I have chosen to look at and compare the work of Martin Maloney to one of my recent portrait pieces.
The distinctive style of Martin Maloney’s colour scheme, his composition techniques and the emotion that comes across in his work is very engaging. This particular piece entitled ‘Boy with Pink Hair’ is my favourite of his most recent work. With a mix of oil on canvas and paper collage Maloney uses blocks of colour to depict his subject’s features. When using the oil paint he has applied it in a very structural way. Instead of following the natural curves of the human face, Maloney has dabbed the paintbrush and blocked out solid colour forms.
I feel that there are many things that link my piece with Maloney’s. Firstly, the colour scheme in both mine and his centres around an auburn red shade. Red is a colour renowned for gaining a response and drawing attention, so by incorporating it within a piece of art, I think it draws the viewer in. I have tried to block in colour with similar brush strokes to Maloney, using lines of colour to represent depth and shape. I decided not to use a white shade for the background, but instead to continue with the colour scheme and blend red in with a bit of yellow and black.
Most of my work has involved people in one way or another, and I think that it is incredible how different Artists depict people’s portraits. The choice of media and style one uses together with the expression/mood that the sitter gives off dictates the individualism of a piece. For this portrait of my Mother I chose to use acrylic paint on paper that I then ripped before mounting – a technique similar to Maloney who uses collage within much of his work. Both pieces portray strong emotions; I get a sense of anxiety and confusion from the ‘Boy with Pink Hair’ and mine, however a rawer emotion of anger also seems to seep out from mine.
Overall, I think that in this experimentation with colour, paint and technique I have produced a striking portrait that conveys emotion. Studying Maloney definitely inspired me in this process and I would like to continue with these new skills and experiment further in this medium.
WORD COUNT: 388
NAME: GALI LUCAS
TUTOR: HAYLEY LOCK
CONTEXTUAL STUDIES 2
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