Recreating an artwork

 For the first task in the Art Portfolio module, we had to recreate an artwork. We first paired up with our classmates and then chose an art image from class. I paired up with my classmate Lucille and the picture we chose was this :

This is a mask-themed oil on canvas painting by James Ensor created in 1883. This was one of his first works and was inspired by his family's souvenir shops. By creating these mask themes paintings he was able to express his "non-conformity and frustration". 

The Scandalized Masks

We first started by choosing props for our setup and costumes.  Lucille was gonna act as the lady in the picture and I as the man. For Lucille's costume, we chose the blond wig with the white scarf, the brown cape, another fabric as the skirt, the wooden stick, and the glasses which we customized. For mine, we selected a black jacket as the black coat in the picture, a hat, and a mask which was also customized. We also picked up a bottle for setup decoration.

In this picture, we were customizing the glasses. We took a normal pair of glasses and cut two black paper circles which we stuck on the inside of the glasses with tape.

Here are pictures of us trying on our costumes.

For the mask, we got a balloon and taped it on the nose.  In the painting, they both wear masks with big noses but we only could find one mask so we decided to add it to my costume since the man in the picture is sitting sideways and his profile is more noticeable.

For the set up we chose to move to another room where we had the most similar space to the picture. We moved a desk next to the door and placed our props there. At first, we thought it wouldn't work since the lighting in the painting is much lower than the one we had but we decided to try because we liked the visual overall. 

These are the results.

These are some behind-the-scenes shots, where we were trying to finish last-minute touch ups to our costumes and set up. 

Working together with my classmate on this task was really fun and easy. We both went right to work with a few laughs breaks here and there but we managed to recreate the image. We both contributed to creating the costumes and the setup, like the mask, and glasses, and creating the scenery by moving objects and furniture. It was a fun ice-breaking exercise and we were both happy with the result.