Legacy: Romanticized In Death

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Medium: Ink + Acrylic + Tippex (105x55cm)

Music, history and art plays a huge part in my life so as part of my A-level fine art coursework I looked at the topic 'Legacy - Romanticized in death', and with that studied legendary musicians, actors, politicians etc. (who were mainly popular during the 50/60's era) following a surge of popularity after the their tragic deaths. John Lennon -inspired by his song 'Imagine'  allowed me to open up and experiment with new ideas while developing my artistic abilities. Listening to his songs, words of 'dreams' and 'skies' encouraged me to develop a universe or galaxy theme - far from the world we live in where there is - 'Nothing to kill or die for' and thus Space! This effect was created by using a wide range of ink hues, from black, pink, yellow and blue that have all combined well through the 'bleeding effect'.

Medium: Acrylic + Ink (105x55cm)

 Jimi Hendrix comes down as one of the most influential people of all time. And so as part of my topic 'Legend's - Romanticised in death' I looked at the fame and lifestyle that Hendrix had pursued before his tragic death at only the age of 27. Using research and many of his song lyrics as influence I came up with a pop art painting. I combined headlines from newspapers in the background which intended to create an illustration of his life; words such as "CAREER KILLS'' and "PEACE IN USA" in block and bold text almost makes it look as if its being shouted back out in contrast to his calm features which ultimately creates a fragile illusion of him. I used this image of Hendrix because not only is it among the popular photographs but because of his recognised military jacket. His song 'purple haze' encouraged me to colour in his afro in light purple ink which makes him seem as if he's fading away.

 Finding inspiration from traditional pop art techniques to compose a final structure for Marilyn Monroe. This is page allowed me to also look at different aspects within pop art and use combined colours to create a visual large-scale.

 

(50x90cm)

 Looking at Graffiti and incorporated an Abstract theme in the background to create an energetic piece which emphasise's Martin Luther King's popular speeches.

(30x16cm)

Just like John Lennon, and Jimi Hendrix, I took the chance to look at other legendary musicians that were romanticized in death and created an abstract theme which also juxtaposes lyrics from his songs to portray his life.