Spencer George. Bad To The Bone. Sharpie/Photography. 2015. 

The theme for these photographs was the word "wicked". After creating a mind map, I decided I wanted to take it in the direction of literal wickedness, and play out the teenage rebel. I heavily outlined my eyes with black cat eye eyeliner, and put on dark red lipstick along with a chocker and a shirt that features a skeleton riding a motorcycle with the caption "Live Fast Die Young". After taking the photos, I decided to edit them with some filters so that it looked like there was a fiery light on top of my white background. Once printing them, I still felt that I wanted to do more to emphasize the point of wickedness. I drew a sleeve tattoo on my arm with sharpie, and also another tattoo with a barcode which reads "property of WCKD". This is a reference to the book The Maze Runner, in which a corporation (WCKD) marks many of their objects with this barcode. Additionally, I added in an eyebrow piercing and two quotes from songs- "Ain't No Rest For the Wicked" by Cage The Elephant, and "Sleep" by My Chemical Romance. Since half of my shirt got cut off by my hair, I then re-wrote "Live Fast Die Young" in the corners of the picture.

"Welcome To Heaven"

Spencer George. Welcome To Heaven. Mixed Media on Illustration Board. 2015.

For many of my photography assignments this year, I chose to study concepts such as rebellion, terror, heartbreak, and danger. This collage came out of a series of photographs I did which centered on the theme of Heaven vs Hell, and in turn angel vs devil. The original photograph was meant to be part of the angel photos, but when I layered the wings, it in turn blacked out my eyes. When I decided to collage this picture, I knew I wanted to have a focus on the eyes, which I planned to black out with sharpie. Instead of having white angel wings, I chose to draw black "devilish" wings. The background is a collage of different photographs of storms. Since Heaven is commonly associated with the sky, I thought having destructive skies would continue to emphasize the breach between good and evil. Finally, the sign indicates that it is not meant to be a devil photo, but rather that of a fallen angel. I drew the "Welcome To", and I think it gives it a vintage diner feel, making it seem like Heaven is an attraction, which contrasts with the mental picture the photograph inspires. Finally, in cursive, "I am crazy, I am free" is written over my head, which demonstrates that the figure in the picture is mad, but free because of the salvation of heaven. This helps to provide greater contrast between the picture and the concept.

"Losing Teeth"

Spencer George. Losing Teeth. Acrylic Paint on Illustration Board. 2015.

This is a painting done as part of my independent concentration, something tentatively titled "Beauty Is Harsh". I am looking to study the correlation between beauty and the grotesque, and take iconically beautiful images and then destroy them, giving them elements of the horrifying, in order to demonstrate the human attraction to dangerous things. To do this, I decided to paint "perfect" pink lips, and then have the teeth, which are often shown in magazines as gleaming and white, rotting and falling out. The effect is unsettling, since we have been taught that a perfect pout will also have perfect teeth. My goal in doing this is to teach people that there is no true perfection, or beauty, and that what is beautiful can also have ugly elements. Nothing is black and white beautiful or grotesque- rather, they each share elements of the other, which is essentially what makes us human.

"The Meeting"

Spencer George. The Meeting. Mixed Media on Sketchbook Paper. 2014.

The mixed media in this painting consists of watercolor, modge podge, colored pencil, and sharpie on sketchbook paper. The work is supposed to symbolize how quickly things can change, and how ultimately "we all start as strangers". It is meant to be the joining of two worlds that are seemingly opposites, as shown in the opposing colors for the girl and boy. The overlap of the silhouette shows how they are still ultimately the same two strangers, simply closer, as shown in the second drawing.

"What Do You See When You Close Your Eyes?"

Spencer George. What Do You See When You Close Your Eyes? Watercolor On Stonehenge Watercolor Paper. 2014.

This painting is an abstract take on the concept of phosphenes. Phosphenes are the dots you see when you close your eyes. I took an abstract take on this and choose to focus on the question of "What do you see when you close your eyes?" I imagined that a person in love might always see the other person in some way shape or form. The silhouette is supposed to symbolize the divide between memory and reality- in other words, the divide between what we see and what we want to see.

"Legs"

Spencer George. Legs. Charcoal On Charcoal Paper. 2014. 

"Help!"

Spencer George. Help! Colored Pencil On Sketchbook Paper. 2013.