Arne Westerman, when exploring how we can express energy and life through art, said "we recognise emotions we've actually felt"1 which means it's important for me to paint a scene which people are able to relate to, something people have experienced.
We react to colour, sound, texture and material and so this started me thinking about exactly what kind of scenes captured these elements and I began to brainstorm a few ideas.
Sport
I feel that sport is one of the obvious choices as it is a well known release of energy which, as stated above, increases the heart rate in a similar way to the colour red.
However, while being an obviously energetic sport, would the scene be exciting enough to interest the audience? While a lot of people do enjoy watching sports both in person and on TV, I can't say the scene would be exciting enough to evoke a feeling of energy within myself. This is why I did a survey on the topic to see what other people felt constituted a scene of energy.
I was surprised by the result as I expected a lot more people to vote for sports due to it being an obvious release of energy. However, I also feel that this was to be expected as viewing a painting of sports doesn't usually evoke a feeling of energy within the viewer. While being an obvious release of energy, the scene doesn't always create the most exciting or eye catching imagery.
Concert/Live Music
In contrast to sports, this option received a majority of votes which I found unsurprising due to my own personal experience with concerts. I felt this would be a popular option as it not only holds incredible energy when captured in a photo, but also creates an atmosphere of energy when genuinely experienced. From personal experience, I find the atmosphere to be one of the most important parts of live music. Large numbers of people all crammed into one space should be cramped and awful but instead, it creates this united feeling where everyone is excited for the same thing. Once the music starts and you have an excited band bouncing about on stage, the atmosphere really takes it to the next level. Hundreds of people jumping (almost) in time, singing and screaming together. If you take a moment to break out of that excited screaming at the band on stage and look around, you're faced by huge numbers of passionate people. In my opinion, it's that passion and unity that creates the incredible atmosphere of energy at a concert. If I were to capture a moment like this in paint, using subjective viewing to make it seem as though the viewer is in the audience looking up at the band, I feel I could successfully create a piece of art that captures a moment of energy.
Dance
Another scene I considered was a dance performance. I feel that dance effectively creates energy as there is more room for experimentation with colour and other effects. For example, while with sports you may only be able to capture the colours you're given at the event (green fields, sports kits?), with dance, if done on a stage, there is room to experiment with brightly coloured props, lighting and costume. Dance could be considered a mixture of Sports and Concert in the case as you are witnessing the energetic actions of something much like sports with similar fitness requirements while also witnessing something which aims to perform, much like a concert. "The immanent energy of the body is externalised and transmitted through dance. Energy is, after all, the ultimate source of social control and with the body as instrument, dance may signify power and/or be charged with it."2 This quote put basically, is saying that we use dance to express and release our energy through the control of our bodies in dance.
Other
In addition, I was also considering stormy weather as a scene for my final piece however have decided that it would be too risky to rely on a storm happening for my own photographic benefit. Due to the unlikeliness of a storm happening soon, I have decided not to look any further into this idea.
Children's games could have been an interesting scene to depict relying on them playing a high energy release game such as tag but perhaps this falls under sports which would mean the earlier analysis I did of sports could also apply to this idea. However, the lack of votes towards this idea is enough to convince me that it isn't worth researching. This is because my art will be targeting my audience and so if I were to choose a scene they do not find particularly energetic, my aim of energy may not be fulfilled.
1 Westerman, A. Paint Watercolours Filled With Life and Energy (Ohio, North Light Books, 1994) ↩
2 Hanna J.L., To Dance is Human: A Theory of Nonverbal Communication, https://books.google.co.uk/books?hl=en&lr=&id=7YrqN-uPf0cC&oi=fnd&pg=PR17&dq=portrayal+of+energy+in+dance&ots=CX5RUbNPHt&sig=O1RhKp6Dry6uox1rL-S40beNT2Y#v=onepage&q=energy&f=false ↩
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