Swallowing Scorpions: A Junior Experimental Project by Jacob Kidd (2013)

The theme I selected for the Experimental Unit features the eternal conflict between an envious mind and a guilty conscience. Desire in society today is something that has been widely compressed into a narrow ideology by portrayals promoted by the media and swallowed by society. Everyone strives to be successful in different ways, but strives mainly for success—and when everyone is taught to strive for the same thing, everyone becomes one. As a result, many deny their true nature for the sake of conformity, for the sake of title, for the sake of beauty. This is what we are all guilty of—corrupting the unique, singular nature of ourselves in a scrambling rat race to be at an elusive summit. I have personally discovered that my struggle to discover my true nature stems from a guilty conscience. I have frequently denied the presence of what I truly desire out of life for the sake of others’ desires. Sometimes I believe that it is a sacrifice that is justly made, that the exhaustion of it acting a certain dose of normal is necessary. Sometimes I feel that I have my eyes on a mirage, that I’m just swallowing scorpions, that I’m just another foolish fish fleeing a black, burning ocean, only to be ultimately drained to a skeletal nothing.

For this assignment, I used the software, Adobe Illustrator. I portrayed the turmoil of emotions in a minimalist style, using a black and white color scheme except for the ''mirage'' of envy—the single red apple in the center of the piece. I drew nearly all of the art with the pen and pencil tools, but the flames from the burning oil were drawn with a charcoal brush tool. To give the piece depth, I drew two sets of clouds at the top and ocean waves at the bottom, making the second set smaller and lowering its opacity. I drew the scorpion by tracing a picture I found online with the pen and pencil tools to make it look like a hook.