Canadian artist Fiona Dunnett: images of himself and death in Oaxaca are muted by the style of comics and collage
Alvin Starkman, MA, LL.B.
Comic portrait of a young Canadian car and pictures of violent death in a Mexican newspaper become strangers bedfellows. But they constitute a major part of the driving force behind the creative energies of artist Fiona Dunnett, a resident of Oaxaca, Mexico.
Ottawa-born Dunnett has been living in Oaxaca since 2005. As in the case of many artists who now reside in this city in southern Mexico, its arrival has been quite tortuous. And many others, his artistic talent has been shaped almost every stop along the road. Five years after leaving Canada with her mother Bangladesh diplomat Canada and the rest of his family. After three years he was back in Ottawa, and then another three years in Zimbabwe.
"When I left I felt close to Zimbabwe to South Africa. I took a course in stone carving, while there, so yes, I suppose that life in Zimbabwe has had some influence in what I do today, "conjecture. But it was his superior academic training, first at the Canterbury School of Arts, followed by the University of British Columbia Victoria where she graduated with honors. Bachelor of Fine Arts, which exposed her to the characters that have affected their creativity to the fullest.
"I had a great interest in the work of Gustav Klimt [1862 - 1918], "reveals Dunnett. The Austrian Symbolist painter was one of the most prominent members of the Art Nouveau in Vienna, however, a controversial figure in his time, criticized for his works are too sensual and erotic. He continues: "But Lichtenstein, whose art I've actually become more of a conscious effort to respect and carry forward, feeling that with a bit of my own personality and life experiences. "
Roy Fox Lichtenstein [1923 - 1997] was a prominent American pop artist whose work was heavily influenced by the popular advertising and comic book style. The latter clearly shines through the latest works by Dunnett, and in earlier work that adorns a wall in his house in the neighborhood of Xochimilco Oaxaca she shares with her boyfriend and three others: "Based on a dream I had, no doubt open images of comics, particularly in the dream there was a calendar (parade), with bodies they are dragged through the streets. I once did a series based on my dreams. I dyed the red sky as part of the background of this painting with cochineal [the insect produces minutes naturally carminic acid, and was an important export industry during the colonial Oaxaca]. "
Dunnett's too modest. Since moving to Oaxaca there is no doubt that she put her own mark on the comic style, with a strong desire to learn, and innovate. The geographical environment cultural and political lives by offering its diverse opportunities for artistic inspiration. He attended a workshop to learn about using natural dyes, such as flowers, plants and cochineal course, education and research center known as the Media Center Tlapanochestli Cochineal. "For some time I have been thinking about using natural dyes in my work, but it was not until a couple of years I realized that here in Oaxaca [in Actually, a few kilometers from the city, Santa Maria Coyotepec] I had the opportunity to learn about the use of an expert, Manuel Loera Fernández, chemical Tlapanochestli. There is so much artistic stimulation in Oaxaca, it is hard to resist taking advantage of everything available. "
Dunnett also participated in more traditional workshops, the Institute of Graphic Arts known Oaxaca (IAGO) and a few other institutes in the city. Towards the other end of spectrum, two local credit groups stencil graffiti with providing her with further inspiration, which manifests itself after a review of their work.
"I began to move away from realism and stylized works, surreal towards the end of my education in Canada. It was about the same time I started working mixed media, my strong preference at this stage of my development. "Coming to Oaxaca was perhaps the catalyst needed to begin to work more experimental in the context of a very encouraging environment.
Apart from an inclination towards the use of natural colors for the backgrounds of his paintings, one of the main identifying characteristics of Dunnett Work is its use of collage — newspaper clippings, magazines and comic books. Another is the use of photographs of his own head and face to provide the stimulus for his interpretation of the expressions and poses that seeks to capture for each theme. Almost all the leaders of each work is based on a photographic self-portrait:
"I started doing self-portraits when I started doing photography for several years. Then, when I moved to painting, I had this auto-body pictures, so I was able to extract from them for my art. Although he wanted to shoot people, I never felt comfortable doing so. And though my boyfriend and I have been together for almost four years, yet feel comfortable shooting even him. So it's all about me, perhaps because he was shy when it comes to other shots. But beyond that red, textured leaves of corn tamales, which is an experiment, with a face that is not my own — I think it's best that I stay with my own face. "
Each face evokes different emotions and images of himself. "The Faces making eye contact, the eyes of the viewers move around each site and then return to the eyes and face, "he explains. undeniably pleasant Dunnett own features face, and his behavior, once transferred to canvas, play an important role in the direction of the viewer. He masterfully photographed the head and upper body at all angles and with a lot of facial expressions to use in their work.
But there is another reason to go back to images Dunnett's facial expressions: The torso and limbs of each main subject is too disturbing portrayed — each is a digitized version of a photograph of a person who has died a violent death, usually in a traffic accident or as a result of internal conflict, captured by Dunnett two versions of the print and online Oaxaca newspaper, Voice and Image News Oaxaca. However, the artist, there is a sense of calm.
"I started to use the photos as it only started jumping on me. I never saw anything like it in Canada. In Oaxaca, in corners and on newsstands. Death in this case seems be an everyday thing, and attitudes toward death are so different that where I come and not so hidden. "
Dunnett noted that his intention is not to invoke feelings of horror, or revealing the terrible. Facial expressions that initially captured with a lens, and then transferred to canvas with the brush us away. In the case of working with a collage iguana, is curiosity on his face, rather than images of demons of death that attracts a in
The juxtaposition of death against the aesthetics of comic book images is amazing, almost as much as multiple submissions of the same Dunnett. It's that combination that keeps shock transfixation the spectator and at work. Fiona Dunnett may never get out of their reluctance to photograph the faces of others.
About the Author
Alvin Starkman received his Masters in Social Anthropology in 1978. After teaching for a few years he attended Osgoode Hall Law School in Toronto, thereafter embarking upon a career as a litigator until 2004. Alvin now resides in Oaxaca, where he writes, leads small group tours to the villages, markets, ruins and other sites, is a consultant to film production companies, and operates Casa Machaya Oaxaca Bed & Breakfast. ( http://www.oaxacadream.com ) .
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