Illusion and Deception

This project is currently ongoing. I am focusing my attention towards a different route which has spun off from the political side of my work. The focus is on deception. Deception is one of the strongest elements of politics to interest me. People’s perceptions at altered as a means of control. Methods are used in providing this deception and these are what I am interested in finding out about.

Over many years artists have used deception to create a certain perspective amongst its viewer. If I am to create awareness with the aim of creating change then deceptive art work seems to be a promising method.

I began experimenting with illusion; this deceives the eye and creates a different experience. I have always been fascinated by illusion and surrealism and so it is important that I include at least some of it in my work.

Again I have begun painting, but this is a method I feel happy beginning a project with as painting leads to further developments. With a digital image it is important to know what the final outcome is going to be before you start whereas whilst painting, new ideas are sprouting and they can keep developing in whichever way. That is what I love about painting.

I began painting a chequered symmetrical pattern. I had used this technique in the first year of university but had never taken it further even though I really enjoyed doing it. The pattern is coming out of a skulls mouth. The skull was rushed and not done well as I was eager to get started with the pattern. It was drawn in light pencil as I didn't know if I would want to change it or have nothing there at all. The initial idea of the skull was due to the skull sign generally speaking being a negative image, usually meaning danger/death. I

felt that this worked with the deception title.

The image needs to be taken a lot further. It will never be used as a final piece due to the lack of exact symmetry and correct measurements to ensure that the cheques are all the same size. I would also need to work harder at making the swirls look more 3D. This will be something that I need to learn how to do it. The other fault is simply that I am not very good as a painter and so I will be creating similar images using computer software’s. They do not have the sam

e criticisms attached.

I extended the image, and had a lot of fun with it, but this was just a means of practicing my skills and exploring with what I can do. I drew the patterns in different ways with different contorts, twists, turns and colours. Here is what I have done:

My practice in these patterns also went further and I have been creating more and more images, then I went onto painting onto a Mannequin Torso. I hand drew the pattern to flow with the contorts of the body, the squares stretched and grew bigger and smaller. This took a very long time, in fact the small painting there that you can see above took me 3 days, this is really showing to be a problem and is taking up too much of my time. Here are a few images of what I have been doing: