Artistic Themes #3

Fantasy In past art classes I have always been steered away from drawing classic fantasy beasts; told that “It’s trite, it’s over done”. In my Pick One of Four drawing I chose a classic Eastern style dragon to represent me. I feel that fantasy lets the child-like side out in my pieces; and not that it is less skillfully drawn, or I ignore good compositional layout but that it pushes me to let go of my “everything MUST be perfectly rendered” mindset I have a habit of falling into. I hope to achieve a more fantastical way of approaching a piece and “letting my hair down” so that I let myself enjoy the process of creating more. Cao Fei reflecting on her artistic process in Art in the Twenty-First Century was compelling and I really connected with her work in that different cultures have mixed and evolved together over time. Her work is a great inspiration and new frame of reference for my own work process as I continue in this course.