Block Print
America Made Great
Block Print 23cm x 15cm September 2017 Exhibition Text
America Made Great is a play on words of Donald Trump's campaign slogan "Make America Great Again". This piece was inspired by Modernism and Constructivism. More specifically the work of Alexander Rodchenko, a Russian artist. This is meant to reflect on the actions and controversies that President Donald Trump has been involved in by the time that this was created. |
Planning
Inspiration
The inspiration for this piece came from the Modernism works of Alexander Rodchenko and the political controversies and events that have occurred in the first 7 months of Donald Trump's presidency. The pieces by Rodchenko that really caught my eye were No Better Pacifiers and his Designs for Advertisements. I really wanted to do a piece related to politics because of how prevalent it is in American society at this time. And who better to show than Certain controversies that I wanted to portray are the wall, the dropping of the MOAB in the Middle East, and possible Russian collusion. When I had first started looking for inspiration for this piece, I turned to movements such as German Expressionism, Dada, and Pop Art. German Expressionism would have been the obvious answer to the style of a block print, but it seemed too simple in my opinion. I was unsure of how I would have really used Dada in this, as after further research it didn't seem to fit with my goal. The same thing happened with Pop Art. However, I then found Modernism and Rodchenko and then I immediately knew the style that I wanted to go for. I really thought that Rodchenko's work would help show the style that I was going for. I didn't want it to be very complicated and detailed, just a simple propaganda-like print that reflects on Trump and his actions as President so far.
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(Click to enlarge pictures and for citations)
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Planning Sketches
I decided to draw each component of my Block Print separately before I did the final sketch. In this page, I drew Trump in a style similar to Rodchenko's No Better Pacifiers, with a blocky body. I made his hands much smaller in reference to him having small hands and one of them pinching, as he has done from time to time. I also included him holding a golf club in this sketch, but I decided to remove it in the final product because I felt it wouldn't be necessary. I was unsure how to style his hair at first, and I didn't actually decide on the final design for it until I had started carving. I felt like adding the American Flag just for added effect and to make sure people understood that it was Trump and not someone else with hair similar to that style. I then also decided to add Пу́тин to the piece because it would help relate to the art by Rodchenko in general. Пу́тин is Putin in Russian, and I thought it would relate well to Trump having possibly colluded with Russia, that being one of his more major controversies.
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This page included a lot less separate designs because I didn't feel like there would be that much more to add. I had the different designs for the bomb that Trump ordered to be dropped on ISIS in the Middle East. I hadn't thought of it in the major controversies at first, but then I had listened to song called Happy Judgement Day by Neck Deep. One of the lines in the chorus is "Building walls, Dropping bombs", which is a reference to Trump's wall and the bomb that he had dropped. The tiki torch is a reference to the KKK and other alt-right groups, which were in the news recently (of the time this was created) in Charleston, South Carolina. There was a rally there in which and innocent women was killed by one of the members of a alt-right group. The reason this was important was that Trump had not immediately talked about this tragedy, which angered a lot of people.
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This is the final planning sketch that combined all of the separate aspects that I created above. It is as close to the final print that it can be for a rough sketch. I did add a few things to the sketch and the Block Print itself after I had started on carving. I also had only drawn a sketch of the wall on the bottom in this final sketch because it was the first thing I had done for the design.
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Process
Experimentation
To the right, you will see all of the 8 prints that I made throughout this process (Top Row: Prints 1-4, Bottom Row: Prints 5-8). I used one type of carving tool for the majority of the Block Print, as I needed to make mostly smaller lines. I did use a wider tool for carving out the larger white spaces to save time. I had attempted to use the wider tool initially on the wall on the bottom, but I did not like how it turned out. Towards the end of the carving process, I felt that I needed more space to be used, so I added the line of bricks going up the side last. I was very disappointed with how the first row had turned out, as I did not use nearly enough ink. But I started using more and more and I got it to a level that I was more proud of. I was saddened that I never got a completely solid print. There were always little areas throughout the piece that had white spots that somehow did not get covered. |
(Click to enlarge pictures)
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Process
Drawing: The first step in this process is taking the sketch that you have and redrawing it (using pencil preferably in case of mistakes) onto the material. I then started to shade in the larger areas that I would eventually carve out to get a better idea of final print.
