The Black Death

In class, we did organic paintings using acrylic and water on board. After looking over the image for for a story in the shapes, I was able to make out a hooded figure.

Original Painting:

  

 The Black Death, Picture taken with Ipad, done with Acrylic on Board.

Edited in PaintTool Sai:

The Black Death, done with Acrylic on Board, Picture taken with Ipad, edited in PaintTool Sai.

Alternate Lighter Version:

The Black Death, done with Acrylic on Board, Picture taken with Ipad, edited in PaintTool Sai.

"During the 14^th century, one of the largest epidemics known as the Black Death clouded Europe, killing over 25 million people in less than 5 years. Plague doctors wore special costumes, often seen in heavy black robes and a mask shaped similar to that of a beak: used to hold scented substances to block out the “bad air”. They took care of plague victims before death, and often were witnesses to numerous wills."

   

                To create this piece, I basically just dripped or flung the black and orange acrylic on the colored board in random places, before adding droplets of water. After that, I lifted the board at an angle and tilted it in different ways to let the water run the paint in different directions. Once the water ran dry and no longer manipulated the paint, I decided the initial organic painting was finished.

    Pareidolia is the psychological phenomenon involving a vague and random stimulus such as an image or sound that a person has perceived as significant. As an example, making out animals or faces in the clouds, or hearing words in static noise.  (A famous example would be the woman who saw Jesus in her cheese toast!) Without a doubt artists and creative people alike love to pull scenes and images from seemingly random patterns, whether this be something from nature or on something man-made. This is exactly what happened with my Organic painting, and upon scanning it I was able to vaguely make out the shapes of a figure.   I then decided bring out this figure through Digital Art, as not to mess with the original piece.

                After taking a photo and bringing it into Photoshop, I decided to make the figure ‘pop’ by using line to outline the defining shapes and adding a slightly darker overlay within it to distinguish the figure. However, I still wanted to keep aspects of the original painting, so I didn’t add an incredible amount of detail into the piece to allow it to stay at least a little vague.

                I think the colors add a dreary atmosphere to the piece, the blending of orange and black making this polluted, apocalyptic feel.  The black blotchy cloud looming over and even sticking to the figure, represents the black plague. The center figure itself symbolizes two things: a plague doctor and the angel of death, with its gnarled wings, hooded cloak and a beaked skull-like face, similarly to the beaked masks plague doctors would wear. You could say seeing a plague doctor was practically the same thing as seeing the angel of death, as the mortality rate of the Black Death was 30—75%.

                While this piece is asymmetrical, I think there is a sense of movement, as the cloud seems to flow down and materialize this creepy figure floating in the center space. I believe the focal point would be the bird-like skull, as it has a bright contrast to the rest of the darker piece.

                Overall I like this piece even if the process was simple, if for anything it’s potential deeper meaning.