Art & Society Fall 2015

I drew this picture inspired by Max Ernst. I loved his meaning behind his painting and wanted to replicate it because I felt that I related to it’s purpose. The paper rolling down shows what is in the mind above and the actual eyes of, in this case, me, underneath. I chose to draw the phases of the moon, differentiated from the original painting that has circular figures you can't quite make out. These phases of the moon interpret me well, I believe, because to me the phases of the moon are the phases of me and my life. There are times of darkness, with bad occurrences. There are times of brightness, with much positivity. And sometimes in life, there is also good within the bad and bad within the good. Which are the moments when the moon is half dark, half lit. Or even when the moon is mostly lit than dark or more dark than lit. I have been through alot in my life and those who are close to me are very clear on when my moon is shining bright or when my sky is completely filled with darkness. The times of darkness in my life, are just phases. Just as the good times are as well. Nothing in life is permanent and I have come to an acceptance of that. When those who are close to me look at me and what i’m dealing with, I think they almost expect me to be okay. They know I will be okay because with the help of the stars, metaphorically my friends and family, I will move on to the next phase when the time passes. My eyes are big and dark and often pointed out by many. Which is why I love drawing eyes often. To me, my eyes have the moon within them in a way. You can look into someones eyes and almost tell what phase they are going through. My friends and family can easily look into mine and tell if i’m in a moment of darkness or close to it. This depiction has nothing at all to do with stereotypes because nobody expects anything of me when they do not know me. Well, at least they don’t expect all the things I've been through or my mood of the day or year. You can’t look at me and think, oh she has big eyes so she has a curious mind. Or, look at her, she looks like she has been through a lot. Nobody knows. Unless you catch me on one of my days when I decide to dress in all black. Then, a stereotypical person may judge me off of appearance. But, I didn't choose to depict that here.