Itzel Hernandez

03/13/14
Period 6
Artist Statement

Art is a topic questioned by many. Art can be a form of imitating

reality while expressing universal ideas that provoke feelings in the
audience that are open minded to criticism and present an idea. I
created a project that is a portrait of me integrating surrealism into it.
Surrealism was utilized in order to portray my identity and whom I am
using symbols. Symbols can be objects representing a bigger picture.
When defining oneself, using symbols in surrealism makes it easier for
one to express them without using words.
The symbols I used in my art piece represented a portion of
identity and they all came together to portray my identity. In my art
piece I used a dove, a sun, and the ocean because those symbols
represent my identity as being optimistic. The white dove represents
peace and I am a peaceful person who does not like to fight. The sun
symbolizes passion, power, and growth, which represents a relatively
big part of my identity. The ocean symbolizes strength, life, mystery,
and hope. Being optimistic means seeing the bright side in situations
and being hopeful. Being surrounded by these symbols in my project
gives the impression of being guarded by the positive and not letting in
negativity into my life.
Everyone has their own struggle and has gone through things,
but I believe it should not define whom a person is. I wanted to show
people that your life could be completely worse so one must
appreciate life alone. Many are alive, but are they living? Displaying my
art around the streets would make people question my art but that is
fine with me because that is a part of what art is. I would want to
spread the message of positivity and beauty of life to the public. I want
my audience to be able to see that art does not always have to be a
beautiful masterpiece; it can simply be expressing what cannot be
said. My art relates to surrealism because surrealism means releasing
creative thoughts in the unconscious mind using symbols and that is
what my piece of art is doing.
Being an artist means getting inspired by other artists and
incorporating other ideas into ones art. Frida Kahlo has been my
inspiration throughout this project. Ms. Kahlo has showed her audience
that one can express what is on their mind without having to talk. Even
though she went through a lot, she did not let that define her life and
who she was. Her purpose of her art was to portray her life events
through symbols and without using words. As I am doing, I wanted to
let people know that regardless of what one goes through, one must
stay positive. I am also using symbols to portray a bigger idea, which
is my identity, just as she did in her paintings. For example, there was
a painting of Frida called The Broken Column and it is Frida herself
with a broken column in the place of her spine representing her pain
 Itzel Hernandez
03/13/14
Period 6
due to the accident she was in. Without even knowing her background
information, one can identify her emotions. I want my art piece to do
the same. I want to be able to portray a message without having to
explain it. Being an artist helps express feelings in an art form, which is
relating to the purpose of my art.