Carving: After I had finished with redrawing it, I began the carving process. I used the wider tool initially , but I did not like how it had looked and it was harder to get finer lines. I ended up only using it to carve out the larger white spaces. I then switched to a thinner and more pointed tool that ended up working much better. In the process of carving, I did have a few mistakes where i slipped and carved too much in certain parts. I also did not get the bricks as equal and square as I had originally hoped for.
Printing: After carving, I was ready to start rolling ink onto the block. I put a small amount of ink onto the rolling plate, adding more as necessary. Secondly, I rolled it out using a brayer and got a sufficient amount of ink onto it. I then rolled it out on my block and covered it entirely with ink. Next, I attempted to center a piece of paper as best as I could onto the block and pushed down. To flatten the paper, I used a baren to apply pressure and ensure as much ink as possible was applied to the page. I finally peeled them apart and left the print to dry. I repeated this until I obtained a print that I was confident to use as my final work.
Drawing: The first step in this process is taking the sketch that you have and redrawing it (using pencil preferably in case of mistakes) onto the material. I then started to shade in the larger areas that I would eventually carve out to get a better idea of final print.
Carving: After I had finished with redrawing it, I began the carving process. I used the wider tool initially , but I did not like how it had looked and it was harder to get finer lines. I ended up only using it to carve out the larger white spaces. I then switched to a thinner and more pointed tool that ended up working much better. In the process of carving, I did have a few mistakes where i slipped and carved too much in certain parts. I also did not get the bricks as equal and square as I had originally hoped for.
Printing: After carving, I was ready to start rolling ink onto the block. I put a small amount of ink onto the rolling plate, adding more as necessary. Secondly, I rolled it out using a brayer and got a sufficient amount of ink onto it. I then rolled it out on my block and covered it entirely with ink. Next, I attempted to center a piece of paper as best as I could onto the block and pushed down. To flatten the paper, I used a baren to apply pressure and ensure as much ink as possible was applied to the page. I finally peeled them apart and left the print to dry. I repeated this until I obtained a print that I was confident to use as my final work.
Reflection
Overall, I am satisfied with the final product that I created. The only major problem that occurred was that I had a lack of ink on the block for the beginning of the experimentation process. One thing that I wish I had done was have more things be carved out to create more white space. While my last print was indeed my best one, the ink did not cover as much of the paper as I had originally hoped for. However, it is substantially better than the other seven that I had made previously.
ACT Responses
1. Clearly explain how you are able to identify the cause-effect relationships between your inspiration and its effect upon your artwork.
Rodchenko's artwork has very simple and flat imaging that does not contain a large amount of texture and detail. I attempted to imitate this in my prints by having very simple and straight lines without detail.
2. What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
Rodchenko wanted to be in service of political revolution. I feel that it is necessary to have your own ideals and to know everything that you can when deciding on political candidates to vote on.
3. What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
I learned a lot about Rodchenko's beliefs and about how he founded the Constructivist movement, which led me to use him to relate to my work about political conflict and controversies.
4. What was the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
I wanted to focus on the political controversies and conflicts surrounding President Trump over the span of his presidency so far.
5. What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
While researching, I learned more about all of the different stances taken by different people and artists involving politics and it truly made me realize just how divided we are, not only as a country, but as a species.
Rodchenko's artwork has very simple and flat imaging that does not contain a large amount of texture and detail. I attempted to imitate this in my prints by having very simple and straight lines without detail.
2. What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
Rodchenko wanted to be in service of political revolution. I feel that it is necessary to have your own ideals and to know everything that you can when deciding on political candidates to vote on.
3. What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
I learned a lot about Rodchenko's beliefs and about how he founded the Constructivist movement, which led me to use him to relate to my work about political conflict and controversies.
4. What was the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
I wanted to focus on the political controversies and conflicts surrounding President Trump over the span of his presidency so far.
5. What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
While researching, I learned more about all of the different stances taken by different people and artists involving politics and it truly made me realize just how divided we are, not only as a country, but as a species.
Bibliography
http://www.theartstory.org/artist-rodchenko-alexander.htm