After completing my artist study project about Keith Haring, I made the decision to put my own twist on his work. Rather than replicating a piece of his, I compiled a few of my favorite pieces Haring made in his lifetime. This piece incorporates pastel colors, as well as a few deep, cool colors. (The pieces I used will be linked below.) I tried my hardest to maintain the linework and simplicity of Haring’s work, but remembering that I wanted to make a tribute to him, in a way.

To complete this piece, I used acrylic paint, a store-bought canvas, Sharpie marker, and paint brushes (soft and medium bristle). I first traced the pieces I wanted to incorporate in pencil, then began to think about color choices. At first, I wanted to use bold colors, but soon realized I don’t often like working with them. Pieces I’ve done in the past have indeed included darker colors, but my favorite pieces almost always have pastels in them.

I struggled with this piece quite often. I wanted to also incorporate his “Ignorance=fear” piece, however, I still have trouble with painting words. I was able to paint “safe sex” on the canvas since it was a more abstract font. Unfortunately, you can still see the black marker at the top of the canvas where I made the attempt to write “ignorance=fear.” To cover this to the best of my ability, I made yellow and white spike-like brush stroke marks. There’s also pencil marks in some spots that I was unable to erase.

Keith Haring connects to my life in a more distant sense. He was a gay man living in the 80s with AIDS. He had an abstract, but simple artistic style. Many people know that the 80s was time where HIV/AIDS had an “outbreak,” for lack of a better term. Here I am, a queer female living in the 21st century, with a ever-changing artistic style. Times have changed- we still have homophobia, but it wasn’t a blatant fear to touch someone with AIDS, or be near a gay person. Not only does Haring inspire me with his pieces, but his activism for the LGBT+ community was executed in a subtle, but powerful way.

Overall, I’m most proud of the entire piece. Keith Haring has been a favorite of mine for a long time. (I’m going to college in his hometown!) I really like how I was able to make the characters in the piece pop out by using dark, cool colors. This gave a nice contrast against the warm, pastel background. I also like that I used sharpie to do the outlines instead of black acrylic paint. I feel as though the marker gives a bold, clean line. This piece has to be the best I’ve ever produced. I appreciate my color palette, as well as image choices. I’ve been in an artistic-rut as of late, so this is a huge accomplishment for me. I hope I can continue to grow as I move on in life.

For this project, we had to choose a famous Hispanic poet to describe the background of their life. We then had to provide one of their poems & write our own.

El/La Poeta: Mario Benedetti

1. Mario Benedetti estuvo una maravillosa poeta. Él es conocido por las poemas sobre amor, ira y resistencia. Benedetti estuvo levanta en Paso de los Toros, Uruguay en el 14 de septiembre de 1920. Benedetti murió en Montevideo, Uruguay, a la edad de 88. Él nació como Mario Orlando Hamlet Hardy Brenno Benedetti Farrugia. Mario Benedetti nació en una familia de immigrantes Italianos. Benedetti asistió una escuela privada. Él escribió novelas, poemas y historias cortos. Él hizo poemas al principio de su carrera, pero cambió a novelas y historias cortos. Él también algunos ilustraciones por un corto tiempo.

2. Nací el 15 de septiembre de 2000 en Filadelfia, Pensilvania. En mi vida, yo no tengo hacer mucho a excepción de mí trabajo por mis clases y limpia mí dormitorio. También conocido como, un típico adolescente cosa. Sin embargo, mi vida personal es más que parece. Me mudo dos tiempos debido a falta de dinero y muerte. La académica vida que tengo ha sido lo mismo. Los éxitos de mí no tengo hecho un grande impacto en mí vida. Esto es porque yo no tengo completé bastante para hacer un cambio. Yo un poco feliz acerca de mi vida. Deseo que yo tuve más oportunidades, pero soy demasiado joven a lograr qué quiero hacer. Yo creo mí vida puedo obtener mejor.

4. Pienso que el poema es sobre estar con alguien y ve ellos dejan. Cuando el narrador habla acerca de ¨la celda de tortura,” se habló acerca del amor él está atrapado en. La sangre y amargura representa el dolor que el narrador siente. Es también representar como el amor ha sido arruinado. Me gustó el poema porqué de las imágenes que el poeta proveyó. El poema da un vibre que es escalofriante, pero relacionales. Otro tema sería como el poeta usó metáforas a describir el dolor el sintió. El poema fue probablemente la intentionality de ser espeluznante. Al final, yo gustó el poema.