IB Visual Arts
Sienna Gigliotti
I have long been fascinated by the fantasy genre, intrigued by its endless creativity and instant ability to transport you to alternate realities. As our world becomes progressively demystified, I believe fantasy embodies the innate human desire to explore new mysteries of the unknown. As a child, I was frequently engrossed in fantasy novels, reading about distant lands and heroic quests in every spare moment I could find. I have always been incredibly interested in the duality of the fantasy genre, in which its escapist qualities aid in the creation of a world so distant to ours, yet how the underlying theme of humanity always remains. Choosing my central concept, I therefore decided to explore the fantasy genre and make visual both its realist and escapist qualities.
My intention for the overall concept of this exhibition is one of intrigue; fantasy primarily operates through metaphor. Chronologically progressing through the exhibition, I started by depicting what drew me in to the fantasy genre in the first place, the boundless imagination where anything can happen. The photographic screen prints depict subject matter that is whimsical, mushrooms are a recognisable symbol of a fantastical landscape and as a recurring motif throughout the artworks, such imagery also alluding to their psychedelic properties. Within the first four artworks in my exhibition, I intended to explore and present my initial feelings approaching the genre in my childhood as ones of unadulterated fascination. These works give visual context and invite the viewer to fantastical places and settings for fantastical things to occur, for example, an oversized frog spills a river from his mouth.
The pastel drawing of an ageing woman trapped in a hourglass acts as a transitionary piece, portraying my continued interaction with the genre as I mature and the subsequent exploration of more reflective contemplations regarding the relationship between fantasy and reality; what about reality instils such intense desire to escape.
The second half of my exhibition includes a series of portraits, which consequently diverge from depicting fantasy through the rose-tinted glasses of my childhood interpretation of the genre and instead, aim at combining fantasy and reality. The linocut portrait of a witch and the androgynous blue sculptural bust draw focus on acknowledging fantasy as an exaggerated departure from reality that can function as a way to explore the intricacies of society through a hypothetical lens, inviting the audience to draw comparisons with their own lives/ selves. Through this subtheme, I explicate how fantasy can be a vehicle for approaching societal issues through removing complexity of setting and historical context, artists like Hieronymus Bosch being a key inspiration. Finally, the conclusion of my exhibition resolves the conflict between fantasy and reality by presenting them in harmony within the little fantasies we create in our own lives through the coloured smoke of an ageing man in his rocking chair.
The subject matter explored in this exhibition is intentionally diverse as fantasy functions primarily through the figurative metaphors, allegories and parables. Predominantly an exhibition of paintings, I have refined my techniques in using oil and acrylic paint, watercolour and pastels. I chose to include both artworks that are figurative and subject to more open interpretative processes as well as artworks that aim to objectively depict my personal interpretation of the fantasy genre. This is done with the intention of inviting the audience to form their own relations with the subject matter whilst also making the subject matter incredibly personal and intimate to me. Much like the way fantasy comments on the world through indirection, I wanted my true intentions of the artworks to be secondary, with the audience’s individual engagement with the art the primary focus.
The aesthetic qualities ultimately progress through the thematic flow of the exhibition, from one of evoking feelings of enchantment, aiming to immerse audiences in the childhood purity of absolute captivation with the fictional, to eventually end at one of reflection of the synergy between reality and fantasy. As fantasy stimulates the mind to think beyond the concrete, to explore the limits of one’s imagination, I aspire for these sentiments to be transferred into the audience when viewing my exhibition.
Sienna gigliotti.
BLOOM
Photographic screen print
38.5 x 29 cm
In this screen-print I intended to portray my childhood fascination with the fantasy genre. I chose to depict mushrooms as a means of encapsulating the concept of fantasy as of their frequent prevalence in fairy tales and fantastical scenes, yet also for their hallucinogenic properties that allow for escapism of the purest form. The haphazard combination of colours illustrates a scene reminiscent of the creativity of a child’s mind, with limitless imagination.
FLEETING
Photographic screen print
33.5 x 25 cm
This piece intends to explore the fantastical yet elusive nature of dreams, where one can construct detailed scenarios from the boundless constraints of their imagination, but upon waking can only remember fleeting fragments. Such transitory nature of dreams is depicted through the abstract shapes that can somewhat be related to real-life objects, yet with a level of uncertainty; a certain nostalgia of something you cannot quite place exactly. I also wanted to explore the fantastical nature of dreams, which demonstrate the unconscious urge of the mind to escape from reality.
MONSALVAT
Oil painting on canvas board
40.5 x 50.5 cm
This oil painting is based off my trips to the artist colony Monsalvat as a child and my utter fascination with the rustic buildings; I distinctly recall telling my mum I thought a group of fairies lived there. The childhood lens of intrigue and adoration is paired with the fantastical elements of mushrooms and butterflies which although minute, demonstrate the inclination of young minds to conjure mystical explanations for things they cannot fully process.
TURNAROUND
Acrylic on canvas
51 x 51 cm
This piece expounds upon the pure abstraction of fantasy; the creation of the weird and wacky as an exaggerated departure from reality. The noticeable enlargement of the frog’s size compared to their real-life dimensions visualises a hyperbolic depiction of fantasies limitless capacities. This is paired with the glowing stream flooding from the frog’s mouth reversing the traditional role of a frog to be swimming in the river, similarly portraying the escapist qualities of the fantasy genre as being an entirely separate entity from reality.
ESCAPISM
Pastel on paper
43.5 x 33 cm
This piece acts as a transitionary piece between the first and second section of my exhibition, diverging from depicting fantasy through the awe of my childhood and rather, portrays my older exploration of the genre’s relationship with reality. The depiction of a central female figure trapped in an hourglass, connotative of repressive beauty ideals that trap her from seeing the natural beauty she possesses, depicted through the lush flora thus flips my childhood intrigue of fantasy’s escapist qualities to question what about the ‘real-world’ creates such intense yearning to escape.
CIS-TEM OFFENDER!
Paper mâché on altered Styrofoam bust with wool
90 x 26 x 24 cm
This piece intends to depict the liberating nature of the fantasy genre where one can immerse their selves in a world exempt from societal expectations. A sense of androgyny is evoked in the figure, emphasised through both the neutral expression paired with the lack of eyebrows, yet also the more masculine bone structure contrasted with the long flowing hair. Such androgyny portrays the freedom of self-expression that accompanies the elimination of gender norms, rendering the piece a criticism of contemporary society whereby only in an imaginary world may we fully express ourselves.
WICKED WITCH
Linoleum print
31 x 22.5 cm
This piece explores the escapist qualities of the fantasy genre, yet also, its ability to act as a vehicle for approaching societal issues through removing complexity of setting and historical context. I wanted to create an image that comments on the demonization of empowered women; when women adopt the male-professed traits of ambition and power, it is seen as uncharacteristic. I employed the fantastical concept of a witch to do so, a figure often depicted as using magic for ill-intent whilst contrastingly, the word wizard evokes descriptions of excellence and intellect.
JIM
Watercolour on canvas board
50.5 x 40.5 cm
As the final piece of my exhibition, this painting resolves the conflict between fantasy and reality by presenting them in harmony within the little fantasies we create in our own lives. Before my grandfather passed, he would spend hours outside on his rocking chair smoking Toscano cigars, something as a child I labelled as boring. I thus wanted to depicts fantasy’s ability to turn the mundane into enlivening, combining symbols of my previous works to transform the seemingly ordinary action into a vibrant, rousing image.
