Issue II
2020-2021 Edition
writing
poetry
the girl encounters darkness by Claire McNerney
cardboard boxes in the attic by e.l.
winter’s cavalry by Annika Gangopadhyay
Self-Portrait as Winged Victory of Samothrace by Vivien Song
boy; body; book by T.N.
portrait girl by zaynah shah
the casket by Subha N. Khan
the police are coming; should i scream or smile? by T.N.
propagation by j.b.
Orders by Kevin Zhu
In The Waves Of Space by megha ramkumar
Warning of War by Anonymous
how to feel mortal again by T.N.
Five Stages of Tongues by Arlina Y.
One Cool Night by Subha N. Khan
absolute by Annika Gangopadhyay
2:00 AM by Leila Touati
prose
mirror, mirror, on the wall by Trisha Khattar
Quiet Anger by Negar Morshedian
Grey Grim by Philip Avdey
Moon by taeis_goodboyyy
art
Lounging Panda - Will Liang // I'm not the artist--my computer is. Searching for an intersection of my interests in CS and art, I built a collage art generator that automatically created this piece from a reference image. Is this a product of creativity? Or simply the output of a series of commands? I don't know. (Here's a link to my code on Github: https://github.com/BitLorax/collage-art-generation)
Norms - walker // "Norms" was originally a depiction of Jack White. The final piece was inspired by the East Bay punk scene of the 1980's.
Jellybirds - SY // This painting was done with oil paint. It is about a way to show freedom; jellyfish move freely in the ocean and now they are flying into the sky. I wanted to create a separate and dreamy reality, where anything can happen and anything can break free.
mountain tops, wise conversations, and unfolding cosmos - Simone Pereira // Oftentimes I listen to a particular song when sketching the initial concept. When sketching this, I listened to Bruno Major's "I'll Sleep When I'm Older" which is a gorgeous piece. The song narrates the passion for adventure. During quarantine, it was harder for me to grasp that sort of wonder in the world. Being trapped at home, I lost the fire to explore and live life. The one thing that helped me get through it was my art. The scenes I draw offer me a form of escapism into new worlds. This piece is a window into my mind and the places my mind has traveled. Just because I am stuck in one spot doesn't mean that I can't continue to uncover new destinations.
Ear to Ear - Ryan Nava // A young woman laughing with friends. I wanted to capture all the facial quirks that are incorporated into a smile.
Father - SD // Portrait (Caricature)
Ledger Lines - Ryan Nava // A soul singer lost in the music.
Skull - Afreen Shameem // In my Art 3 class, I had to draw a skull head image from the real-life reference skull (made of plastic) that my teacher had in class. I looked at it from different angles to capture as much of the skull as I could and changed my pencil strokes to show texture and depth. I drew the shoulder and hair of a girl to relate the picture to myself and added a bird to contrast the skull's dreariness with cheerfulness and hope.
A skeleton knows - Auguste McDaniel // The image above depicts a blue toned skeleton with white highlights, with an exposed brain region, sitting behind a dark green background. The image represents the knowledge and intelligence one possesses before death, knowledge we carry onto the great beyond. A skeleton knows indeed.
Endangered - Afreen Shameem // This piece represents the ecological changes happening due to climate change. In the left corner, I highlight the effects of coral bleaching by contrasting the vibrancy of healthy coral to the dreariness of dead coral. On the right side, the stump and dead bush show that deforestation and extreme weather conditions have killed vegetation. The homes of polar bears and penguins are endangered since ice caps are melting; so, I showed the animals to be dying by melting. Even though the gorilla's home is not melting, it is still being lost to deforestation and for consistency, I drew the gorilla melting as well. Finally, the human (me), is telling these animals to "please stay" and preserve earth's biodiversity. However, it is too late, and all she can do is beg. I made this piece to draw attention to the urgency of the climate crisis and show the consequences of inaction.
The Comforting Child in Us - Larissa Hom // I wanted to express the feeling of nostalgia that comes with your favorite comfort foods. Although we are all growing older every day, we often still have that child in us that gets excited over our favorite foods. Throughout life, our taste buds change, and it is interesting to explore how we can end up loving the things we loathe to try as children. We are also more willing to try foods as we grow and discover our tastes and preferences. To express this sense of happiness and warmth, I drew my uncle, Paul, enjoying one of his favorite foods, my auntie's spaghetti. Therefore, I called the piece The Comforting Child in Us. To experiment, I wanted to see how I can work with various angles and perspectives to emphasize the food. I used oil on canvas to portray the warmth and love my uncle feels through eating the noodles. Full artist's statement linked.
Farmhouse painting - Khushi Bhatia // This is a painting of a small farmhouse surrounded by nature. It is made using acrylic paints, a brush, and a canvas. It showcases a cozy house that contributes in expressing the peacefulness of the world.
Absurdity - Amy // Pictured in my piece is a person made up of multicolored triangles. This is meant to symbolize the philosophical concept of absurdity, in which the meaning in our lives only exists because we choose to see it. In my piece, the image is fragmented into pieces which only become visible as a person because we, as humans, see the linkage between them.
Sunset Bridge - Khushi Bhatia // This piece portrays a beautiful bridge after a sunset. It's made using acrylic paints and warm colors.