For digital media, during the narrative project, our coursework overlapped with that of the worldbuilding in English. We spent our time creating the Multi-layered Art Project, where students were tasked with using Adobe Illustrator to create artwork that captured the essence of our stories. Then, using the laser engraving machine at Freestyle, we printed our pieces onto a selection of physical materials, including wood and styrofoam, to create three-dimensional artwork.
For my multi-layered art project, I decided to depict one of the most pivotal scenes in my world-building narrative. At this moment, the main character, Lukas Adamos, approaches the Vanguard Enterprise headquarters after a long and life-threatening journey from the dweller encampment. The building, which I made to represent the headquarters, is a symbol of the life of grace and technological aptitude in which the Vanguard members live. In contrast, the dwellers, who are under their control, are forced into a life of misery and suffering.
We decided to print our outline onto wood because we thought that the rustic look would juxtapose the framework of our art, which is centered around technological advancement. It is somewhat ironic that a piece that preaches those values is printed onto such an abundant and ancient material. After the printing, we had roughly 30 individual pieces of wood, which we spent hours gluing together to ultimately create our final artwork.
The following is my artist statement for the Multi-Layered Project:
When I decided to partner up with fellow freestyle student Eric Shachal, we choose to create a dystopian reality, a world where our destructive tendencies led us past a point of no return. “Root Society,” tells of a world where 99% of humanity was wiped off the face of the planet. As a result of our actions, Earth’s environment has deteriorated; the lack of trees, water, and other essential resources has made the planet inhabitable to most. Those who remain partition themselves into different echelons within society. The higher-ups are known as The Vanguard, a group of scientists who are responsible for polluting the Earth, their understanding of technology has allowed them to transcend into immortal beings. The larger portion of society is referred to as the dwellers, slaves who are forced into manual labor and work at the will of the Vanguard. Together, these two factions are the last force of life on Earth, and at their current pace, it seems as if they, too, will soon fade away.
When creating the stacked wood art, we wanted to bring the vision of this world into reality and capture the extremities/duality of life in this world. Our piece shows the Vanguard’s headquarters, positioned right on the coast of Greece, a futuristic building that houses the masterminds that corrupted the Earth. Much like in our story, our intention with this artwork was to be deceptive. While the illusion of technology may make it seem like we are telling the story of a utopian society, underneath all that is deception, misfortune, and sacrifice. Root society brings rise to the question of whether our ends justify our means. As we ourselves continue to progress as a society, we need to be more conscious of whether our actions are truly helping or harming us in the long run.
Having the opportunity to participate in this project was truly beneficial to my journey as an artist. Seeing me and Eric’s simple idea for a story blossom into digital artwork, and then into real artwork, was a long journey. While we were both no strangers to using programs like Illustrator, converting those ideas into a physical medium garners unique design thinking. We have done this in the past with projects like the nightlight and the pizza board but never to this extent. Incorporating elements from the entire world of your creation involves meticulous planning, and translating those ideas into a three-dimensional space requires logical thinking. All of these factors made this project extremely challenging, but completing it gave the artwork much more meaning.
This was the longest we have ever spent working on one project in digital media, and overall, I would say that this experience was super beneficial to improving my work as an artist. Having the ability to work on a piece for so long allowed me to pay close attention to detail, and truly perfect my art to the best of my ability. The pieces that have come out of this project are ones that I am extremely proud of and will certainly influence my work moving forward.