Students in Art II and III recently completed our study of Art and Social Commentary. We first learned about the artist Pawel Kuczynski, a Polish artist that specializes in satirical illustration. We also learned how art can speak loudly when trying to convey a feeling or an opinion. Students then created their own Social Commentary Artwork along with an artist's statement on an issue that was important to them.
(Click on each photo to see more closely.)
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By Teagan M.
I chose to make social commentary art on the topics of the Covid-19 issue and concealed government corruption and control. I chose to specifically depict masks in this piece, as it is such a common yet controversial topic of today. The reason I painted large red "X"'s over the people with masks is to represent how people are being silenced from speaking the truth. The hands beyond the crumbly wall represents the hidden evil of some of our authority figures, and the strings represent how they are acting as the puppeteers, manipulating the nation and thriving off of our fear. The boy in the blue represents freedom, which is currently being threatened by the overwhelming fear that has stirred up the nation. In order to preserve the freedom that this country has built on and prevent the division and destruction of America - which is represented by the stone wall - it is vital that the truth come to light.
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| By John M. |
For my social commentary project I decided to do the negative effects of social media for my topic. Even though I have never personally experienced it myself, I had the most base knowledge on it. To really bring out the impact it can have on people I wanted to make a dark and dramatic version of it. I drew a person (me) at the bottom of a podium. At the top was a dark cloaked figure with the Facebook sign for its face. In one hand the figure is thrusting a brander with the word "post", and his other hand is pointing at the person with the word "judgement" on his sleeve. The whole area is engulfed with flames with the word "Impact" at the top. My opinion I want to share through this image is that social media can be anything you want it to be, but there are many other people who make it a form of breaking people down, usually the effect of negative social media can be taken lightly, but sometimes it can devastating.
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| By Emmett M. |
I chose this picture of Joe Biden wearing a mask for a couple of reasons. First off, I think the mask is very similar to cyber bullying in a way. The mask hides your face, thus giving us false confidence and when Biden put on the mask, more people cared about him. The colors and lines of the project made it look like a campaign poster and those are the reasons I chose this as my social commentary project.
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| By Collin L. |
I chose to use acrylic because I like the way I can blend it. I've been trying to get better at highlights/light placement so I used this project as practice. I added the red so there would be contrast between the warm red and the cool blue/purple. This is meant to portray that everyone needs others' help to achieve their dreams so they should stay humble.
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| By Kyler M. |
This piece of art is representing society and how even though the world is filled with evil there are still good people in it. The piano represents the good between the evil which is the rotten banana. Tupac is there because even though he might seem like a bad man, he truly is a great person.
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| By Hope T. |
[My] painting is about how everyone learns/understands/does/sees things differently and how it's really hard for some people to understand that something that is easy for them isn't easy for someone else to do. Like how someone is naturally good at cooking but can't understand how someone else burns microwave mac and cheese or someone who gets good grades by just reading the books vs. someone who studies hard for 8 hours but just can't understand. I thought a mermaid and a faun would be better than 2 humans to show that they are both skilled at different things. I feel society as a whole puts a lot of focus on things that it deems important and can sometimes put down people who are just not good at it. This was loosely based off Albert Einstein's quote, "Everyone is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing it is stupid."
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| By Emily P. |
I chose to portray my personal experience with quarantine/covid and how technology has helped me get through it. It has been a way to escape and not focus on my deteriorating mental health. This could also be a take on how technology/social media can be good, it's not all bad, because it seems like most projects including any type of social media commentary about social media project it in the worst light. While, yes, it can be unhealthy or dangerous sometimes, it can help people connect and it can be escape, especially during these times. In my piece I used darkness as a depiction of my mental health and the world falling apart around me. The light of the computer shows the happiness I get from it. The mask over the face is also a nod that this is taking place during quarantine.
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| By Jaxon B. |
I chose to draw this in order to show how media entities tend to try and cover up information that does not fit the narrative they are attempting to portray, even in spite of overwhelming evidence that would suggest otherwise.
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| By Miranda L. |
This picture represents the fact that society expects you to always be happy and that sometimes people have to put on a mask.
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| By Julien S. |
I chose body image issues and suffering in the world as my topics for this project. I just think it's ironic that we all come together to build a society that tears us apart. It's really important that we build each other up and treat people with kindness because when we don't, people suffer for it. The girl with the tape measure represents how society's harsh beauty standards drive people to believe they're ugly. These body image issues make people willing to hurt themselves in an attempt to be "perfect." The background represents how the things people say can become what the people hearing think, which is why we have to be careful. The black ink represents what people say and the red ink represents what that makes other people feel.
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| By Jaron M. |
This was an interesting piece to make because it came so random. I waited to do something that was abstract, creepy, but still portrays something about the world. The eyes covered by the word "society" represents people looking through the eyes of society. The face is supposed to show how people use surgery to fix their face. The eyes and noses on the body represent the idea of people wanting attention drawn to the thing they have on.
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| By Paul S. |
I decided to do this drawing because I know social media is a huge problem in teenagers' lives today.
