Georgia Shelley
Ascham School
THE PURSUIT OF PERFECTION
Drawing
Ink on paper
My intention in my body of work was to examine the burden of expectations experienced by teenagers, both those that are self-imposed and those that are enforced. It represents the quiet and reflective moments in which raw emotions surface and contemplation occurs. Through my experimenting with the tedious technique of stippling, I made tangible the profound intensity and pressure which defines the adolescent experience.
My artmaking practice has been influenced by the study and interpretation of the following artists: Rostislaw Tsarenko, Ed Fairburn, Pablo Jurado Ruiz, Sara Zin.
Marker's Commentary
>i>The Pursuit of Perfection explores the crushing pressure to succeed experienced in adolescence. The work consists of four highly engaging portraits captured through the labour-intensive technique of stippling. The deliberate material choice of ink on paper and purposeful use of stippling, draws the audience in due to the intricate nature of the work. There is a sophisticated understanding of facial form and proportions evident across the portraits and the stylised hair has been skilfully rendered to suggest texture. The highly accomplished stippling technique captures the distinct tonal variations across the form, building greater intensity of marks to capture strong cast shadows in some areas.
The subjects avert their gaze, and this intentional choice references the diary entries, which are contemplative and self-aware. The use of first-person diary entries under each portrait, further illuminate the subject's experience of this intense and evocative period of late adolescence. The contemporary use of text speaks to themes of parental and peer pressure, social media, definitions of success, academic stress, disconnection and alienation, seeking to evaluate the cost of this external and self-imposed pressure. The stippled handwriting style of the text differs across each portrait and the deliberate choice to crop each passage is evocative of the stifled experience of the subjects ensuring coherency across the panels.