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Francis Bacon 

1. When you looked at the picture how did you interpret the artwork? Why?

- I would think the artwork Figure with meat represents a person or a king has absoulte power and he can get what he wants. The meat behind make me feel like it's his winnings or someone that he killed sucessfully or people that betrayed him will become like that and being hanged at the back. He looks very evil and we can't really see his face clealry so it also provided a very mysterious mood for this artwork as well.   

 

Meaning about Figure with meat 

- The artwork is based on the Pope Innocent X portrait by Diego Velázquez. It represents his stare stern and full of authority. In Francis Bacon's view, animal carcasses hang at the pope's back, creating a raw and disturbing Crucifixion-like composition. The pope's hands, elegrant and poised in Velázquez's version and he's on the church's seat of authority in apparent terror. The fresh meat recalls the lavish arrangements of fruits, meats and confections in 17th-centuryvanitas paintings, which usually carried subtle moralizing messages about the impermanence of life and the spiritual dangers of sensual pleasures. Sometimes, the food itself showed signs of being overripe or spoiled, to make the point.

 

2. What were the thoughts/ emotions that came to your mind when you saw his artworks? (Happy? Sad? Miserable? Confusing?) Why did it make you think or feel that way?

- I was confusd when i first saw his artwork because his artworks are very abstract. The abstraction of his artworks make me think of different catagory of topics such as politics, government, being sarcastic or some ideologies. His artworks also gave me a feeling of seriousness and sadness. Most of his artworks's faces are sad and portraits are always in gray or black. His color choices and the fact that the faces are being twisted and distorted, makes me feel the sad and miserable as well. Besides portraits, a lot of his artworks are in very deep colors, he seldom choses bright colors which makes it set in a more depress and serious mood. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3. If you were Francis Bacon and had to represent the same theme, what would you draw? 

- I think most of his themes are related to surrealism. I would draw some social issues nowadays such as alcohol and drugs abuse, hunger or crime and justice systems.. etc. Since we don't have much surrealism type of artwrok to bring out our social issues, social issues are very important but it's not easy to get people's attention because it's not urgert or related to the each person in the society, therefore if we have use surrealism theme to draw/bring out social issues, we can catch people's attention to help. The good thing about surrealism is that we can always see the artwork or the theme is more different prespective since it's surreal, that might help people to relate to more different ideas and think about the deeper meaning behind it. 

 

1. If you had to create a similar portrait like this, who would you display on the wall and why?

- I would display someone who's influential or helped the country such as the president, big company's director..etc. In this case I would like to have Steve Jobs displayed on the wall because he's a very influential person who craeted Apple and everyone reconizge him. Also, we can remind people that Steve Jobs contributed a lot to our the technological industry and how he tried and experinment a lot of time to sucess. While being an artwork, it can also remind people about Steve Jobs's contribution and as an inspirational person. 

 

2. Where would you want to place it?

- I would want to place it in a tall building in public. This can show how important he is to the the techonology industry and more people can see it and use him as an inspiration. Since nowadays in Hong Kong it's getting very busy and people are working non-stop. Therefore i think we will need some new inspirations for people to try new things and remind them we always need to experience to sucess. Arts in public can also change the atmosphere and make it more relaxing and comfortable.

 

3. Other than black and white what color would you use? Why?

- I would use bright neon colors such as red/pink, yellow, orange and green to catch people's attention. Neon colors are the most eye-catching and it has the effect to brighten up the mood and atmosphere which it's usually used at night. By displaying neon colors artwork during daytime can make people feel fresh and inspirational. This can make a big comparsion between the black and white colors that have been used before. The colors can also show how passion and how Steve Jobs led us to the new stage of technological advancement.

 

Vivian Li      ART3C/4C.01   Mr. B

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