Artist Name Historical Context

Frida Kahlo Frida was born on July 6t, , 1907, in Coyoacan, Mexico. Her life was full of misfortune and suffering and pain. She had Polio at the age of 6 and that deformed her leg
and foot which she covered for her whole life by wearing colorful long dresses. Also, she had a tragic incident at the age of 18 in a us leaving her with several life

Historical
threatening injuries. She started painting as a therapy from her bed because she was immobilized. She then met up with Diego Rivera and married him in 1929 divorced him
which then she created Self Portrait with Thorn Necklace and Hummingbird. She later remarried Diego and unfortunately got even more ill and passed away in 1954 in the
same house she was born in. She has been called one of Mexico' s greatest artists because of her brutal and revealing self-portraits. was best known for her reflective
self-portraits that laid bare the tragedies she had endured. [1] Context & Theme
Ashkan Honarvar Ashkan Honarvar was born in Iran, raised and worked for 20 years in the Netherlands, and is now living in Norway. Being born in Iran, Ashkan found himself using art as a
Introduction
way to escape the reality of Iran-Iraq War. He grew up drawing war scenes and knew that he wanted to do that for the rest of his life. He, as well as many artists
and creators around the world, found war and how people suffer post-war very inspiring. He had learned from medical photography and got fascinated by the reaction of
human body to a disease or an injury, and more specifically the strange and unusual shapes of the disfigurations on victims’ faces.
Ashkan then set his mission to find beauty in what is not considered normal anymore because of the different circumstances. What was acceptable in war times is not
acceptable according to today’s beauty standards. He also wanted to add meaning to things that were commonly considered to be revolting.
Honarvar’s work has been controversial and the reason of many heated discussions in the Netherlands. Dawning many artists and politicians to his Generation Y-2 exhibition I am interested in contemporary problems that are
in November 2009. Om the other hand, press has called his work tasteless and provocative. [2] the result of rapid technological advances in recent
years. Through my theme, I want to shine a light on
these ideas, many of which made me feel
Laura Callaghan Laura Callaghan is an Irish illustrator currently based in South East London. Laura’s bold hand drawn imagery reflects her unique take on fashion illustration as she visualizes uncomfortable researching. I want to explore them
characters personality and refreshing sense of style throughout her imagery. The girls in Callaghan’s work are complex creatures. They’re beautiful but insecure, self-assured in ways that would allow the audience to gain new
but searching for approval, up-for-it but a little bored. They are the constructs of social media feeds and late night internet browsing. knowledge. If more people understand these issues,
In here recent solo show, Laura talked about it and how’s she' s calling out the mindless social media “motivational” quotes, showing in scenes of boredom, cattiness and more conversations will start and hopefully, we can
begin to solve these problems.
debt that life’s realities are a far cry from the pretty pictures painted by peppy faux-philosophical memes.
Her imagery of women cautiously sizing one another up, being stuck in admin drudgery or cutting up their credit cards perfectly captures the modern day issues of being a
girl in a difficult world. [3] Main theme: Social Issues

1st Sub-theme: 2nd Sub-

[1] - [Link] and Herrera, Hayden. (1983) Frida, A biography of Frida Kahlo, New York: Harper and Row.
[2] - [Link] and [Link] and Perfection & 3rd Sub-theme: theme:
[Link] Identity Teens & social beauty &
[3] - [Link] media war
Frida Kahlo's “Self-Portrait with Thorn Necklace and Hummingbird”
“Self-Portrait with Thorn Necklace and
Hummingbird” is a painting that was painted by
Frida Kahlo in 1940. Even though the portrait is
small with size (about 16x24), it draws lots of
interests, since it contains so many aspects which
are symbolic to Frida Kahlo.

Frida Kahlo
Self-portrait with Thorn Necklace and Frida Kahlo
Hummingbird (1940) Self-Portrait with Monkey (1940)
Oil on canvas (61.25 cm x 47 cm) Oil on Masonite (55.2 x 43.5cm)
Harry Ransom Center. Private collection of Madonna.

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“Self-Portrait with Thorn Necklace and Hummingbird” – formal response

Colors and tone:

• Frida painted herself positioned in a symmetrically rigid, frontal The dominant colors of the painting are bright greens and yellows. And black of the
pose, surrounded by various elements. animals, her hair and her eyebrows are in contrast with the greens of the leaves behind
• The background is a composition off large, tropical leaves with her, the white top, and her skin tone. Black represents and symbolizes misfortune, while
a distant soft blue sky. green symbolizes life, and white symbolizes purity.

