Beixi Zhang-untitled

Student Name: Beixi Zhang

Title: untitled

Work type: works on paper (soft pastel on toned paper)

Category: Illustration

Size: 19x22

This portrait was created to emphasize another reality within us. Surrealism is known as an art movement which was started in the 1920s. A "face melt" portrait is a type of surrealist artwork that depicts a person's face, dripping. While literally meaning a physical transformation, the underlying artistic meaning is a powerful metaphor for various themes, including emotional states, the loss of identity, and the impermanence of existence and release. The image can convey a sense of dread or of being at a breaking point.

For Beixi it’s the surrealism and the subversion of reality-Using a surrealist technique and an unusual color pallet, the artwork is meant to challenge the viewer's perception of reality forcing the audience to look deeper at the meaning behind the disruption of a typical portrait.

A sense of inner turmoil hidden by an outward expression-The work focuses on the dissonance between the "melting" and her facial expression. This suggests that she is pretending to be fine while inwardly experiencing and capturing emotional contrast. This example displays a message using the tone-colored paper techniques to create the art.

（By Omar Gallegos）