ARTWORK (sculpture) Benevolent and malignant

1. How does your sculptural project address the Benevolent and malignant?

In the brief for this project we were asked to create a work which is composed of two works and has a contemporary take on the theme. The relationship between the two works would also needed to reflect the duality of the subject mater. What sets this project apart from our previous ones was that it needed to be displayed with the other students works.

As a result this project had a few restriction. size was restricted to a 15cm2 space for each object , and the works would need to touch the sides of each plane of the space, so that the continuity of scale between the works will be seen. One of the works “had” to be made of white paper , the other was to be colored red.

The aspect of the “Benevolent and Malignant” that I chose to explore in this project is the internal struggle between the good and evil. In particular I focused on the individuals attempt to contain and control that evil that lies inside them. The internal struggle between good and evil is a universal aspect of the human condition common to all human being . We all face it differently , with different severities.

The works that I created were to reflect my own internal struggle . I have created two heads , the white paper being the Benevolent ,visually, a realistic representation of a human head (my head) . This is to alude to my act of binding the evil, of creating a shell.

The Malignant being the red shares the same space and form as the white but is constructed of timber and ceramic. It represents the evil inside trying to break free , but is restrained.

2. What research did you engage with ? Artist contemporary or traditional

When I began brainstorming for this project I looked at what the definable concept of good an evil was .Internet searches for :

• Conflict between good and evil
• Psychology
• Religious views
• Nature of evil
• Evil
• Satan
• Morality
• Sin
• Dualism

and more ... ( See journal for more)

My conclusion was that good and evil , benevolent and malignant , are just concepts unique to an individual.

“a lot of people tend to believe that evil is something external to them , because they project their shadow onto others” Carl Jung

and what is considered good and evil is also relative , 4 schools of thought on this are:

Moral absolutism – holds that good and evil are fixed concepts established by a deity , nature, morality , common sense or some other source.

Amoralism – claims that good and evil are meaningless, that there is no moral ingredient in nature

Moral relativism – holds that standards of good and evil are only products of local culture, customs or prejudice.

Moral universalism – universalism claims that morality is only flexible to a degree, and that what is truly good and evil can be determined by examining what is commonly considered to be evil amongst all humans

Initial image research was very generalised . I found many images online about good and evil that were red and white dualities. Tho I found very few sculptural works .

Since my original research was looking at the evil being inside us .. ie DNA .. my first images were along those lines . Once the decision had been made to use a figurative representation of the human head I gathered as much information into my own head by taking photos from every angle and printing them off in black and white as well as color so that I could check for tone and depth.

Artist that I had researched and that had influence this project were:

Antony Gormley - ( use of his own body in his work and his method of creating a form)

Gerhard Richter - in particular his work “Two Sculptures for a Room by Palermo”

(see journal)

Will Ryman - works with dualities of the human condition ( see journal )

Lindy Ivimey

3. Discuss the planning of your project , including experimentation , technique selection, overcoming technical problems and determining limitations and constraints ( Refer to your journal)

experimentation, technique selection , why ?

Over the first term holiday I had decided to look at the emote involved in the struggle between good and evil . This lead to 2 marquettes being constructed ( see journal ) one from clay the other from paper. Unfortunately this approach did not resonate with me at all and I decided to revise my project.

In keeping with the 'create a body of work' unit I returned my focus to releastic representation. I best felt that creating heads would convey my concept.

This lead to exploration and experimentation into:

• Constructive clay work
• Mold casting (plaster cast mold)
• paper mold casting
• mold joining and strengthening
• mold barrier techniques
• timber work

cutting and breaking – to shape the head

sharding ( chisel and hammer to shatter into smaller shards )

• glue testing for the timber

wood glue

super glue

hot glue

liquid nails ( most effective )

technical problems

overall I faced a great number of major technical issues with both of the works which resulted in me remaking both of them once the first initial two were completed . I feel that the two newer works are more resolved . The following are a few of the technical issues that I faced.

