Yirmeyah Yehuda hopes his art will connect with people. “If I can touch one person with my artwork, I’ve accomplished something important in this world,” says Yirmeyah, 19. A freshman at Maryland Institute College of Art, in Baltimore, Maryland, Yirmeyah's dream is to someday work in fashion.
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Silent Scream
This award-winning artist uses color to explore emotion
How does Yirmeyah express anger in this work?
When did you first get serious about art?
When I was 10, I started drawing people I saw in magazines. The drawings wowed my classmates and my family. They pushed me to pursue art.
How did you come up with the idea for this drawing?
I made it as part of a portfolio called “The People Series.” My goal was to express human emotions through color. There were 15 works exploring emotions from anger to joy.
How did you create your work?
I took a series of pictures of myself screaming and picked the best. Then I lightly sketched the outline and facial features on black matte board with a pale watercolor pencil. Once I had the proportions correct, I added color with watercolor pencils. I also used chalk pastels to create highlights and shadows.
Why are the colors important?
When I’m angry or depressed, I get this warm feeling in my heart. To convey that, I worked with warm colors. I used circular lines of intense red, the color of rage, to show the angry cry. The black background expresses emptiness and isolation.
How did you develop the composition?
I wanted the face to fill the scene. It’s right in your face. It sucks you in and you can’t look anywhere else.
What did you want the viewer to walk away with?
I wanted the viewer to think, “Wow, that guy is really intense!” I also wanted the viewer to consider people who are angry and may be in need of help.
Do you have any advice for aspiring artists like yourself?
Be fearless and fierce. Don’t be afraid to go outside the box. It might benefit you and it may also touch the viewer’s heart.
Yirmeyah won a Gold Medal for his mixed media work in the 2017 Scholastic Art & Writing Awards.
To find out more about this program, visit artandwriting.org
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