William Pan
The Silent Theater
Class of: 2028
Major: Integrated Design BFA
Medium: Adobe Illustrator, Fineliner on paper
Faculty: Diana Shpungin
Prompt: Employing unique mark making techniques, students create an invented past and present landscape or portrait in two (or more) parts: half hand drawn in ink / half digitally rendered in Illustrator, with the goal of the hand mimicking the digital method and vice versa.
This work represents a movie theater as a metaphor to criticize the apathetic attitude of humanity toward climate change. Compositionally, it is divided into two parts: the upper half shows buildings dissolving and disintegrating into water, symbolizing environmental collapse. The water bursts out of a car window, reaches toward the viewers, who are depicted in static, passive positions. I have used a car window instead of the usual movie screen in order to emphasize the lack of interaction between the audience and the unfolding crisis, mimicking humanity’s detachment from environmental issues. Various textures and patterns are used throughout the piece, representing waste and the destructive impact of climate change.