Artist bio

My name is Jeanika Manuyag and I am an 18-year-old artist going into my first year of University. My future plans include getting a Bachelor Degree in Design and hopefully, creating my own company where I am able to share my art with people around the world. Although I usually focus on painting, both in acrylic and watercolour, I love creating and experimenting with other mediums as well. I've taken Visual Art IB throughout the entirety of my high school career and hope to extend my knowledge to future works and contests such as these.

Title

Deception

Medium/Genre

Painting

Artist Statement

For this piece, I wanted to focus on colour and establishing my own style. In order to do so, I chose to diverge from the natural tones found in our everyday lives and use rather unusual colours. This included utilizing painting techniques that did not create a realistic depiction, but more so a supernatural, out of the worldly atmosphere. Once coming up with my concept, I went on to take my own reference photos and do a light outline before going in with watercolour paint. I made sure to block in where the shadows were, before darkening these areas as needed to create depth. Once that was finished, I went in with acrylic paint to fill in the background and outline the mask, so both elements stood out against the soft texture of the watercolour. My canon of work is quite similar to this one, as I tend to do rather odd, symbolic pieces which speak to my larger message. I do not go for hyper-realism, but choose to create images in my own way. In addition, I also tend to use bright colours and often shy away from black and white.

How it fits into contest

This piece relates directly to this passage: "2 Corinthians 11:14-15
14: And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. 15 It is not surprising, then, if his servants also masquerade as servants of
righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve." This speaks to Satan's deception within our lives. To represent this, I chose to create an image where a boy is wearing a clear mask, where the mask itself features two smile faces on the cheek and fake eyes. At first glance, this site is rather unnerving. It's rather cartoonish and fake. Yet, the drawing themselves are not scary by themselves. As we all know, smiley faces are used as symbols for happiness or content. While eyes are the "windows to the soul" so seeing them should give you a sense of comfort (if they are real). But that's the thing; the "drawings" painted on the mask are fake, creating a false sense of comfort for their audience. In addition, the mask itself is clear, because sometimes, although you know the eyes and smile is fake, you may choose to ignore it and follow their guidance anyways. This speaks to some people's willingness to follow evil, even if they can see the threat early on. Along with the unnatural colour of the face, this image is one which represents falsehoods and malice. It's supposed to put you on edge the more you look at it. That is the exact feeling I wanted to create, to truly show the manipulation of Satan and the feelings you experience when he pulls you into a false comfort and betrays you.

Credits

- Alfred Manuyag: Model

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