“Beating” is a piece of art created in 2012 by Corrine Cushman, a student who graduated from Western Illinois University later that year. The artwork is an etching, which is an intaglio type of printmaking. Intaglio processes involve using acids to etch away depressions in the material. The piece is an average size; it is not overwhelming large, but it is big enough to clearly understand the image. This etching has been loaned to Olson Hall by the WIU Printmaking Department. It hangs in the hallway leading to the elevators and students walk past it everyday when walking back to their rooms. Cushman created a work of art that uses dark chaotic lines to create a young girl getting attacked by demonic monsters. My background and the principles of design used, lead me to believe that this piece is about a girl who wants to sleep, …show more content…
These thoughts have evolved into monsters that attack her throughout the night. “Beating” is a type of stylized art of invention and fantasy, meaning that the piece represents the objects in a non-naturalistic manner that is fabricated by the artist. Cushman has etched the female in a slightly cartoonish way, which is evident in the large eyes, and the monsters that are a figment of her imagination. This piece also has a visual heaviness. The monsters clearly outnumber the girl and create an asymmetrical balance in the overall piece. The girl is becoming overwhelmed, not only by the monsters, but by the darkness, as well. The visual heaviness present in the piece helps show that the girl cannot handle the thoughts the come to her as she tries to sleep; the demons represent all the thoughts taking over her life. The use of black also gets this idea across. Black is associated with negative