By: Alyse Bowman
The artist, A’Niecia De Four was born and raised in Dallas, Texas. She and her family moved to Georgia when she was in the third grade. As a child she did many craft projects with her dad which created an interest for the arts at a young age. As her passion for art began to grow she began teaching herself how to draw. Once she reached high school, A’Niecia De Four started experimenting with drawing women in various poses and even combined them with nature and animals. She also focused on a meticulous AP art project centered around creating realistic reflections of metal and water with pastels and watercolor as her materials.
As A’Niecia De Four’s interest for the arts continued to grow, she decided to attend Valdosta State University to further her artistic studies. As a college student she began experiencing life as an independent woman and focused on creating more feminist works of art. A whole new world of art media opened up to her such as printmaking, oil painting, and ceramics. She continues to express her attention to detail when creating works of art and believes this began with her reflective surfaces series she created in high school. She studies her subjects with tedious detail before painting to acquire realistic qualities within her artwork.
This year, A’Niecia De Four is a senior at Valdosta State University and will be graduating with her B.A. Degree with a Major in Art. Her work is currently displayed in the Spring 2020 online Senior Exhibition titled In BOLD. Everyone is welcome to view her work along with the other graduating seniors virtually at www.vsuartdesignseniors.org. A’Niecia De Four artist’s statement regarding the body of work in the exhibition reveals how she seeks to tear down the walls of perfection which are meant to represent women in our culture. She depicts women in several different types of art media. Her use of color and brush strokes convey the mood she wants to emphasize such as peace or frustration. Her style ranges from realistic to loose and playful. She believes women with a mastectomy, or even “lost limbs” should not be seen in a less beautiful or sexy way. By allowing her subjects to be seen with cellulite or rolls of fat she believes her work relates to real women who often feel incomplete by the standards of society’s mirror of perfection.
A’Niecia De Four’s oil painting titled Objectification was the first work that kicked off the focus for her body of work. The painting depicts herself as an African-American woman in lingerie wearing a loosely striped robe. The woman is holding a cup of coffee and is contemplating about the night before. This painting is very personal to the artist because the concept deals with her personal experience of losing control over her own body to another person. It’s the idea of “lost autonomy” when someone pushes themselves on another person in a sexual manner. Although this painting depicts the actual artist it is also meant to represent any woman who has experienced losing themselves to someone else.
Her body of work in this exhibition includes an additional oil painting titled Ebony Odalisque. This work is a painting of an African-American woman with red hair laying in a pastel pink, blue, and grey bed. The artist is wearing lingerie with her eyes closed and her body in a relaxed position. The blue covers are pushed away to reveal her body. This work is about the male gaze, sexual desire, and sexulization of the black female body. A’Niecia Da Four requested her friend to photograph her in this position so she could use it as a reference for this specific painting.
A’Niecia De Four, Still Not Asking For It, Monotype, 20″ x 16″,2018
A’Niecia De Four, Not Your Property, Monotype, 20″ x 16″, 2018
Her work in the Senior Exhibition also includes four colorful monotypes which is a printmaking series titled Not Your Woman. The purpose of this series advocates for women to take ownership of their body. Each print incorporates phrases as well as the artist’s common thoughts and frustrations she feels towards society as a woman. Each work incorporates the same figure of a woman in the nude. Some prints have the most private parts of a woman covered in x’s or strokes of paint while other prints depict the figure completely uncovered. The title of each print is located in the upper portion of the work covering the woman’s neck. There are no faces in this series, only a woman’s body. The phrases in this series includes “MY BODY, MY BUSINESS”, “STILL NOT ASKING FOR IT”, “I DON’T DRESS FOR YOU”, and “NOT YOUR PROPERTY.” There is a color scheme to this series consisting of navy blue, dark purple, red, and burnt orange. There are also present effects from drip techniques as well. These pieces center around the issues of rape, culture, and abortion.
One of the prints in her series is titled My Body, My Business. The nudist woman being depicted has large navy x’s over her nipples and her crotch has been hidden with thick navy brushstrokes of paint. These most private parts of the woman are most likely covered to show that a woman’s body is personal to her and this is her business alone despite what anyone else may believe. There is no face present in this work. The artist most likely chose not to include a face to make it more relatable to the viewer.
4″ x 14″ x 15.5″, 2019
The artist also exhibited a ceramic sculpture titled Mutual Support. She had no experience with clay prior to her studies at Valdosta State University. She appreciates how clay can be manipulated and how it creates a very intimate experience. She enjoys touching the clay and believes hand building is much more intimate than throwing ceramics on the wheel. It gives her a sense of calm. This work was glazed and placed in a raku firing to get the effects of rustic colors such as dark red, orange, brown, and black. There are four headless women with different sizes of bodies, breasts, and poses. The figures are even curving in different directions. This sculpture gathering is meant to symbolize that women should lean on each other for mutual support.
A’Niecia De Four also has two lithography prints in the show as well. The first one is titled Do My Nipples Offend You? There are three unique women in this piece. The topless figure on the left raises her hand with the peace symbol. She is bald and most likely has experienced breast cancer and a botched surgery. The middle woman is topless and is breast feeding her baby. The woman on the right is clearly not wearing a bra but is clothed fully. They all three appear to have stretch marks on their body. This print relates to the Free the Nipple movement. It’s the idea that a woman’s chest is censored in society but not a man’s chest, especially in social media outlets like Facebook. The artist revealed to me that women who received mastectomies due to breast cancer get nipples tattooed on their body which is currently banned on Facebook.
Build-A-Woman is the title of one of her other lithography prints. This work relates to the artist’s childhood regarding paper dolls. She took this childhood memory and related it to today’s society specifically with the woman’s body. The print consists of a variety of shapes, sizes, and types of women’s body parts. There are scars, cellulite, hairy, hairless, large, and small forms of women’s body parts. The idea behind this work is that people can visualize or create their body type based on this artwork. It is very relatable. This work was in a previous student competition where the artist intentionally cut the different body parts out of her lithography print to allow visitors to interact with her work.
Last but not least, there is the inclusion of a silkscreen print titled Body Playground. The composition of this work is focused on a woman’s torso and upper thighs. There are various pieces of playground equipment covering the pink figure such as monkey bars, slides, swings, and a seesaw. This work is very colorful with beautiful pastel colors including pink, blue, mint green, yellow, and light red. There are delicate black contour lines in the work as well. It expresses the idea of the woman’s body being her own playground as well as a playground for others to sexually explore through invitation only.
A’Niecia De Four’s artwork expresses her voice for all women of every race and body type. She was so passionate about her message to women that she used her own body as a model in her work to reveal her own emotions and experiences as a woman. She encourages women to embrace their femininity, sexuality, and power. In a society where perfection is praised, a woman often feels flawed. Women are inspired to embrace their differences, imperfections, and scars. They are encouraged to find their own kind of beauty and to take ownership of their bodies.
Alyse Bowman is currently a junior at Valdosta State University. She is pursuing her degree in Art Education with plans to become an high school art teacher.