Studio Art: Exploration proposal
I wish to explore the idea and feeling of Euphoria. Euphoria is a feeling of overzealous or exaggerated happiness or pride in yourself and life. This feeling is something that in my everyday life I might not experience at all times but when I do certain activities or be around certain people I get this feeling that I can’t really describe and is most closely compared to a sense of Euphoria and excitement. I want to explore how people perceive and experience this feeling of happiness and euphoria, and then how by experiencing this it makes there life better and alters their mood to do things that usually they would not have the courage or ability to do but now can due to this burst of energy and excitement. Personally I find that when I begin to feel euphoria I start to see things in a different way, difficult tricks on my skateboard or bike and many other tasks seem much less intimidating and dangerous making the impossible possible.
In my art I want to focus on things in my life that help me to connect with and experience this feeling which are action sports across the board but ones possibility more prominent than others would be skateboarding or BMX, music or just being around good company with my friends. The reason that skateboarding and BMX give me a Euphoric feeling is because they help me experience places and people I wouldn’t usually. Also, the feeling of landing new skateboard or bike tricks an even just pumping a massive bowl like Mt Eliza on a skateboard for a while makes me feel really good about myself and this is the type of raw emotion I want to capture and communicate. This feeling not coming straight away and taking time as a journey is something that through narrative in different art forms I will need to show. Expressing euphoria this way will help viewers of my art work see the origins of euphoria and how it is born from triumph over difficult and exciting tasks which make a the person experience euphoria fell so proud and deserving. Music also relates to friends and skating because I listen to certain music with friends that gives us that feeling of happiness and then when I skate I listen to certain music to help me get hyped up, the music also can really help to tell the story of this emotion from bland normal everyday stuff to the peak moment of Euphoria midway through a new trick or experience. One possible aspect I want to capture is the contrast and separation from me doing something euphoric and the world and problems around. When I'm in the zone and feeling this way nothing else seems to matter and I don’t have to worry at all anymore.
The places I visit on the weekend and go to for skating or riding hold much significance in my life and most of the time are very happy and up beat places that I would like to capture. During all different times of the day or night these places are naturally or artificially light up which always keep them looking bright and inviting. This idea of acceptance and belonging to a place and or community of others is one that I would really like to show in some of my possible art works.
To show these feelings and activities I experience it is possible to take portraits and set shots of people doing these activities on either film or digital cameras. This could be good if I try and do shots when no one is expecting it and just get the raw emotion that they are going through which is similar to what I experience as euphoria. If I choose to use the mediums of analog photography and moving picture I can capture these moments of confidence and happiness that I find only a few do experience truly. Although both of these art forms can express the emotions very well because of they way they take a single frame out of someone's life and put it into clear perspective, I will also need to explore more cost effective and consistent such as digital photography or drawing or many other kinds of canvas style art forms. I tend to have a very vivid