Year 2.2 - Hands

  

Being inspired to continue my work on the figure, the human body and perfection and imperfection, I started drawing and painting. A person's hand is very personal, as I believe the lines tell a story. It fascinates me. Also, lines are important.. The lines you draw can make and break an image, lines are storytellers, in whatever way. It's everywhere, because if we weren't able to see lines everything's a blur. We use them to separate, make shape and understand.

Year 2.2 - Nudes

No photographic nude will be posted online by me, without any permission. I'll always protect one's privacy and it's not my intention to post anything which could be, unfortunately, considered shocking. However, there's still some work left which is allowed to be posted online and I'll be happy to do so!

If you are interested in the extended portfolio, please notify me by sending an e-mail to alicia.vanloenhout@gmail.com, or let me know on facebook, flickr, deviantart, etc. It's no problem, we can work something out.

After (and during) shoots I used these photographs as an inspiration to continue my work on the figure, the human body and its struggle with perfection and imperfection. By keeping the body as the main object and exposed with soft lighting and compositions with only keeping the anonymity alive, I photographed in a very classic way, somehow similar and inspired by the photographer Robert Mapplethorpe. To even decide what's ready to be shown and what isn't is a very hard task for me to do. It challenges me to overstep my boundaries, reach out for higher places and explore new ways of photographing.

 

Portraits

Work in progress

 

I started manipulating photographs from magazines and flyers (3th line), change their meaning. No longer this person represents someone nice and happy showing off clothes, but they change into someone else. By adapting colour radically and add other 'objects' I'd like to take away what's there, and leave an uncomfortable off balance image. No more perfection.

This year I started drawing again in my spare time, drawing portraits of famous people, people who are always in the spotlight. I always liked doing this, for no reason at all.. Now, I think differently about this, because, I don't get the satisfaction out of drawing a regular person as much as drawing a celebrity. The thing is, these people have to be perfect to the outside world. They have some kind of mask on, they always look perfect, and somehow, in my work, when I photograph or draw, or paint, I always work up to that certain point to have the technique and everything, perfect. I'm sort of fascinated by this idea of perfection. Photographs have to be tight, sharp and bright. Drawings have to be realistic. Why?? I figured I expect the same thing of people. I'm struggling in my life to trust other people and to let them into my life, because I got so disappointed. But perhaps my standards are too high? I may expect too much out of others. Everyone is flawed, including me. And I know that whenever I look at art, the work is so much more interesting when something's off.. When it's not perfectly put together, it fits and it still feels correct.
Somehow I challenged myself to draw some portraits and make them look as realistic as possible, but not totally. During my portrait drawings I got to draw people at the train station and in the park near the academy. I wanted to know how far I could go, leaving lines and shades out to still be able to see the drawing was a person. So, perhaps there's a way to combine this. However, I'd like to take essential elements from someone's expression and transfer this in just a line, without the urge to make it look perfect.




Other fanart drawings can be found here: http://missrowean.deviantart.com/gallery/8575537

Year 2.1 - Wire Figure

02

01

Sketches Figure: Line

Year 2.1 - Experiment

Year 2.1 - Figure drawings