This week in class I had a chance to research and be inspired by a famous artwork. The artwork I chose to research was the Nike of Samothrace. I first saw the Nike of Samothrace two years ago when I visited the Louvre in Paris. When I looked at the statue I was amazed at how it still emanated power and personified beauty and strength even with missing its arms and head. The statue has always inspired me because it depicts such a strong female figure. The wings give the figure a lot of its power and hold the most visual weight on the piece.
The original figure was made in order to celebrate a victory of a naval battle. I wanted to make my female figure battling a present day battle against pollution. In the statue I added organic shapes in order to make it look more natural. I tried to give her an empowering stance and took the picture of it from lower to make her look much grander. When I first saw the statue I loved how powerful it looked because of the high angle it was being displayed at. I found a video that shows the statue and gives the full effect of viewing it in person, which I think is much better than in a picture at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qk6os4ZJZqo&feature=related I also made sure to use bright lighting to make the picture look more optimistic and victorious.
Reducing pollution and recycling is something that I feel strongly about and I was glad I was able to express this through my artwork. Nature is such an important ideal of beauty that I feel is often overlooked and not often personified in art.