Grade 12 - 2012 Nicole

 Events in the past two years of my life has influenced my artworks, specifically, the events associated with the environment and natural disasters. This has shaped my artworks into having a theme of the Power of Nature. I am fascinated by the artistic style of Romanticism, where painters of the 19^th century painted landscapes conveying a mood of fear and awe inspiring views of the natural world. The works of Romanticism use sublime and unnatural landscapes, which create a dark atmosphere. My artworks revolve around this theme, having the message of the power of nature, and the insignificance of men over nature’s power. I looked into different landscape paintings by landscape artists from different places around the world, and connecting them to the genre of Romanticism and the superiority of nature over us. Silhouettes were my main point of interest in my early artworks; the mystery associated with silhouettes in mist allowed the creation of more frightening and fearful moods in my artworks.

In the theme of the power of nature and its superiority, I looked into the “Gaia Theory”, and the resultant human impact on the planet. This includes the natural disasters that are caused by human activity, and many more catastrophes we human beings are headed into. The goal of my artworks and my body of research is to warn and scare people about their impact on the planet in their everyday activity, and their obliviousness to the power of nature and its capability. My artworks follow the Romantic style to hopefully convey this message to my audience.