Bruce Bennett has many formal elements to this self portrait. He has used warm colors, red, yellow, and cream. Also he has used black and brown to accentuate certain aspects, such as the letters, eye, and domino. The composition keeps the viewers eye moving, from the domino to the eye to the letters.
The way Bruce addressed identity is by showing expressive colors, symbols, letters, and a word. He uses rich and muted colors instead of intense hues, conveying his is possibly mellow and relaxed. By putting the eye and domino he is showing that these two are symbols of what make him up. Bruce must use letters to show he is intelligent or possibly that he enjoys to write. Last, he placed the word “fragile” on and under the eye. Possibly he is trying to say he is fragile as a person or maybe his feelings are.
I like this piece because it has a sense of mystery to it. The color scheme gives me a sense of comfort and warmth. I can relate to it because his identity is hidden. Overall, I really like this piece and how he expressed himself.
In David Ho’s self portrait he uses a contrast of colors, movement, and balance. The colors he choose to use go from warm oranges, golds, yellows, and reds to antique brown and green. David makes the viewers eye moving. Whether it be from the glowing ‘fruit’ on the tree and ground or the body turning into a tree. Which leads the eye to the fence and then back to the body again. This self portrait is balanced by having the fence make the lower half of the picture as heavy as the top of the tree body.
Identity is addressed in this painting by having the neck to the bottom of a human body, the neck turning into the top of some sort of ‘fruit’ tree, the fence, the little person/creature in the right corner, and the fiery glowing ‘fruit’ on the tree top. He is only showing his backside, but no major features. Also by having his neck turning into the top of a tree, maybe suggesting he feels lonely or possibly he hides his identity through nature even. The fence could signify that he is holding back things about himself and by having the little creature peeking in from the bottom shows his mystery and what he is hiding behind the fence. The ‘fruit’ that looks more like fiery globes possibly means he is burning inside or he has a fiery anger.
I like this self portrait by David Ho because it is intriguing that he used the torso of a body and the top of a tree to show himself. It makes me wonder why he did it and what about himself he is trying to convey. Also, the fiery ‘fruit’ looks so realistic I just want to grab it to feel the heat of them. The sense of mystery throughout this piece just keeps me wondering and staring at it.
The Last artist I choose was Negar Nahidian. The formal elements of this self portrait are texture, value, and composition. There is implied texture in this piece. The background looks as though it is bunched up cloth and to the left of the face there is a something that looks like lace. The value is a maroon/brown, there are really light areas and others are dark. This composition is meant for you to notice the face first and then notice all of its surrounds after.
Negar addresses identity in this piece through the face, text, texture, and symbol. The face is almost like the theatre masks, one is dark and mysterious and the other is light and realistic. There are two different texts to Negar’s identity, cursive and typewriter, like the face. It is almost as though this whole piece is about two identities into one. The textures and symbols go along the same lines.
I love this self portrait because it is like two people in one! The dark side is mysterious, neat, and clean. Whereas the light side is the more feminine side along with a sense of class to it. I love the use of only one color in an achromatic scale.