Our self-portraits began as a series of steps that led up to a final project.We did a listening exercise that would ensure that each student's background would be unique. Students followed [or didn't] a set of directions where they had to draw a series of lines and shapes, and color in specific sections, without having a visual aid to copy off of.
We continued the unit talking about Neo-Expressionism, a style that began as a response to the Minimalism movement of the 1960's. Neo-Expressionism incorporates recognizable objects or people portrayed in a rough or emotional way; sometimes abstract, most times with wild, unnatural colors.
We were introduced to the artist, Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960-1988), who was an American painter known for his gestural style with graffiti-like images and scrawled text. He was quoted as "purposely using child-like images" to support his commentary on social issues stemming from the late 1970's to the 1980's. Social issues included class divide, racism, politics, segregation, etc. Basquiat was very influential to modern hip hop music culture.
I chose Basquiat as an inspiration for our self-portraits because usually students are unenthusiastic or hesitant to draw or paint themselves. Because art styles vary, this artist relies on color, gestures, text, images, and line to evoke a personality or feeling on canvas. By making our self-portraits abstract instead of realistic, it relieved the students of pressure to achieve what they deem as perfection. Some students added words to define their interests, their friendships, while others just painted how they felt. Each painting is unique and successful in their own way.
Materials: 12 x 18 construction paper (neutral colors), pencil, oil pastels, tempera paint, acrylic paint pen, colored pencils