First white head

• complete loss of detail through the use of plater strip molding, only vague form remained
• partial loss of form with second attempt at molding
• joining of the two halves of the second mold was problematic and time consuming I found that it was near impossible to retain the form of the original because of the papers 'memory' my attempt to strengthen the form after molding caused warping
• had great difficulty in retaining the detail and shape
• the second mold was knocked off the table while drying and landed face first , flattening then face , I was unable to repair the damage

as a result of the damage to the first white head a second was made. I was careful to place the second in a safe place while drying.

Second white head

• a few patches had to be filled but overall there were few technical issues as I had prior knowledge to potential issues that may have risen.

First timber red head

• drying time of glues – liquid nails was great to work with since it has a paste like consistancy and sets quickly ( 30mins ) but its hardening time was 2 days and I could only work on 1 side of the form at a time . This caused construction time to be lengthly.
  Another problem with the liquid nails was the applicators(guns) that I used. They were cheap and two of them broke. I ended up having to use a fork (eating utensil) to apply the glue to the surface.
• the use of hand tools to shape the head damaged it greatly . Causing large chunks of the form to break away
• I chose to use acrylic paint which was applied with a brush ( lack of equipment again ) I would never recommend any ever do this on that type of surface , getting into the crevases was a joke and I ended up having to water the paint down considerably and “washing” the work with the paint. This caused the drying time of the paint to be a full week.

As a result of the ongoing issues with the first red head I remade the work , keeping the same concept but using different materials.I created a hollow twisted column from air drying claying which would be the armature for the spikes. I then broke skewers into short lenths and incerted them at approprate lengths into the clay ( clay has a 24hr drying time but a 3ish hour working time before it becomes too leathery )

Second timber red head

• limited time frame for completion meant less time for refinement

• skewers dont break evenly and often “string”

• they are deceptively sharp once broken ( many cuts as a result, OHS problem )

• had to work quickly with the air drying – some cracking occurred when incerting the skewers into leather hard clay.

The second head had far fewer technical issues than the first

limitations and constraints

It was a constant struggle with poor quality equipment and the lack of access to power tools especially since I was working with dence Hard wood. It negatively effected the outcome of the red sculpture to the point that it was scrapped due to my justified frustration . With the proper equipement it would have been possible to correctly shape the form. Instead I only had access to hand tools.

4. What aesthetic decisions did you make? Eg working with particular equipment to achieve particular effects, establishing a key , determining a palette and deciding upon a format and a scale

Since coloration had been dictated I was able to focus my aesthetic decision on form . I chose to use realistic representation for the white head as I knew the red ( internal struggle ) would end up being quite abstracted , this would aid as a device for the duality of Benevolent vs Malignant. Use of modelling clay to create a mold for the white work turned out to be successful. And use of an armature for the red aided greatly in its creation

I needed to take into consideration that these works would be displayed with the other students as an installation. So the positioning of the heads is very important . I have chosen to have them facing one another , much like Gerhard Richter's work. This aids in maintaining the relationship between my pieces and my concept

5. How has your experimentation and development of selected techniques informed the sculpture project ?

Im going to consider the first two attempts at the sculptures as my experimentations . Primarily the technical issues I faced during the creation of these have better informed my future choices of techniques to resolve the project.

6. How could you further develop your techniques in relation to you professional practice ? How might you build upon your ideas towards future work ?

The most important thing that I have learnt about this project is that it is harder for me to work on smaller objects than larger ones ... I have discovered this in my other studio areas as well. I guess the best way to describe this is , a small project , for me , is like trying to thread a needle ,larger projects is like walking through a door way. The reason for this difficulty is my restricted movement and the tremmors in my hands.

Trying out new techniques and methods with a limited time frame during a project is risky without the proper knowledge, or the proper equipment.

What I will continue is the use of armatures and realistic representation as these resonate with me .

The use of air drying clay has shown me a possible avenue to continue working in ceramics without the need for a specialised studio. Further exploration regarding this potential needs to be made.

Conceptually this project has facinated me and extended my understanding of the human condition