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BT1 Essay

Lucia Hartini has explored dreams and imagination as she sought to discover herself through her works. Why did she create dream-like imagery and do you think she has been effective in using dreams as part of her works?

Lucia Hartini often created dreamlike images in her works to represent her inner mental state and also it is a representational of the environment she is in. Hartini used dreams, imaginations and representations in her painting to comment on both her personal experiences and the society as she is unable to comment on these issues directly. It is due to the fact that it is illegal in the society of Indonesia, and also because of the fact that she is a woman, hence she do not have the right to openly express her inner emotions. In her society, women are not suppose to show how they feel and they must always appear to be graceful and calm. Hence, she can only express the issues and her inner emotions through her dreams, where her dreams are represented on the painting.

Also, by creating a dream-like world in her paintings, it is one of the best way o expess her emotions and feelings. It allows

her to express it in a surreal way, by irrationally combining unrelated objects together. By painting these, she allows the audience to see for themselves what she normally dreams and from there, they can then better relate to the artist

In "Sri Kandi", she created the work by arranging herself staring into numerous little eyes with no logic. Through the arrangement, the audience can then interpret that the eyes many symbolize the criticism of the society and that she is no longer afraid or boarded by them as she stares directly back into the small eyes, showing her courage and confidence.

She has indeed effectively combined their dreams into her works. As she painted each of her painting with great details, the works then seem to be really depicting the images in dreams. Due to her super surrealism style, where all objects are painted very realistically. The audience then seem to be able to relate easily to the paintings and go into Hartini's drams and feel the emotions that the artist is feeling. As when the audiences get to observe, feel and travel inside the artist's dreams, then audience will then be able to see the world from her perspective. In this way Hartini will be able effectively portray her current state of mind and views on the society to her audience.

It is evident in her works, like "Imagination XII" that although the work is very surreal, depicting cooking pans exploding in front of cosmic landscapes, the audience get to see the artist's dream and then understand what she is trying to portray. In this case, she is trying to portray Indonesia women's daily lives, and with all the explosions and intensity, the audience then know that the artist view the jobs of the women to be very hard, intensive and tiring. However, Indonesia women still need to maintain calmness on the outside, suggested by the calming landscapes of the background.

Overall, through adopting a surrealistic stule, she is able to express her inner feelings towards both the society and herself, without going against Indonesia society's protocol of women not being expressing their views and feelings. Also, she allows the viewers to have a tour in her dreams to allow them to understand and feel her emotions and views on the society more thoroughly. Thus, she achieved her goals of having her artworks to relate to the people through the style of super surrealism.

Inspiration - Different stages of life

When I was doing research online for my coursework, I saw some interesting depiction of the different stages of life.

This picture depicts:

• You start with Milk Bottle
• Kids enjoy Pop and Juices
• Young – mid age is dedicated to beer
• And finally at old age the hospital drink would be the one you can have.

This work used the different bottles to represent the different age groups. I did the same in my sec 3 eoy paper by using the different chairs to represent the age groups. For my coursework this time, I mainly used the photos and other 2D objects, like different types of paper and money, to represent the different experiences people of different age groups are going through.

Other interesting ideas about aging and the different stages of life:

The four stages of life
1) You believe in Santa Claus
2) You don’t believe in Santa Claus
3) You are Santa Claus
4) You look like Santa Claus

Success is:
At age 4 success is . . . . not peeing in your pants
At age 12 success is . . . having friends
At age 16 success is . . . having a drivers license
At age 20 success is . . . having sex
At age 35 success is . . . having money
At age 50 success is . . . having money
At age 60 success is . . . having sex
At age 70 success is . . . having a drivers license
At age 75 success is . . . having friends
At age 80 success is . . . not peeing in your pants

This is interesting as it clearly shows that our life is really like a circle, and when we ages, our life kind of return back to the life we once had when we were little. Hence, elderly need the same care and attention that people are giving to their children. People tend to forget about the elderly as they think the elderly are old enough to take care of themselves. However, elderly are just as dependent as children. And it is really sad when they do not get the attention and care they deserve.
People should realize that when they are taking care of their kids, they should never forget about their old parents.

Sec 3 Oil Painting

This is my sec 3 oil painting project. I was suppose to paint something about Nanyang in the post impressionism style. While, for post impressionism, the first artist that came to my mind was Van Gogh. I realized that in his painting, "Church of Auvres", the church seems to be a little similar to Nanyang's clock tower. So, I decided to change the tower into Nanyang's clock tower and the woman in the painting into a nanyang girl.

It is rather hard to copy Van Gogh's style of painting as when you are painting, you need to be emotional and confident at the same time. At that time, I also did not know exactly how much paint did he really applied on the canvas. That's why it was very hard for me to decide how thick I should apply me paint. The other challenge I faced was to make the nanyang clock tower look like the church. The structure of the 2 buildings are rather different, hence I had a hard time trying to fit the clock tower into my painting.

Applying thick layers of paint on the canvas is an important part too. I enjoyed applying thick layers of paint on my canvas and by doing so, it gave my painting a unique texture that only oil paint can give. I think I am more suitable painting oil paints in this style as I do not need to be too precise and accurate when I paint. I think I prefer working works in a faster pace.

This experience has also allowed me to be more confident in oil painting and has set a good foundation for me to continue oil painting this year.

Inspiration - Sec 3 EOY

I got my coursework inspiration partly from my sec 3 EOY paper. I choose the title "Natural Phenomenon" to paint last year.

The concept of this painting is kind of similar to the one for my coursework. This painting also explores the theme of aging and the cycle of life

However, in this painting, I used the chairs to represent the different stages of life. For example, I used the wheel chair to represent the elderly and the office chair to represent the adults. I was fascinated by the fact that at the different stages of life, we sit on different kinds of chairs. The different kinds of chairs also tell us a lot about that particular age group. For example, the wheel chair tells us that as people slowly ages, their body become weak and eventually they will depend on a wheel chair.

The office chair suggests working for the adults. The third chair, in the middle, is a student's chair, which suggests that studying is a important part of a teenager's life. The chair that shapes like an animal represents the children, where they often sit on these kind of chairs and have fun. The last one at the bottom of the painting is a baby stroller. This symbolizes the fact that babies are often taken good care by the parents.

It is interesting as at both the beginging and the end of life, people seem to be more dependent, where both the baby stroller and the wheel chair requires someone to push them. It shows that both the babies and the elderly should be given more attention as they are the weakest in the society. This shows the cycle of life, where we slowly become stronger and we then start to turn weak again and eventually we need someone to take care of us again.

The big clock at the background symbolizes the time that seems to fly past in our lives.

Overall, the concept in this painting and that of my coursework is rather similar. However, I chose a more direct way to express this theme in my coursework this time. I also added in more objects for each of the age group to better express my theme of aging and the cycle of life.

random works

Painted these some time ago during holidays when I was bored. I didn't really have any water colour paper, so I just painted water colour on normal paper. That's why the papers look a bit weird.

Course work FINAL!!!

THE FINAL COURSEWORK!!!

After spending around 2+ months on my final coursework, this is it! There are indeed some challenges faced. I guess the biggest challenge is to be to paint the faces of people of the different age groups. The tones of the faces are rather hard to depict as I spent a long time trying to make the faces seem to be more realistic and 3D. The facial expressions are really hard to capture with oil paintings. However, I an glad that I manage to do my best. :)

These paintings are all 50 by 50 cm. Although it is not very big, it took me a lot of time to finish it. I guess the other challenge I faced is time management. I spent too much time trying to paint the faces, and in the end, I have to finish the other parts of the paintings in a rush.

