Ways of Seeing

Jingyi Jiao

Title: Ambiguous, stage 2015

Jingyi chose Macbeth by William Shakespeare to be her humument. She creates the compositions by using tools of  ink brush pens: black, dark gray, and light gray, papers from Macbeth’s book pages , and the basic ideas of graphic design principle I. The concept used for the first composition is ambiguous, the compositions of the black color and book paper made up a new figure ground. The second page shows the contrast of volume from dark to light, and also squared the word “stage”. Since Macbeth is a famous stage show, she showed that through both the language and design.

Brian Mifsud

When looking at this page we can see that the artist Brian has taken a simple phrase and actually  was able to flesh out and make a connection between the word and the phrase. Using the universal symbol for a thought or an idea, a cloud used mostly in comic books and cartoons as a way of showing that the character has an idea. This design fits very well with the phrase “your idea” outlined on the page. The use of variation of sizes between the clouds helps make the biggest cloud the focal point of the piece. Even the repetition of the clouds helps get across the sense of ideas and thought.

Upon opening the pages of this piece, an individual will observe many different techniques and ideas throughout, all pertaining to one theme. One can observe a contrast in one page, or overlaps in another, all while telling the same (though gruesome) story. Most pages consist of either ink or pencil compositions, as was the preference of the artist, although it also features paint and cut compositions as well. The original story of Emma was of a young girl who is gifted in matchmaking, though she struggles to find the one she herself can fall in love with. The story takes place in a high class Victorian England, and Emma lives a life of comfort and wealth throughout. Using the idea of contrast, the author manipulated the story into one of horror and death. The compositions, varied in technique, all pertain to a story where Emma, now a viscious and ruthless killer, goes on a bloodthirsty spree.