Upcycling Project Aesthetic and Its Opposite Aesthetic
My upcycling project will have a floral aesthetic, in which I will carve out a melon into a floral pattern. Although there is no clear opposite of the floral aesthetic, I believe that gothic does a good job of contrasting the floral aesthetic.
The floral aesthetic is composed of mainly round, bright, colorful shapes which are meant to bring to mind thoughts of life and joy. In comparison, the gothic aesthetic has lots of jagged shapes with dull colors and heavy shading. The gothic aesthetic is supposed cause the viewer to feel pensive, and generally makes the viewer consider the concept of life and death, as opposed to celebrate the life within the world.
Creating the Opposite of My Upcycling Project
I believe that a melon would be too cheerful and floral for a gothic aesthetic, and so it would clash with any design I were to carve into it. Therefore, I believe that using a pumpkin would work much better, similar to what is done to celebrate Halloween. A melon has the brightest color inside, where the viewer’s attention will be, whereas a pumpkin’s brightest color is outside. By carving into a pumpkin, we are destroying the beautiful colorful exterior to expose the yellowish flesh, which I believe fits the gothic aesthetic much better than carving into a cantaloupe to expose the beautiful color inside.
In terms of design, I would carve a design similar to that of gothic architecture, with sharp jagged spires and quatrefoils. There would be a lot of straight lines, as opposed to the curves that will be present in the floral design I will actually create, Additionally, I would hollow out the pumpkin and insert a candle into the middle, in order to create the shading that is characteristic of the gothic style.
Sources:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Remixing_Floral_Pants_from_H%26M_(16973987741).jpg
https://www.worldhistory.org/article/1649/gothic-cathedrals-architecture–divine-light/
https://www.pickpik.com/halloween-decorations-autumn-skull-horror-spooky-85981
2 Comments. Leave new
Hi Dylan, such a cool interpretation of this assignment, I love that you decided how you would go about actually creating this design if it were to be a real assignment. Very unique opposite to this aesthetic I would not have thought of, great post!
Hi Dylan, good job on the post and I agree that gothic and floral are sort of opposite aesthetics from each other in this context. What do you think about the tradition of carving scary faces into pumpkins on halloween? What aesthetic do jack o lanterns fit? This also reminds of the differences between spring and fall, which are opposite seasons from one another. Maybe we should we consider carving watermelons during the spring (or maybe not)?