Artist Research/homage - Johannes Vermeer

After looking over a variety of ways of expressing my point of view using different rhetorical strategies, I decided I wanted to make use of my strength in illustration in a Homage which subverted a well known figure/painting to express domestic violence, particularly towards women, as shown in my research this is a serious issue going on in our society, one that I feel is infinitely more worthy of our time and money.

Several came to mind for this: Mona Lisa, Birth of Venus, The Girl with the Pearl Earring... The latter stuck out to me. I have always thought this painting was very beautiful, it almost made me feel guilty to even consider subverting it for this topic. But that's entirely why I chose it, and I had a rather impactful approach in mind. Vermeer was the perfect artist model for this concept as he is well known for his almost photo realistic and beautiful portraits of females, showing a glimpse into a intimate moment which seemed almost ethereal.

I wanted to portray this girl facing a very realistic and serious struggle many in our society have to deal with, as bleak and confronting as it may be. And bring it into a more modern and appropriate context, making it more relatable or accessible to the viewer. Rather than the focus being on her pearl earring, I gave her an understated modern piercing and shifted the focus towards her wounds of abuse. I was intending for this to evoke strong Wehi, to offer rhetoric of where our priorities should lie and make people remember that some people have such major problems going on that something as trivial as a flag change really isn't going to help them in any way shape or form. Our time and money should be focused on big problems like these in my opinion and not an indulgent flag referendum!

It really helped with the direction of my first poster getting a bit of background context about Vermeer, and how his work was perceived and what they represent. I also looked at several other paintings of his and watched a documentary about Vermeer, he lived a very modest life and had 11 children, I guess his struggles really shone through in his work, and perhaps this is why people find them so captivating.