The COVID-19 pandemic has affected us all differently. How has the pandemic affected art and what can the same four walls do to a creative mind? It’s no secret that artists are influenced by the ever-changing world around us. During the pandemic, even a special type of art appeared. This is what we call Covid-19 art.
Art can have a transformative effect on a space and can bring happiness and hope into many lives. We have selected some thought-provoking pieces that capture a range of emotions from the recent pandemic.
Slasky portrays this fantastically through his digital printed piece, Valentine’s Day 2020, depicting two cherubs wearing nothing but masks. Slasky creates creative, thought-provoking works that bring a modern twist to classic art. The image, like much of Slasky’s work, plays on the juxtaposition and contrast between neutrals and bright colors.
Slasky comments that isolation creativity comes in many forms and that art is not only based on talent but also evokes thoughts and emotions:
“I find that people often tend to classify digital art as “inferior” compared to other artistic movements of the past. Digital artists are seen as people with “clever ideas” rather than artists who actually “create” art.”
Another piece of Isolation Creativity Now Clean perfectly captures how easily the extraordinary became ordinary life. This oil painting illustrates how reusable masks and gloves now get strung up to dry and often go missing just like common odd socks. A necessity, but often, a pain.
“Masks and gloves … have become indispensable, like ordinary socks, without them we do not leave the house, without them we are not welcome anywhere.”
In this wonderfully emotive piece, Katy McKidd Stevenson depicts the harsh truth behind the pandemic through her impressionistic portrait, Emma, Cardiac Scientist. Katy explains how moved by the image she was and knew she needed to recreate this COVID-19 Art as an oil painting.
“I saw Emma on a Facebook post where she showed her wee tired face with marks left from the PPE she had to wear on the frontline, trying to save COVID-19 patients in hospital – she meant to share it with friends and family, but her post went viral. I loved her face and asked her if I could paint it, and she kindly agreed.”
Monochrome Lockdown is a piece of COVID-19 Art that draws on the idea that everyday life became hazardous during the pandemic and that simple pleasures of the outside world, such as sitting on a park bench, were prohibited. We are drawn to the rainbow in the background, making the house glow like a light at the end of the tunnel or a rainbow after the storm.
Although we are still facing a global pandemic and quarantine, sometimes it is difficult to see the light at the end of the tunnel. But we also live in an era of change and artistic expression, and sometimes in the moment, you don’t realize that you are part of history in the making.
