Tuesday, November 5, 2024
Transformative Portrait - Ashton Lucas
For my project I wanted to play with the idea of imagination and the concept of powers. At the beginning I was planning on basing my project on my interest of food but I decided to go with something that is more interesting to me that relates more to my likes and hobbies. Since I was young I have always been interested in comics and manga, I would act like I had fire powers and imagine myself throwing fireballs and being able to burn objects around the house. I wanted to display the imagination my younger self would have if I were able to gain super powers out of the comics.
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This work is by Ashton Lucas and features himself standing playfully, albeit almost menacingly, with flames in his hands and a red light emitting from one eye. The pose is one of confidence and desire to control the fire in his hands. He is the only subject in the composite, yet it’s obvious he feels in control regardless.
ReplyDeleteHis persona exudes power and the smirk tells us that he enjoys this ability he has which enables him to control fire. He stands ready to take on whatever challenge comes his way and doesn’t appear as if he would back down easily. I appreciate that he is in street clothes rather than a costume since this makes him much more relatable.
This piece works well as a portrait as it tells me a great deal about him and his interests. Growing up with various superheroes as idols, it brought me right back to those. Ashton's composite in particular reminded me of John Allerdyce, aka Pyro, from the X-Men franchise who can manipulate fire.
The motion itself works well and brings home the idea being presented and is in essence transformative. I would have liked to have seen a beginning without the abilities and have them then appear thus transforming into his character. The fact that it is the same throughout doesn’t quite evoke the idea of transformation as well. The fire is well done although the right hand (our left) is rather lost in the fire a bit.
Superheroes and escapism are, and have always been, prominent fixtures in our society. People innately need the means to detach from reality at times or to use their imaginations to propel the fantasy of “what could be”. The role-playing humans gravitate to begins in childhood and is very often quelled as we age. This loss of our “inner child” can be defeating and cause us to withdraw due to the onslaught of 'lemons' that life tends to throw at us.
The need to play and rediscover our lost dreams and fantasies is definitely a relatable concept. This piece made me immediately think of Marvel, DC, etc, and for a short time, allowed me to slip away from the demands of the day and just simply revel in the moment of “what if”. Thinking about favorite characters and how cool it would be to have their abilities is always fun. This portrait is simplistic in nature, but did a great job of bringing home the idea of being a superhero!
-Kim