4/2/2026
I already stated I don't want these on the internet, so I won't be uploading their images! I'm fine with getting points off for this.
Artist Statement
It's very hard to live in two worlds at once– one you hate but cannot leave, and one that means the world to you, but no one else can see. I’ve spent the majority of my years alive living alone in my head, making worlds where I was free to be myself and unleash my imagination without the judgement or unacceptance of the real world I so often felt. My crowning creation, Sol Aria, celebrates what it means to be human. I borrow from the tangible world around me, primarily the solar system and the assigned meanings to each planet, to explore my own interpretations and experiences with the annoyingly complex thing that is life. My art breathes through two channels– the story and the visual. So long as both can exist at once, I can be satiated as an artist. My primary choice of medium has always been digital illustration, but the world does not exist in screens; I'm willing to paint, construct, and form my art and ideas into any configuration that satisfies my needs.
Assignment Specific Writing
My theme for this class is how I use my imagination to express what it means to be human. Rather than each panel functioning as an icon, index, or symbol, each panel has its own individual icons, index, and symbols that reveals how I use each character to explore the concepts I’m interested in.
Since each panel is a character, I decided to keep a character-centric composition that highlights their appearance, aura, and the semiotics I surround them with. I consider their names to be important (so they are distinguished as characters rather than representations) as well as their planets and concepts explored, so I wrote them in the dark background space used for each character. I feel that this writing is appropriate for my work, as the primary focus of my exploration is my imagination– what it means to be human is merely a sidepiece to that topic.
For Jupiter, the planet of human preservation and instinct, I painted Bloody Primrosa, the Jovian Queen. The icon I chose was the circling animals. Often when discussing instincts of survival and nature, our point of comparison, understanding, and representation are usually animals. This can be seen in how phrases such as “animal instinct,” "reptilian brain,” and “fight or flight” are commonly used. For the index, I chose the iron armor and spear. It is out of will and desire to live that such things as armor and spears were even created– humans needed them and continue to need them to live. I find that instinct has an “iron fist” over us, so I consider Primrosa’s clenched, raised fist as another signifier. Lastly, for the symbol, I chose to depict her with an umbilical cord curling around her body. One of the biggest themes I play with in Jupiter is bloodlines and how survival can either persist through or thanks to our children. The umbilical cord is a direct tie between a mother and a child that, once severed, forces the child to rely on instincts to survive. The only other signifier of note is her crown, reminding the viewer that survival and instinct will always win to all other human drives.
For the planet of human innovation, discovery, and history, I painted Eloa Timepiece, also known as Saturn. She has two icons– the wheel and the clock. The wheel, one of the first and most important inventions, is indicative of her innovative divinity and the clock, a common signifier of time, represents her relationship to history itself. For the index, I painted three of note. The first is money, the direct beneficiary to innovation (patents, industrialization, think the cotton gin), discovery (colonialism, resources, information), and history (time is money). The second is the books, which house all knowledge and information on the matters Saturn takes interest in. The last is again the clock, but rather than being a common icon for time, I include it as a novel invention that displays the height of innovation and evolution. For symbol, I decided to play into all of the previously set up icons and indexes. I wanted to depict symbolism through scale– the miniscule nature of the towns across her desk, crushed by her wheel that runs through the ink. The symbolism is in the nature of the relationship.
For Ouranos (Uranus), I painted Valentino Monarch, the planet of human creativity and rebellion. My icons of choice are the cross dressing and paint splatter across the artwork, visually depicting a rejection of standards and norms (i.e. paint should not be splattered everywhere). The index of my choice are the chains across the artwork and the bars that make up his dress, as rebellion is often directly punished by authorities as it is considered “deviant.” For the symbols, I gave him a broken picture frame to indicate a rejection of “confines” and “boundaries,” as well as vines to parallel how rebellion is to grow in places in which you have been banned.
I believe my artworks connect in how the characters are framed and how they contrast each other in their depictions. They are all presented as powerful, but their power differs in its fundamental formation; Jupiter is powerful as a physically intimidating presence, Saturn is powerful as a significant intellectual and political force, and Uranus is powerful in his sexuality and complete rejection of societal norms.
Three critique questions for your peers.
My theme revolves around many themes within a theme. Do you feel that I expressed my theme well without distracting with the other theme?
Do the characters give a sense that they are characters rather than “personifications”?
Does my depiction of these characters succeed at expressing the concepts I chose to explore with them?
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