Jess' Sketch Blog: Art Show

Yesterday was the opening for the student art show; "A force of habit" at Watt Space.

For those taking Professional Practice, such as myself, were marked not on the actual artworks themselves but on the whole set up. For this course we are learning about the business and commercial side of art, meaning that we had to write our own artist statements, bio and press release. Also because of the theme "A force of habit" we had to incorporate it into our artist statements as well.

My work's already been marked so I think it's ok to put it up here... (I hope). That way you'll have an idea of what I actually did.

Artist Statement:
“Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.” - Thomas A. Edison
It is hard to push forward towards success. It takes persistence, discipline and conscious effort to train our minds and bodies in order to succeed. Martial arts are an example of this, where the mastering of techniques stems from years of practice and dedication. In this work a boy trains infinitely until his actions become natural and thoughtless as though instinctive.
The work and the style of drawing used mimics those of action video game sprites to a larger scale and instead of being portrayed through digital mediums, this animation is tangible. This explores a different method of animation and the idea of how optical illusions can be used to create life. However at the same time, just like video games, this animation depends on the audience’s participation in order for it to move, which shows that life can only be given and expressed through effort and participation.

Biography:
Jessica McLeod-Yu is an art student who is currently doing a Bachelor of Fine Arts and Diploma of Languages at the University of Newcastle. Jessica has loved art, especially animation, from an early age and has always pursued it passionately. In primary school she attended art classes, where she learned and developed basics techniques as well as drawing, painting and digital art. After that, in addition to art classes in high school, Jessica taught herself many new techniques and continued to develop her own style, which has been influenced by many factors including nature, architecture, rock music, street fashion, fairy tales, fantasy art and American and Japanese animations, as well as the Japanese culture, which comes from one of her other loves; learning languages and travelling to different countries. Jessica has also exhibited her art works in public and has submitted works to the Easter Show and the Animania conventions in Sydney, where she sold many of her works.