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Ahmad Whitaker

Dr. Angela Geosits

ENGW 104 - 24

April 25, 2021

Multimodal: Artists Statement Revised

Going into this project, I was very excited and intrigued by the type of essay this was.

This book excites my imagination, so I already had art in mind when the assignment was given

and websites to search on. It did not take me too long to get to the websites I had in mind and

gather the art I was looking for. My only issue is that I had to cut down my list to what I felt

portrayed the message I wanted.

For my project, I decided prematurely that art pieces were the way to go. So much can be

explained in one piece of art, and with my past in finding art, I knew I would have a great

experience. The only negative takeaway was that I can be very indecisive with these types of

things (choosing art to use on something), and I can also be very picky when deciding what to

start with. Finding art was not the hard part; cutting down what was usable was.

For my first piece, I chose to use Hyper empathy by Andrew Ostrovsky. An art piece

created in July of 2016 but deleted for the artist's own reasons. I know about this piece due to my

art craze in 2016, where I would find art to use for my Spotify playlist covers. It was something I

took very seriously; I wanted to capture the emotion of each playlist entirely. I chose this art

piece because I feel as if the art explains hyper empathy's complexity and beauty while showing

just how engulfed the person is in it all. I feel like it does not do justice to the harmful effects of

hyper empathy.
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The second painting I chose was Color of Emotions by ArtofMind. I chose this piece

because I felt it symbolized the negative effects that the first piece did not. When I explained

how Ostrovsky’s piece showed the beauty, ArtofMind’s piece shows that other side, and does so

quite literally. I chose this by using Artpal, a very underrated website that allows people to sell

their own art. It became really useful since it lets you use keywords to find pieces.

I chose the third piece because it literally emphasizes hyper empathy; in my opinion,

there is no way around it. I found this piece through searching articles about empaths on google

before I came across an article on VICE about it. An excellent way to discover art is by using

websites with articles of some sort because use keywords you need and if someone thought the

art was good enough to go before an article, it has to be good. Now I am certain the artists who

created this piece is hired by VICE because I couldn’t find it anywhere else and there was no

author’s name on it.

For the next piece, the fourth one, I chose Dystopia by Michel Donze. A piece depicting a

dystopic world, with run-down buildings, mud roads, and blatant oppression. I chose this piece

because this is how I visualize the gated community along with it’s surrounding areas. The only

take away is the law enforcement in the painting. Throughout the text, the police are portrayed to

barely do their jobs and take fees. You see the opposite with the painting, as the officers are

doing too much with their power and no one is holding them accountable. With that being said

here and, in the text, this painting's portrayal of law enforcement is not on par with the book's

portrayal.

For the next piece, I chose a classic painting, Two Travellers by Jack Butler Yeats. This

piece dates to 1942, which I also found 2 years ago while searching for art wallpapers. I came

back to this because I enjoy the art style, and I like the way it connects to the how the characters
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traveled. I know the name of the piece is Two Travellers, and it depicts two travelers, but the

painting is so beautiful and so relative I felt the need to add it. Another reasons I added it: art

pieces depicting travelers are hard to come by, so finding this one was a real commodity.

For the next piece, I chose another ancient but extraordinary painting. I chose Wheatfield

with Crows by Vincent van Gogh. For this section, I wanted to find something that accurately

portrays my perception of the fields that were traveled across during the text, but due to the

fluctuations in mood between each day, I wanted to represent each side. This side being the

unnerving side, the side that does not feel safe, the side where you have to make sure your gun is

visible so nobody tries to rob you. Coming across this painting was not hard either; I almost

immediately picked this painting when I heard we had this project.

The next piece I chose is titled Dark Clouds Over Corn Fields by Domenica Brockman. I

chose this oil painting of a field to show the somber side of the traveling done. I felt like there

were many times where the story would just get very sad and almost lonely. As a reader, it gave

me this monotone, somber perception of the fields. Finding the piece was not a struggle,

Domenica Brockman has been one of my favorite oil and abstract painters since 2016, so it was

basically a reunion of sorts.

For the last field piece, I chose another work by Van Gogh, Cornfields Near Arles. This

piece is not nearly as famous as his other pieces but in my opinion, it portrays the lighter side of

the journey. It is quite self-explanatory but even without the factory and farm in the back, the

color scheme used would still mean the same thing for me. Finding this painting was a bit harder

for me. There are so many pieces with nice fields and farms in the background but they all don’t

give off the same thing. As I said earlier in my statement, I get picky with these types of things,

so I really had to find a piece that speak to me, and this piece did just that.
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For the final piece, I chose You Never Walk Alone by Cousineau Art. I chose this piece

because I feel it accurately represents how the book ends. The group walking towards something

that seems inevitable and essential, but you do not know what it is. I also love the art piece; I

genuinely do not see stuff like this these days, but maybe I'm not looking hard enough.

Regardless, finding this piece was very hard, and I do not regret the lengths I went to, to find it.

Going back, I don’t even remember finding this piece, but stumbling upon it after a few hours of

searching. I believe it rounds the pieces off nicely and as I said, depicts the ending of the book

perfectly.
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Works Cited

Mind, Art Of. “Color Of Emotions.” ArtPal, 2016, www.artpal.com/wilcoxmichelle?

i=94002-1.

Benjamin, Joel. “Unknown.” Vice, 2016, www.vice.com/en/article/dp3jva/what-its-like-

to-be-an-empath-hsp-psychic-new-age.

Donze, Michel. “Dystopia.” Artstation, 2014, www.artstation.com/artwork/L34aA.

Yeats, Jack Butler. “Two Travellers.” Tate, 0AD, London,

www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/yeats-two-travellers-n05660.

Gogh, Vincent Van. “Wheatfield with Crows.” Van Gogh Museum, 0AD, Van Gogh

Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands, www.vangoghmuseum.nl/en/collection/s0149V1962.

Brockman, Domenica. “Dark Clouds Over Corn Fields.” Artfinder, 2017,

www.artfinder.com/product/dark-clouds-over-corn-fields/#/.

Gogh, Vincent Van. “Cornfields Near Arles.” Art, 0AD,

www.art.com/products/p10032621-sa-i846869/vincent-van-gogh-cornfields-near-arles.htm.