Life & Legacy
2016 Oxbow School
The process of creating art is not only experimental and challenging, but it is also
unexpected and intriguing. This particular piece began with the same conceptual idea that it ended up with, but the way in which that message was conveyed was altered in many different stages.
Personally, the message behind my piece is just as important as the art itself. I
began with the idea that a lot of people aren’t heard until they’re dead—particularly artists. In other words, a lot of iconic people who have had an enormous impact on our society today, made artwork in a style that was too
progressive for their time, and therefore were not very influential during their lives. I chose to depict one specific artist’s struggle to find appreciation and meaning in his work, Claude Monet.
The figure spray painted on the door is Monet. I chose to use a street art style to
create this piece because street art is a form of art under-appreciated in our society today, the same way Monet’s work was during his time. The quote in the background, “my life has been nothing but a failure” was spoken by Claude Monet himself. The word “life” is highlighted in red occasionally, to show that his life may have been a failure in his mind, but his legacy is what carries on. The ball and chain around his ankle has the year of his death, showing how the weight of his life held him down, but his death set him free. There is a projection of a collage of some of Monet’s paintings, sparking the contrast between the statement in the background, and what we see as some of the greatest works of art. Claude Monet is such an influential artist in modern society, but he was too progressive, as a painter, for his time. The idea that many are not recognized or appreciated until after their death is both tragic and beautiful at the same time.