This is what I call "A Picture worth Thousand words".
Artist Comment
Tools: Adobe Photoshop Sketch app.
Sources:
Background
Time: 5 minutes? No
madam, it took me my whole life!
Preamble-
A lot of things have been on my mind lately and I could only find an outlet to express them in art, although ofc, Art,
the selfish goddess that she is, modulates and distorts my thoughts and uses them for her own sake, or as in case of
this piece, for one of her children- Anime art.
Hence, I beg of you, fellow connoisseurs, do not judge me to be immodest, as I will now proceed to comment on
'my' own artwork, for as I said, it's no longer mine. It belongs to Art now and leaves me only as an
observer, an observer who is nevertheless obliged, or even compelled to comment on this work of art (work belonging to
Art) because it resonates with me, inevitable ofc, having used my thoughts as a surrogate womb.
Reflection-
1. Anime girl as the Object
Let's address the most obvious message first; the 'anime girl' (as the minimalist piece unfortunately
forces me to label her) who is the 'subject' (but is she really a subject?) of the piece has a perplexed and/or sombre expression. Something isn't right, and she
can't do anything about it. Ofc we know, by the obvious emphasis of the boob triangles, anime eyes and spiky hair
that her personality, her identity, and thereby her subjectivity and freedom, has been reduced to these mere caricature
tropes for the purpose of consumption by the society. She finds herself to be stuck as a 2d object inside a 3d world
around her, separated by a circle of what appears to be 'magical' (mahou shoujo) light. And there's also
other minor signifiers like her hands (the prime 'acting' 'creating' parts in human body) are not
joined with her torso, showing lack of agency etc etc. it's obvious so I won't delve into this further. You
can figure out the rest.
2. Subversion
Now comes the interesting part in the piece; She is Objectified ofc, and that message will stay even at the end of this
reflection.
But at least, her grim expression is a sign of hope, she is not satisfied with stapling on herself a 'smile worthy
of protecting', that she is at least resisting, subverting the pure magical girl trope, further emphasized by the
lack of 'censorship magic light' to cover her private parts, an act of defiance.
But another layer could be a sign of worry; her 'spiky anime hair' are colored, they tend to approach reality,
a sign of her trying to reach reality. A worrying sign, because real life does not have spiky hair. Is it perhaps a sign
of her losing the grasp of reality? Is it that she has been separated for so long from reality that her attempts to
reach reality are themselves based on manipulations of the 2d objectifying world? This isn't a question very easily
answered, but I wish to profess a more hopeful side again. The art piece chooses to use brush strokes to paint her hair,
and anyone who is familiar with kanji (influence of kanji on Japanese culture and thereby anime is undeniable) would
know the importance of brush stroke directions. I wish to direct your attention to how the brush strokes do not go along
the tapering of the hair spikes, rather they go against it! Another subversion from the subject of the piece! She is in
no way accepting objectification meekly.
3. Delusion of the Objectifiers
The picture takes a more grim tone. The background is not a picture of Earth, but of Mars! The so-called 'Society
who objectifies' the Anime girl, is itself a world away from its own reality! The planet being Mars to the
background of a mahou shoujo, isn't a coincidence. Perhaps the society expects to see in the subject the mahou
shoujo sailor Mars! And thus deluded by its own objectification, the society transforms the perception of its own
reality into a world reachable (so far, looking at you Elon) only in the object realm of fiction.
4. Anime girl as the most Subjective object
How does the Anime girl fare against such a delusion of even the 3d world society? Well it should not be a surprise that
she subverts the expectation again, and very blatantly so too, she looks nothing like sailor Mars with her spiky but
blunt red hair and blue eyes. And this fact is what makes the anime girl, the most Subjective entity in this piece!
Although still eons away from reality, her attempts of reaching reality by the opposite brush strokes of red hair and
blue eyes, she is already ahead of the black and white object world and the deluded societal reality that compete with
her in this piece.
Her contemplative expression beckons the viewer, me, to carry on, to struggle against delusions and constraints in order
to reach higher levels of Real existence.
~
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Comments
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Monu-chan Retired Moderator Feb 17, 2018
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elisadevelon Retired Moderator Feb 17, 2018
You know, it kinda looks to me like she's stuck in a snowball that's just rolling and rolling, and already flattened her up. I just dunno why there isn't snow anywhere else in the BG. :/
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gadisitugirl Jun 16, 2018
Tbh, this is the first time I see artwork with that deep meaning
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