Prep Work

There suppose to be 8 boards. But I forgot to take the photo of the board for the baby (from 0 to 3 years old) . There are the other 7 boards.


The 1st board is an introduction to my artwork.

The 2nd one is about the children (from 4 - 12 years old).

The 3rd board is for the age group of the teenagers (from 13 - 29 years old).

The 4th board is for the age group of the adults (30 -60 years old).

The 5th board is for the age group of the elderly (60 years old and above).

The 6th board is for the final compositions.

The 7th board is for the other compositions I tried out.

Course work final composition

For or my coursework, I decided to do 5 paintings. These 5 paintings will represent the 5 different stages of life.

For the first painting, it will be for the baby. Firstly, for the baby, I choose to put the photo in the middle of the painting, and it a very straight position. This is to symbolize the baby will be always the centre of attention. Parents and family members will always take goo care of the baby and make sure everything will be perfect for him/her. The objects scattered around the photo are chosen specifically. The 2 photos will represent the love received by the baby from the parents, and the bond between them. The aphalbet cards represents the young age of babies. They are currently in the stage where they start to be exposed to the world and also starting the life long process of learning. The alphabet cards also shows the comparative mindset of the parents nowadays, and how kids as young as 2 years old will start learning.

The storybook represents the daily activities parents and babies experience, for example the storytelling, which shows the bonds between parents and children.This painting is colourful which symbolizes that his life is full of hope and positiveness.

For the second painting, it depicts a photo of a young boy around the age of 7. The photo of him is still situated at the middle of the painting, which shows that children are still parents' center of attention. The drawings around the photo symbolizes the purity and innocence of children. They will often draw pictures of th eir superhero, as they are very ambitious at this stage. They want to be just like th eir superhero and make positive changes to the world when they grow up. The writing "I love mommy" shows the close relationship and the love between the child and the mother. The splashed orange juice shows the carelessness of the child and the hand print symbolizes the innovation and the fun-seeking characteristics of the child.This painting is rather colourful and vibrant which shows that the child's life full of energy and cheerful.

The third painting depicts the teenager. The painting is mainly made up of websites, mostly websites that are often visited by teenagers and youth, such as youtube and facebook. The picture of the teenager (the display picture of facebook) is covered covered by the y outube website, this shows that teenagers spent a relative huge amount of time on internet. The "its complicated with" symbolises the relationships teenagers are going through in this stage of life. The "friends (1026)" shows us that friends is a very important part of teenagers' life and that most of them have a huge group of friends. The blogspot shows what teenagers are going through on a daily basis, which is school stress and examination. This painting shows that even through teenagers are still enjoying life, occupying their lives with friends and internet, they start to experience stress and pressure. The painting is still rather colourful to show that overall, teenagers' lives are still enjoyable and happy.

The fourth one depicts the adults. The photo of the adult is no longer palced in the center, however it has moved to the corn er of the painting. This shows that adults are no longer center of attention. In this age groups, that are the ones taking care of others, and instead of the others taking care and paying attention on them. I purposely made the painting rather messy, with papers and files partly covering the photo. The untidiness gives a sense of panic and stress, and it also symbolizes the fact that often adults are overwhelmed by things such as the loans and salary. The painting shows several things that adults are worried and constantly stressed about, such as the house and car loans, the GST and debt. The calculator with negative numbers on them expresses the fact that most adults faces the problem of debt and insufficient money. The notes scattered around shows that earning money is a important part of the adult's lives. The colour scheme of this painting is slightly dull and less vibrant, as the adult life is not as cheerful and enjoying as the past. Adults constantly meet prob lems and it is their responsibility to resolve them.

