BA/BS Art Exhibition

Utarius Rose Artist Statement As individuals with different personalities, we tend to distance ourselves from each other. Trying to connect with others is hard. So, how do we form connections and how do we create conversations that bridge the gaps between us? I believe the connection can be made by sharing personal emotional experiences through translating them into artistic narrative forms. I make drawings, paintings, and prints that insert surreal elements into representational spaces, often incorporating the figure. Both concepts and details excite me because they expand my imagination and inspire both mental and technical goals to focus on. I imagine my art as a sequence of different ideas, sorting out visual messages to pass on through each of them that creates a place for emotional connection with my viewers. I take visual as well as verbal motivation from both artists and people in my life. A great known artist who uses vivid realism is Kehinde Wiley, who is quite literally changing the faces of portraiture with his sensitive, vibrant, and political portrayals of black people, including teenagers he meets on the streets. From his work I reflected on the visual quality of his art, but also pay attention to the narratives of inclusivity in his work. Another artist who inspires is Kara Walker. She inspires me more on a verbal level when I look at her work. One great example would be a quote that I love by her and I say to myself everyday, “There’s no diploma in the world that declares you as an artist -it’s not like becoming a doctor. You can declare yourself an artist and then figure out how to be an artist”. That speaks volumes for me and ensures that an artist can be anyone, it just takes the artist to learn how to express themselves. My number one inspiration is my mother, Shanida Rose. Although she isn’t a known artist, she uses the art skills that I have shown her to create contemporary art of her own using our household as her vessel. Her work inspired me as an artist because it always reminds that anyone can be an artist as long as you’re expressing yourself in your own way! Within my work, I explore my own internal thought processes about how to express one’s inner emotions with an outstanding visual of experience. Making a way for my viewers to open themselves with what’s troubling them noticing that everyone feels the same emotions.https://digitalcommons.murraystate.edu/art499/1058/thumbnail.jp