Analysis of my chosen artist, ROA

            ROA, a very famous street artist from Belgium, is most well-known for his fascination in animals and his representations of them. ROA’s work, which is a part of the street art movement, was generally paintings of animals and birds that were in the area that he was in at the time. He got inspiration from the environment and animals around him. In a similar way to how I feel, ROA was deeply affected by the fact that animals were starting to become more endangered than ever. He managed to paint accurate representations of the animals that were becoming endangered in his area, which is something that I am extremely passionate about; I hate the fact that animals are being forgotten and how they are treated unfairly. ROA thinks that animals tell you so much about the world, in comparison with any other living thing, which is why he likes to paint them so much.

            The majority of his work is made with a colour palette that only consists of blacks and whites, however in some pieces he uses a few vibrant colours to get his message across that animals are treat. Moreover, he mostly uses acrylic paint or spray paint on abandoned or desolate walls within the cities that he has visited, however I cannot do this due to the fact that it would be illegal for me to do so. The majority of his work is very expressive and slightly stylised.

ROA

Rabbit

Hackney, London

Acrylic paint and spray paint

2009

                This large scale representation of a rabbit has been painted on the side of a dilapidated building with acrylic paint and spray paint. The fact that he has painted it on a large scale (12 feet tall) allows him to get a lot of detail in the rabbit. Even though he painted the rabbit on a flat background, he was capable of making it look 3-D; there is a high contrast in tone in regards to the darker and lighter areas of the rabbit which makes it look like it is 3 dimensional. He has used line in a more expressive motion which gives an accurate representation of the fur on the rabbit which increases the realism in the painting. The fact that he has only used blacks and whites in this painting means that he managed to get strong contrast in tone as he used more black in the darker areas than he did in the light areas. The fact that he has used a greyscale colour scheme allows him to show the world that he sees things in a different light and that sometimes the most beautiful things are in black and white. ROA used expressive mark making in this piece to give the animal a furry texture; the highly expressive mark making allows the viewer to see a truthful illustration of what a rabbit looks like.

                The fact that ROA has decided to paint the rabbit in an urban environment, yet also paint it next to plants that are taking over the wall, shows that he wants the audience to know that animals can live in both urban and rural environments; this gives me an idea of the context of the piece and the environments that the rabbit would be seen in. He has used the whole of the wall so that the rabbit is all that the spectator sees which is why in my pieces, which I am going to do in the future, I am going to use up all of my chosen background. In my opinion, I think that he has attempted to get a specific message across to the audience that animals can live in both environments and that we shouldn’t try to isolate them. He is trying to tell the story of a rabbit and how they are a natural beauty that shouldn’t be harmed or took for granted. However, overall, I think that he just wanted to simply show his passion for animals and how he thinks that they tell people much more about the world than anything else.

                ROA’s work relates to what I am doing because I I have a passion for animals and I hate the idea of them being mistreated. I want to express how I feel about animals through my artwork and how much I am fascinated by them. I am going to take inspiration from his mark making and how expressive he is in each of his pieces. I also like the amount of contrast in tone that ROA manages to represent in the fur. Although I can’t paint my art onto walls and fences, I am going to still get the same amount of detail in my drawings. I am going to use a limited colour palette of black and white, however I might try and add some vibrant colours to show how I feel about the animals. In a similar way to ROA’s work I am going to try and experiment with acrylic paint to see if I can achieve the same kind of texture and marks as he does.