Drawing inspired by Odilon Redon's work

 This week for homework we were supposed to look at Odilon Redon's works more and get inspired by them to create our own piece. I decided to keep in mind that Redon was creating very symbolistic works, that made people think and ask questions. I wanted to do the same. 

The works I decided to look at are:

"The Eye like a Strange Balloon Mounts toward Infinity" (1882)

Reflection (c.1900-1905)

Fleurs étranges (c.1910)

I wanted to combine the calm, peaceful, colorful pieces with the uneasy feeling that the first artwork gives away. I decided to make my piece based on the current events and add make it with dry pastels. I do not remember when is the last time I used dry pastels because I do not feel very comfortable with this media. It is very difficult to be in control of how the piece is looking when using dry pastels. The remind me of charcoal because they are smudging everywhere. 

Thinking more deeply about the first image, as I explained in my previous post, it raises some questions: what is this eye? Why is it looking up? Were is it going? This kind of questions make people create their own interpretations of art. 

This is the work I have created: 

I called this piece "Vacation 2020" and everyone can interpret this artwork however they want to, there is not one correct method to establish what it means. The eyeball is there to generally create an uneasy feeling, to raise many questions. Generally it is a drawing of an empty beach. It is based on the current events - the pandemic and the fact that many people could not go on a vacation where they would want to go. If that is so, is the eye representing someone just thinking about being there? It definitely could be understood this way. It is also important to see that there are towels on this beach, so that would mean there are people there, but they are not shown. Maybe the eye is representing the public eye judging everyone who decided to go on vacation this year. Maybe the eye is God looking down at humans, at everything humans did to cause this sort of situation. What is also important in this drawing is the color of water. It is not just blue and clear. It is murky, probably so dirty that it is unhealthy to swim in it. It could be carrying a disease, this could be a reference to COVID or to pollution. Because of the polution the climate is changing and it is still an important problem even though now media is mostly talking about the virus. 

Generally I decided not to give a straightforward explanation what this image represents. I want to leave it open for everyone to have their own opinion and interpretation. I like when art carries a little bit of mystery and people start to dig deeper and deeper into the drawing and possible interpretations. It makes the art interesting.