Self-Portrait (I)

hey I'm shereene in case you don't know. :) this is my first time blogging and this is for academic purposes. It's kind of exciting. I don't know what should i write about so i shall just get down to business. [:

Research of various artist

Firstly I don't really know about any self portrait artist so I did some research through 'google'. All I know about is some famous animator and actors. haha.

I have accidentally found an artist which creeps me out and scared of, Bryan Lewis Saunders. He prefers to take a more unconventional approach to his artwork, yes which is drugs. He drew while under the influence of different drugs each time. I don't really agree on this way though. :| His artwork doesn't inspired me much for my assignment of making a self portrait of me. But some of his artwork looks cool.

>> one of his artwork. interested to know more of his artwork? go to  http://bryanlewissaunders.org/drugs/

Next, I have found Frida Kahlo, born in Mexico City (1907-1954). Kahlo is a painter but she preferred to be seen as a beguiling personality. Her paintings are her biography. She work on a series of masterpieces which had no precedent in the history of art - paintings which exalted the feminine quality of truth, reality, cruelty and suffering. Through her works, I have found what is the definition of self portrait. It is to have your own true feelings (showing your personalities) and not covering your weakness. A way to express yourself. (: 

She have to went through hardships since she was 6. A disease name polio has been affected her leg that she has to wear long skirt everyday. When she was 18, she have an car accident and cause her to suffer with pain and can't have a baby for the rest of her life. Unfortunately, her husband had never been faithful to any woman. This leads Kahlo embarked a series of affairs with both men and women. In the end, she died in her sleep, apparently as the result of an embolism. though there was a suspicion among those close to her that she had found a way to commit suicide. Her last diary entry read: 'I hope the end is joyful - and I hope never to come back.' Maybe this is one of the way that she can get away from the sufferings.

 

>>  The Two Fridas, 1939. 

(This large double self portrait by Frida Kahlo was painted around the time time of her divorce with the Mexican muralist Diego Rivera. Kahlo wore her heart on her sleeve when she painted, in this case almost literally. In the Frida wearing a green dress, she holds a small portrait of Diego Rivera.)

>> Self Portrait, 1940

>> The Love Embrace of the Universe, the Earth (Mexico), Me, and Senor Xolotl, 1949

>> What the Water Gave Me, 1938

Frida Kahlo said "Since my subjects have always been my sensations, my states of mind and the profound reactions that life has been producing in me, I have frequently objectified all this in figures of myself, which were the most sincere and real thing that I could do in order to express what I felt inside and outside of myself."

Quote:

I am not sick. I am broken. But I am happy to be alive as long as I can paint. 

Want to know more details about her biography and her paintings? 

go to: http://www.artquotes.net/masters/frida-kahlo/index.htm (brief)

        http://www.artchive.com/artchive/K/kahlo.html (details) 

 Her paintings made me know what does self portrait mean to me and inspired me to make   my own self portrait. :) 

The drawing of my self-portrait represents the mask. The message that I want to bring is don't hide your emotions from others just like drawing a mask on your face. It makes you suffer as others will be suffered as well. That'a all for this post! :)

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