I am an artist, I am 18 years young. I have always had a strong interest in art. Anything that has to do with being creative is my thing. I love to sing, dance, write poetry, create fashion, and make others smile. Although I’ve been in love with art and self-expression since I was probably 11 years old, my main interest is getting closer to society, so I could try to figure out why we segregate from each other. I think people are fearful that society won’t accept individuals who are different. My goal is to become a psychologist. I’m interested in people, so that ties into my brand “D-4MD”- a brand where everybody fits in, and society’s norms are beautifully deformed.
The meaning of my board is to express my cultural and spiritual side that I feel society doesn't accept. My board is full of shapes and colors, and is marked directly in the middle with a powerful number, the lucky number 7. I have created contrast by using black and white which represent my waves and vibrations. I used the dynamic black and white to show how powerful I can feel within myself. It’s sort of a reflection for what I feel within.
I have had many different models of inspiration for this design. Most of my inspiration came from different people wearing different colours and floral and cultural patterns, as well as random paintings I have seen around Toronto. I guess I could also say I’ve inspired myself, to finally express myself completely.
For this design, I drew a full-colour template and used tape so I could spray paint all different colours in different shapes onto the board. It was a challenge because my design also has a lot of curves in it, but I used an x-acto knife to smoothly carve out all the shapes to create neat detailing. Although I wanted to make this design super complicated, I stuck to the “keep it as simple as you can” strategy when focusing on making many tiny triangles in this design. I had to keep in mind that detail and technique go hand in hand.
What I’m trying to communicate is the idea of society being a whole, while still keeping our individual frame of uniqueness. I’m also trying to warp the mold of the mainstream, by deforming the rules of just simply being. I hope my board will let people create their own perspective of why I put the number 7 in the centre.
I’ve learned that if you want to perfect something, you have to actually be willing to practice and have the patience for it. I was prepared to create this board but I never considered the fact that perfection is different for ever person out there until I completed it. Overall, I’m very proud of myself for making my first board for “D-4MD”!