The last paintings depicts th e l if e of an elderly. The picture of the elderly is shown on the obituary section of the newspa per. T his symbolizes the fact that each elderly faces the stress and fear of death and it is a part of the lif e cycle to die. I choose the newspaper as it has a dull colour, with gives the painting a sense of hopelessness and helplessness, which is constantly felt by the elderly. The medical bills around the picture shows us that they too experiences financial stress as they need huge sums of money to pay for the medical bills. The pills and medicine show that the elderly do also experiences physical burner as their health deteriorate day by day, and that is why they may be grumpy at times, they do not feel as energetic as before. The old photo of the family shows that although the elderly may be grumpy to their families at times, they do still love their family and treasure their happy memories in the past. The entire painting is dull in colour, to show that this stage of life is not particularly that happy and hopeful.

Overall, these 5 paintings together will show the cycle of life most of the people face today.

Inspiration - a letter from mom and dad

This is a video that inspired my coursework. It is a video showing how the elderly feel when they get older. Many elderly in the word are lonely, they do not expect a lot, just a bit of company and understanding. They only want others to be able to sympathizes them and allow them to have a better experience when they life are coming to an end.

This is the main purpose of my coursework. The aim of my coursework is to allow people of different ages to be able to sympthesis and understand people who may be older or younger than them. I wish that after people view my coursework, they will be able to see the world through the perspective of the others and try to understand the pain and stress they are going through. (I wish that students after viewing my work will understand that they are much taken care of when they are young, however many people of the other age groups are facing pressure and fears such as the fear of death faced by the elderly.)

Hence, I would like students to understand that they should try their best to appreciate the people around them and make the people's (mainly the adults and elderly) life easier.

Scott Wade's Dirty Car Art

These artworks are done by artist Scott Wade in a very creative way. The artist has make the dirty car the canvas for his artwork. The dust has then became the paint that he used to apply onto the 'canvas'. He has also cleverly managed to create the gradient of the 'painting' with the amount of dust wiped away from the windows of the car. The darker regions will be the regions that are cleared and hence showing the black colour of the window pan, the white regions will created by the colours of the dust.

The artist has cleverly used the grayscale created to depict many famous paintings such as the 'mona lisa' and 'the starry starry night' and also the realistic landscapes too (as shown above).

The artist has really showed the public that dust art is no worse that any other kinds of art medium. He showed us that if people put in effort in creating art, any thing can be turned into a beautiful piece of artwork.

This artist and the way he creates art really shows us that art can be created and expressed in different ways. The dirt on the car which was once so priceless and considered as waste has now become the new medium for art. This genre of art is a very good example. A dirty car has now became a new of valuable art. This shows that art works are all around us and everyone can create art if we have the eyes to look around and the creative mind to produce interesting and original pieces of artworks.

Art do not need to be always done in the style of oil or water paintings, new mediums of art could be explored too. In the modern society, the concept of art has changed tremendously. In the past, art has been considered a way to depict history and only a few ways of creating art were accepted. However, in the modern society, people are coming up with new ways to create art, ways that constantly surprise the public. The concept of art has changed to a way that if someone is able to appreciate the work and do acknowledge it to be a piece of artwork, there it will be considered as art.

There is, however, a down side to this new art medium. It is the fact that the artwork cannot sustain for a long period of time. As time passes, due to wind, rain and other environmental factors, the dust on the car may be washed or blown off and the artwork may be ruined in a short period of time. There are also many other mediums of art that cannot be sustained for a long period of time too. This process is unavoidable. For example, sand art and art that are made from the nature, like works of Andy Goldsworthy. I guess that sometimes when we are creating artworks, we cannot expect that our artworks will maintain in its original form forever. We need to accept the fact that one day, our artwork will be destroyed. Hence, as artists, we need to learn to let go and constantly creating new and better works.

This unique way of creating artworks has certainly opened a new approach to art. Now, people can then become even more daring and innovative when it comes to creating art pieces.

