oil pastel, chalk pastel, conte crayon; 20×24”
“My artwork is titled Strangling Smog, because I depicted the consequences of human carelessness on nature. My main subjects are three little plants, and I made them human-like so the audience is emotionally engaged. The first flower is being choked by air pollution, with a fearful look on its face. The second flower is watching in horror, and the third one is lying dead on the floor. I aimed to make these three flowers representative of what might happen to humanity if we do nothing or too little to put an end to air pollution. At the top of the canvas is the pollution itself, its eyes showing unrelenting control with its arm. I used three distinct media in an effort to make the subjects stand out from the background and for the smog to be a different texture; oil pastels, chalk pastels, and conté crayons. I tried to capture a cartoonish feel with this artwork. I was partly inspired by political cartoons that show drastic images in order to get an opinion across. My artwork is cartoony because the message is made clearer. Although I made the flowers cartoony, I tried keeping the human emotions on the flowers.”
ARTIST BIO: Jack GHERING is a grade 11 student at Roger Bacon High School studying art under art teacher Cindy Foley.