Illustration Work

The set of three images I created for this assignment center around feelings of overstimulation through smoke, chatter, and nothingness. The visual context of Futurism, particularly Umberto Boccioni’s Stati d’animo, informed my compositional language. Futurism focused on abandoning the past and looking to a future focused on speed and flight. I was drawn to Boccioni’s work because of the movement in the pieces and the idea of giving visual form to invisible forces. While finding Futurism has a history of misogyny and glorification of war, in Stati d’animo, instead of feelings of praise for rain, wind, farewells, and train smoke as would be indicated from the ideals of Futurism, I found an emphasis on chaos and sadness. This led to my own interpretation of Futurism, featuring more mixed interpretations of modern forces. This is how I landed on the lens of overstimulation for my piece, which is the feeling of being overwhelmed by sensations and information.