to do this again I would structure the backdrop different. I wouldn’t use a trifold board.