IB Art Final Exhibition Guide 2019 IB Art Exhibition Guide 2019 | Page 18

Nell Rudd-Jones
Martha Reeve
Everything that we can see we see because of light.
I chose to enhance people’s experience of how they
view the world through highlighting important parts of
the paintings. Light is the main theme in my pieces,
creating both points of interest that immediately
attract the human eye and also support the central
theme of the piece. If something is highlighted it
is often there to show its importance or draw the
viewer’s attention, but I wanted there to be light
everywhere, showing the importance of all aspects
of a piece, not just the idea in the middle. I showed
this mainly through the central piece of my exhibition,
The Supertree. Each individual dot of spray paint and
every painted line has a purpose, but deeper than
that, the background, although it is dark, is the reason
that all the paint on it is visible. This creates the
contrast between the bright colours in the foreground
and the dark background, and shows their equal
importance.
I took to creating pieces containing multiple layers,
shown in my prints. This meant that each time the
viewer looks at the piece there’s something they didn’t
notice before, something that didn’t catch their eye
the first time. I wanted to create a sense of excitement
and feeling that there was always more to look at, not
just what jumps out on a first look.
I have always struggled to express myself using
words. As a result, I have used art to reify abstract
states of emotion that do not possess a simple
definition; a process that helps me understand what
cannot be described. This past year I have struggled
with the consequences of leaving childhood; as an
adult I expected myself to be many things, but I am
none of them yet. I am still vulnerable, still scared
of uncertainty, still dependent and still struggling to
be myself. Having found it difficult to express these
emotions to friends and family, unconsciously I started
expressing them through my art. As a result, this
collection expresses and deals with my fears about
becoming an adult and growing up. The process
of creating the collection was time-consuming and
challenging. Having always preferred to create art
that involves the tangible manipulation of material
with my hands, it took many long hours of physical
work. Furthermore, trying to create art that was
directly reflective of my emotions and simultaneously
aesthetically elegant was frustrating. Writing this blurb
was similarly incredibly difficult. Oh, the irony of me
struggling to describe my art which itself is describing
emotions I struggle to describe.
I hope this blurb was not too complicated, and I hope
you enjoy my IB exhibition.