SL Visual Arts

Comparative Study Tips

Hey guys!

     These past few weeks have been stressful for me, but that's only because I decided to take on way too big of a challenge: I used artwork from three obscure artists for my first comparative study. For those of you who do not know what or how to put together a comparative study, it is simply taking the Formal Qualities, the Function, the Purpose, the Cultural Significance, and the Conceptual and Material Significance of 3 pieces of artwork, in any of the 3 forms of making art, from either 2 or 3 different artists and comparing it all. I know it sounds a bit complicated, but don't fret. Our wonderful DP art teacher at BRIS, Mrs. Kim, broke all of this down for the visual art students, and it really made a huge difference.

     Essentially, a SL comparative study has 3 parts: Formal Analysis, Content, and Context. Formal Analysis is the objective art critique that's essential for you and whoever is grading your study to understand the other two parts. Now, Content is a little more abstract than the other two. This section deals with the meaning of each piece of artwork and the important motifs, symbols, signs in each piece. See, here is where I got caught up over thinking things. One of the pieces I chose, Goofball Gobbledygook by Kelsey Brookes, has an elephant as the main subject of the piece, along with a protruding tongue. An elephant usually means strength, good fortune, and responsibility, along with plenty of others; while a protruding tongue is linked to flame, fire, fertility, sexual power and spiritual power. So I started coming up with ridiculous stories using these meanings. Just remember kids, sometimes artists aren't deep. Now, finally, we have context. This one is mainly about the artist's background along with the audience's interpretation. You are now ready to do your very own comparative study! Just don't forget that each part I talked about has to be done for each piece of artwork and each artists.

     Now that you know how to put together a comparative study, you can now understand where I went wrong. I tend to become a fan of obscure artists, musical and visual, and can be great sometimes, but not when it's for a graded assignment that you've only just been introduced to. Trying to find credible information about these artists' pasts, along with the school's internet blocking half of the credible websites, was the most difficult thing I have had to do in an art class. So, a piece of advice for all of you future DP Visual Arts students from me: ALWAYS do your first comparative study on artists you have extensive knowledge on along with the credible sources to back it all up.

     And to pass on some more advice, Mrs. Kim once told me not to write too many words for my comparative study because "this is an art class and we are visual people." (sorry, those might not be her exact words, but that's the gist of what she told me) If you have any questions, advice, or tips for/about this class, don't be afraid to leave them in the comments. Until next time!


- Jordyn K.