Even though Frida has painted an emotionless portrait the painting Lines:
is still dramatic and full of expression.
To create depth and movement in the static compositional painting, Frida used lines. Firstly
Subjects selected: lines of the thorn are for movement. Secondly, the lines of the veins of the tropical
• She portrayed herself wearing a thorn necklace with a dangling leaves are for depth.
black hummingbird that acts as a charm. She has repeatedly used an arched line which we can see in her black uni-brows and
• The thorn necklace is piercing her neck causing her to bleed. then also in wings of the humming bird where it’s stretched. Lastly, we can see it in
• Her black hair is braided to make her look like she’s wearing the veins and the shapes of the tropical leaves.
a crown. She added light blue butterflies and dragonflies
hovering around her head as a decoration to the crown.. • The painting’s light is soft and uniform which unites all the elements. It’s not too dramatic because it wasn’t
• Like Frida, there’s a cat on her shoulder that is staring at the used for the purpose of creating depths She has made the elements to look flat. Which can be seen in
viewer. the cat and Frida.
• The right shoulder has a monkey that has its full attention on • Frida used the black subjects which are the cat, hummingbird, hair, eyebrows to frame her face and direct
the necklace. the viewer so his attention is on her eyes.

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 “Self-Portrait with Thorn Necklace and Hummingbird” – formal response

• Thorn necklace: mimics the crown that Jesus Christ Even though the subjects painted are represented in a realistic way this
wore at the crucifixion indicating pain and suffering. portrait is Surrealist. Frida used the thorn necklace and hanged a dead
• Black hummingbird: dead hummingbirds were used hummingbird which is piercing her flesh but she still shows no emotion about
as charms to bring luck in love in Mexican folk it. Everything that used made the painting surreal.
tradition.
• Black cat: symbolizes bad luck.
• Black monkey: symbolizes Diego Rivera which is
Frida’s ex-husband, he had gifted her with a pet • Frida used the technique of matching and balancing the painting. The
monkey. We can see that the monkey is either portrait is a balanced painting because the colors and subjects appear to
untying or tightening the thorn necklace. Which be aligned with one another.
indicated her uncertainty about if she is going to • There’s a black animal on each side of her body
be able to get over her pain because of her • the shape of her black eyebrows are the same shape of the bird’s
divorce or if she’s going to be hung up on it. wings.
• Butterflies and dragonflies: they symbolize freedom • On her head the repeated butterfly and the dragonfly are in an almost
and rebirth. identical position..
• Tropical Leaves: it’s a famous plant that grown in
Mexico and which is where Frida is from and she
loved her home country so much.

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Ashkan Honarvar’s “Faces 5 – 03”
“Faces 5 – 03” is a photograph from
multiple other eye-catching photographs
that were taken by the Dutch Collage
Artist and Photographer Ashkan
Honarvar.
The “Faces 5” series is a series where
Ashkan searched for the idea of identity
as well as the physical and psychological
injuries that soldiers got due to wars.
The artist also has another series with
same theme which was called “Faces 3.”

Photographs taken from;

[Link]

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 “Faces 5 – 03” – formal response
Frame:
The series that Ashkan has created (Faces 5) is similar to the other faces
Ashkan has captured the photos in this series in a portrait orientation to series he has such as (Faces 1) and (faces 6), that’s due to the theme
only capture the soldiers‘ face “injuries” and not focus on other body parts. followed behind the photographs taken. The artist has focused on the impacts
of war on the beauty of soldiers.

The models are soldiers who suffered from face injuries, he has arranged this
Colors + tone: model’s face in a way that puts his injuries in the middle of the photograph
Ashkan Honarvar has recreated the war wounds with many elements such as so all the focus is on it. He as well covered up wounds and blood with
neon-colored candy to cover up the big bloody flesh wounds. He explained candy, ice cream, cake, and other delicious treats. Which leaves the viewer
his use of brightly colored candy which was to symbolize 2 things: ‘one, the wondering whether to look away from the horrifying facial traumas or keep
childish naiveté that we have about war and violence, and how often we staring at the desert. Making the artwork eye-catching and causes a common
forget how fragile the human body is.’ reactionary roller-coaster from the viewer.

And secondly, the society perception of the ‘sweet’ fake propaganda of war.
Crop:
And how media and television leads the war to become this fake program The picture is cropped in a way that doesn’t show where the dripping of the
for people. candy goes on. So the viewer’s eyes move around the source of the candy
rather than its path. He also asked his model to lift his head up giving the
To create that look he has used photography as well as Photoshop to add candy a look as if it’s dripping from his face. Which symbolizes the blood
the liquid marshmallows and the a range of cool and warm pallet of long that dripped from the soldiers faces due to the aftermath of the war injury.
scarlet and indigo colored candy.

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 “Faces 5 – 03” – formal response 2

The empty, lifeless, and emotionless stare the model’s eyes suggests The artist is not interested in the original texture of the face; instead he is
loneliness. And the heartbroken mood of impacts of war on humans interested in the texture of the candy that he used. He chose to rosy
both physically and emotionally is also conveyed. foaming paint to replace the dry damaged flesh on the face.

There’s a conflict of mood between the cold stare, which is what Moving on to the area where there should’ve been bones and larger
the war has been to the people, cold. And with the brighter and muscles but are missing due to injury. He replaced them with a contrasted
dynamic candy wounds that drip from the soldiers face. semi-molten marshmallows with an alizarin and cyan coloring.

