Final Outcome!
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| Final Outcome |
My abstract artwork above denotes an Adventure in Abstraction entitled "From being in the state of loneliness to happiness in life" which tells a story that tickles to the figment of my imagination on the magical animated films of my childhood called "Up" where it inspired me to come up with this idea for this task, when I naively thought that because their colors were brighter, their characters outlines more defined and their plots simpler, they were actually more realistic than regular films. Besides that, the artist who has inspired me throughout this task was Ariel Davis, 22 year old illustrator with her friend of dogs. Her artwork has been recognized by the Society of Illustrators and American Illustration. Her artwork to me is simply magnificent and mind blowing throughout the process of finishing this task.
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| Disney Pixars "UP" |
Furthermore, for those of you guys out there have not watched, seen or known about this film, let me explain briefly regarding the summary of this film "Up" so that you guys will get a clearer picture about it and what's my artwork is all about. The summary behind the film "Up" is where it begins with a romance as sweet and lovely as any I can recall in feature animation. Two children named Carl and Ellie meet and discover where they share the same dream of someday being explorers. In newsreels, they see the exploits of a daring adventurer named Charles Mentz, who uses his gigantic airship to explore a lost world on a plateau in Venezuela and then bring back the bones of fantastic creatures previously unknown to man. When his discoveries are accused of being faked, he flies off enraged to South America again, vowing to bring back living creatures to prove his claims. Nothing is heard from him for years. Ellie and Carl grow up, have a courtship, marry,bought a ramshackle house and turn it into their dream home, are happy together and grow old. The lovebirds save their loose change in a gallon jug intended to finance their trip to the legendary Paradise Falls, but real life gets in the way such as flat tires, home repairs, and medical bills. Then they make a heart breaking discovery. This interlude is poetic and touching indeed.
The focus of this abstract art that I chose to do entitled "From being in the state of loneliness to happiness in life" was on Carl's life after Ellie's death. He becomes a recluse, lonely, holds out against the world, keeps his home as a memorial, talks to the absent Ellie. One day he decides to pack up and fly-away literally. Having worked all his life as a balloon man, he has the equipment on hand to suspend the house from countless helium-filled balloons and fulfill his dream of seeking Paradise Falls. Furthermore, what he wasn't counting on was an inadvertent stowaway, Russell, a dutiful Wilderness Explorer Scout, who looks Asian American. He'd been hoping Carl would help him win a badge for helping old people. Eventually, the two bond on their way to Paradise Falls, and the irascible Carl discovers both the son he never had and his own youthful self by fulfilling the adventure he and Ellie didn't manage. Ever since, Russell came into Carl's life, that is where Carl finds his happiness after being so lonely all this while due to Ellie's death.
Besides that, it can be clearly seen from my abstract artwork, the mood tends to be generally happy which describes the balloons bursting out colors, but when it drops into sadness it describes the dark, sad, deflated balloon depicting loneliness. Moreover, the color that I have applied on the different sizes of circles which denotes as the "balloons" is very important in this artwork, and it can be clearly seen the variations in the sizes and the colors of the "balloons" itself conveying the message and changes in the mood when there is happiness, and when there is loneliness/sadness the color becomes muted. Nevertheless, Ellie is the color in Carl's life, that is why I have applied bright and colorful range of colors into this artwork to show Ellie's love to Carl no matter what are the circumstances. As Ellie has quoted specially to Carl, "Thanks for the adventure and now go have a new one".
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| Ellie quoted specially to Carl |
One of the ways in which color is introduced through balloons, an object that features frequently in the "Married Life" sequence or it can also be a "Sad Life". At the level of "explicit meaning" they are an important part of the film story line but they also carry a symbolic significance in terms of Carl and Ellie's relationship. A balloon has bonded them, balloons were part of their livelihood and their personal message to one another. They were present at Ellie's funeral. Carl takes home a blue balloon, the same color as when they first met as children, and the same color that he gave to her in the hospital. It is clearly cyclical and symbolizes their love. Love, that is the overarching theme in this entire story. This is the reason why I chose to do my abstract art on balloons so that it coincides with my chosen image or artwork that I was highly inspired especially from this film which has touched my heart.
In my concluding note, I developed my desire and interest in writing about this abstract artwork entitled "From being in the state of loneliness to happiness in life". I was fascinated with the life of Carl and Ellie from the Animated Disney Pixars "Up" and this has laid down the impetus for me to come up with the idea of presenting this "Adventure in Abstraction" artwork which I thought from the beginning it was quite impossible and an arduous task but my constant determination and persistence drove me to complete this master piece of artwork entitled "From being in the state of loneliness to happiness in life" .
