Yuri Kishi

My painting is inspired by the art piece, 'Dancing Mutants' by Filipino artist Hernando R. Ocampo.

This artwork was created in 1965 with oil paint on canvas. The artist was inspired by a movie about the nuclear bombing on Hiroshima at the end of WW2. This movie was about mutant creatures that had been born from a nuclear attack, and Ocampo created this artwork with inspiration from the forests of the Philippines.

I picked the artwork 'Dancing Mutants' because I like the earthy, contrasting colours used in the oil painting. I also like the smooth, wavy lines that depict a nature-like feel. Another factor that made me pick this work is the mystery. This picture is much deeper than what meets the eye, from the shape of the three mutant figures to the story that inspired the artwork. I admire how this picture has depth in so many ways- from the deep shadows drawn in the picture to the story of the mutants.

The colours used in the art reminds me of a school trip I went on last year. We went to a forest in Japan where the soil was sandy and slightly red- this was because the forest had grown out of a place where lava had flowed and is now dried. Eruptions, though not man-made, are devastating natural disasters that destroy life around itself like the nuclear eruption 'Dancing Mutants' is inspired by. Yet, unlike the nuclear bombing at the end of WW2, this eruption has led to the creation of a beautiful forest with deep caves and red soil. The trees take very long to grow and tend to lean into each other as the ground doesn't have as much nutrients as other places would. I remember distinctly an earthy red ground and cool green from the delicate foliage. Therefore, I incorporated a foliage texture in my interpretation, similar to the original but not tropical. Similar to Ocampo, my artwork also has inspiration of the forests from my home country. The number I chose is the number 6. This is because on the school trip, I was with 6 other friends when we went into a cave to explore.

For my response, I first did a light wash of thin red paint, which I started to layer with different tints and shade streaks. Then, I painted an outline of where I wanted to place the leaves at the top. The leaves have been painted over many times with varying tints of green to create texture and bring out the shade of green I wanted. The reason I put a blue 6 in between these leaf-like shapes I because on the school trip, there was a small clearing behind the caves that we went to. There, when you looked up, the break between the leaves of the trees created a heart shape, and I was inspired to do a similar thing with my number.