My thought behind visual
In the image, you see a person sitting on a stair, bent over, and looking down. Behind them, a staircase leads into a hallway. Initially, you sense a direction, but as you look further, it becomes muddled. The scene twists and curves into abstract forms, some of which are recognizable, such as the head in the top left.
Unlike other visuals you might have seen, this is a digital painting I created, not a photograph. I made this painting during my master's research with the idea that one can navigate through multiple thoughts simultaneously, trying to find the "correct" one. However, the correct one does not truly exist. Thoughts and ideas merge with our memories and visuals, acting as gateways to solutions or communications of more complex themes. These themes often lack clear communication.
For me, this is not a finished artwork. I intend to translate it into a physical work, enlarging it and using this as a base. I want to better convey that thoughts, ideas, and visuals can have dialogue properties instead of dialectic ones. In our imagination, there is no one true path. We are free to twist and curve, examining things from different angles.
The heart
I find the heart fascinating because it's the organ that keeps us alive—it's the engine of our body. But what interests me most about the heart is how it provides us with insight into our emotions. When we're excited, we feel it in our hearts. When we're scared, we notice our hearts pounding. For me, the heart reflects how we feel; when a thought triggers an emotion, I sense it in my heart. The heart serves as an indicator of our emotional state.
In my digital sketch, I did not incorporate the heart. However, as I've reflected on the interplay between feelings and thoughts, the heart has taken on greater significance and importance in how I perceive this dialogue. The heart offers a tangible connection to how we understand ourselves.
The figure
In addition to adding the heart, I decided to change the figure sitting on the stairs. First, I made the figure larger to influence how the observer views the artwork. My goal was to direct the viewer's gaze, creating a sense of a hallway that becomes more ambiguous the longer they look at the painting. I believe the heart will play a significant role in relation to the figure on the stairs.
Initially, I tried to draw the figure without a reference, but I found that it didn't work well. I struggled to capture the right shades to achieve my intended effect. So, I took a reference photo of myself in a dark room.
However, I didn't want to draw a realistic figure, as that would compete too strongly with the heart. The figure needed to serve as a hook to draw viewers into the painting. Therefore, I gave the figure a smiley face that looks at the observer. This adds a somewhat macabre quality to the figure.