Inspiration - Rembrandt self portraits

Between those fortyyears Rembrandt modeled for himself so many times that we can't help but wonder why. There seems to be several advantages for Rembrandt to turn to the mirror for inspiration. One notion suggests that as a young and struggling artist, Rembrandt was the most readily available model. He could paint himself anytime, anywhere without having to pay or rely on a professional model. Another reason for the multitude of self-portraits may lie in the typical clientele of the time. Rembrandt often painted his own face deep in the shadows or with grimacing expressions, techniques that he certainly could not explore on the portrait of a wealthy client. Kelly noted that fo r Rembrandt, "self-portraits became an outlet for feelings and ideas concerning the nature of human existence which found no satisfactory channel elsewhere." In this case, his own face provided a wide range of opportunity for growth and discovery as an artist.Rembrandt's series of self portraits through out the years became a source of inspiration for my artwork. Firstly in each of the self portraits, there are detailed depictions of each and every structure on the face and accurate capture of the texture of the skin. For the self portraits that were done in the earlier years, the facial textures depicted were rather smooth and the figure looks to be full of energy. As there seems to be a sense of curiousity in his eyes.

As the years progresses, then figures appears to become more serious and tense. It is visible that most of the times he will be frowning. This shows the process of Rembrandt growing and maturing as the years pass.

At the later portraits, wrinkles starts to appear. The face appears to be less energetic but there seems to be a sense of serene and calmness in the expression.

Rembrandt has expressed his life cycle through his self portraits, which is very relevant to my coursework. These portraits show the expressions Rembrandt had at the different stages of his life and also how his facial appearance ages through time.

Through his series of self portraits, we can see Rembrandt's process of aging and how his physical appearances changes as time progresses.

Under water Sculpture Park

Chanced upon an artwork created beneath in the sea. This is an underwater sculpture gallery in Grenada created by global artist Jason deCaries Tayor. This artwork shows the various daily activities that are experienced by people. It explores a new idea that humans can actually survive underwater, a new environment. This is a rather interesting art work as it is designed to be exhibited in the sea. This is a very new concept as normally artworks are usually exhibited in museum, however the artist chose to put in on the sea bed, where regular people will not have the chance to visit. These sculptures are built on top of artificial reefs as often the natural sea bed is too soft to withstand the sculptures.

I feel that these artworks are very dependent on the environment around them. As seen from the 2 pictures below, within half of a year, the sculpture will be covered with organisms of the water. The water environment around it is actually part of the artwork too. So the artwork does not only involve the sculptures, but it is also the changes that will be observed on the sculptures over a period of time. The response of the environment on the sculptures is an important element of the artwork. The artwork engages the process of change through a period of time. The work conveys a strong message about ecological changes and atmospheres of the nature. It tells us that we should live in harmony with the environment as only by doing so, we lives, like the artwork, can then be more complete.



I feel that the artist may be trying to convey the message of the over development in the current society. As when we use up all the resources and after polluting our entire environment, we may only have the choice of living underseas to survive. Hence, this artwork actually talks about the serious environmental issues of today. We will then have to carry out our daily activities like cycling and reading (as seen from the pictures above) under the sea. By allowing the organisms, such as corals, to grow on the sculptures themselves suggest that the human and the nature are interdependent and we are actually a part of nature. This further more highlights the issue of environmental protection.

By having artworks in the marine environment, it also allows the nature environment to interact with artworks there. By seeing the artworks beneath the water, it also gives it a mysterious sense and the audiences themselves can interact with nature at the very moment when they are viewing the works. It also provides a chance to the public to come in contact with nature (water in this case) and it will allow its theme to be better conveyed to them.

This form of artwork can be said to be revolutionary as it opens a new space to which art can be exhibited. It provides a brand new environment for the public to view and appreciate art. People will be able to view and appreciate art from a new perspective. Art is universal and it can be appreciated in anywhere and from any perspective, and even from under the water.

This work also tells us that for any kind of artworks, the environment and surroundings play a important role in helping the audiences to perceive the piece of work. Hence, artist should always incorporate their artworks to the most suitable environment so as to better convey the works' messages and themes to the audience.