Artist Statement
For this creative assignment, I chose to appropriate “Girl Before a Mirror” by Pablo Picasso and “Welcome Visitor” by Shepard Fairey. In the original painting by Picasso, there is a woman standing before a mirror. She appears serene and innocent. However, the reflection shows a different version of the woman. She is much darker and possibly more aware of her mortality. Many historians interpret this reflection as being a momento mori, or reminder of her eventual fate. The reflection is dark and more contorted than the woman standing before it. She reaches out towards her reflection, maybe trying to unite the two.
For my appropriation of Picasso’s painting, I chose to stick close to his theme. I used a similar color scheme to stay consistent with the feeling of his painting. On the left, I chose to collage happier and brighter colors with a bright face. The woman seems innocent and lighthearted. In the mirror, I chose much darker colors and a more serious photograph for the face. Her body is very dark and contorted. The reflection symbolizes the fact that only she can see herself as she truly is on the inside. I chose to make the arm reaching across to the mirror in a color scheme between the light on the left and the dark on the right. This shows that it is trying to bring the versions of the woman together. Overall, I think I created a recognizable appropriation of Picasso’s painting using the shapes and colors he is famous for.
Shepard Fairey’s “Welcome Visitor” was created to show the distinct contradictions between how America views foreign tourists and immigrants. In his collage, he shows a woman’s face next to images dealing with the issues of immigration. He uses the American flag, Statue of Liberty, and Welcome Visitor signs to show the positive parts of the immigration process. However, he contrasts this by including cut out text about the Japanese travel ban in World War Two. While he used images from the travel ban many years ago, this is still relevant today with the view on immigrants from Muslim and Latino backgrounds. He created this as propaganda, because he doesn’t agree with immigration policies in America.
For my appropriation, I decided to make it Purdue themed. I used a black and gold color scheme to keep with Purdue colors. I wanted to use a theme similar to Fairey’s, so I chose to show the differences between Purdue as you might have seen it on a college visit and Purdue as an actual student here. I included pictures of the Purdue P statue, the fountain with the bell tower, Neil Armstrong, and University hall to symbolize what you will see on a visit here. To contrast that, I put a picture of stacked books to show the amount of work students put it, and I put several news articles showing some of the negatives to attending school here. Also, I included one of the white supremacy posters that showed up on campus last semester and caused a lot of protest. The way I collaged the photos and posterized them makes it a successful appropriation of Fairey’s work.
Original Artwork
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