This photograph suggests that the piece as well as the whole series And to recreate the blood flow of the wound, he added long plastic-like,
is passionate and the artist connects with it on many levels. shiny, and glossy candy. To give the idea that even though time passes,
wounds will always look fresh to the victim as well as the viewer.

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 “Faces 5 – 03” – formal response 3

To make this perfect symbolism of the abstract nature of war, Ashkan has searched for an pre-existing pictures of young
First World War soldiers with facial mutilations. He then made figures with mutilated face of the same pictures and replaced
the appearing bones and blood and injuries with foaming, condensed paint and candy parts digitally.

That means that he made the final art work by combining the original photographs with the pictures of the candies and
paint. He chose this approach because he sees candy as a symbol for childhood and naivety and gave a striking view of
the darker sides of humanity that one would normally rather avoid.

Also, to explore the idea of beauty, he covered up the wounds. To show the societal conception of beauty makes people
seek beauty through coverage. And how beauty is obtained through the act of hiding traumas, physical scars and adding or
subtracting body parts.

He also makes a juxtaposition between the beauty of art and the unappealing physical deformation in a human being. Both
being in the same place suggests the idea that perhaps the darker sides of human physical nature could only be accepted
through the artful, fictional ways of an artwork.

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Laura Callaghan’s “Friends”
“Friends” is an image created with other 7
images by the artist and illustrator Laura
Callaghan for her first solo show at KK Outlet,
London June 2016.
Laura’s new show is a brilliant collection called
“Aspirational”. And it takes direction from the
prevalence of inspirational quotes used on
social media channels.
Illustrations taken from: [Link]

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 “Friends” - Formal response

Laura’s hyper-detailed work draws attention due to her use of Shape:

combination of watercolor, Indian ink, isograph pens, and pencils for initial
work ideas. She used smaller brushes for the fine details. She also Because the piece resembles young female character, Laura captured that
created patterns with the human quality of watercolor. with relatively natural shapes. That will lead to the text that will be
After an average of 40-50 hours of work, Laura she ink the illustrations added later on for a storyline to have more focus than the image itself
by hand and then color them digitally. She also uses Photoshop because rather than the image giving a certain emotion.
it gives her flexibility to make changes easily. color:
Laura’s use of the contrast of complementary colors that are placed
against each other to enhance their hue. Such as orang and blue, yellow
To build up a richness of texture, Laura used pens and watercolor paint. and violet. She also used perfect match of clothing, hair color to bring
And because there’s no undo button for painted work, we can see the out the color of each character’s skin beautifully. Which commands the
patterns that was created by the covered up mistakes she made during viewer’s attention. She also used a bright yet sensitive color palette is
the process of making the illustration. The artist also made sure to try put to glorious effect.
and maintain a flat, smooth surface of illustration to scan it for digital
work later on.

Laura’s illustrations creates the sense and atmosphere of dramatic scenes

from a movie, the characters have a strong visual style and brilliant way
of chosen colors. Her eye of detail shows how her characters are deeply
rooted in external cultural references.

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• The portrait was created as a part of Kahlo’s coping ritual after her divorce to Mexican painter Diego Rivera
after 10 years of marriage.
• Farida’s use of Thorn necklace and butterflies and their symbolism is her way of comparing herself directly to

•
Jesus Christ’s painful journey worn as he dragged his cross to be crucified.
She shows her wish for love renewed with the little bird dangling from her necklace of thorns. Which was Purpose and
granted because she did remarry Diego.
function
• Ashkan has had a long history of working with manipulation and mutilation. for this series, he worked with dessert items to make his point.
As Western societies have grown more and more distant from actual war atrocities, He used the candy as symbolism of the abstract nature
of war.
• He attempted to make people feel uncomfortable with the juxtaposition of sweets and facial injuries to make people aware of the issues
relating to war.
• He was searching for an identity and the physical and psychological wounds inflicted on soldiers by war with the exception of Faces.

• Laura’s piece is a reminiscent of a scene from a movie, excellently stylized with props that inform the viewer about the subject’s intimate storyline.
• Laura is calling out social media “motivational” quotes and how useless they are to teenage girls.
• She’s likes to draw we women with strength and tell a story from a female perspective.

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themes/significance

personal/historical
Comparison

visual analysis

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 I linked Laura’s work with my work using neon colors and war
injuries for an uncomfortable mood and unbalanced composition
as well as the fluid candy-like edit to the piece. Instead of
long candy I used wires. And also used preexisting photographs
of my great uncle who was a soldier in the French-Algerian
war. Link to My Work

I linked Laura’s work with my work using the pattern

making style and neon and vibrant colors as well as
the use of photographs of teens and terms that aren’t
usually used by them to juxtapose with the idea of
youngsters and social media. They don’t completely
understand it, but they spend most of their day on it.

My work is linked to Frida’s work because I have used

symbolism with colors, lines, and composition. Also I used the
idea of symmetry and contrast of warm and cool colors. And I
used the centered composition for my work which Frida has in
most of her work. As well as portraits and not landscapes and
patterns.

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