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  

ARTWORK (sculpture) human condition (money angel)

maquette made before starting sculpture to resolve technical issues, such as the armeture.

basic construction with chicken wire and fabrics

face for sculpture molded over plastacine design

1. How does your sculpture project address THE HUMAN CONDITION?

This outline of this project asked us to focus on an aspect of the human condition that resonated with us , and create a sculpture which used 20+ ready made templates. The only restriction was that the sculpture was to be no larger than 1m square.

The aspect of the human condition this work focuses on is , “self reflection” in particular “what is meaningful and valuable in life” ... globalisation has changed what is meaningful and valuable in the world around us, everything we do has a dollar value attached , and if it is seen as NOT being financially viable, it is made redundant. The individuals need to increase the financial value of their time has become prevalent ....

In todays society the value of money has been raised to a statue of worship , it rules peoples lives. Its no longer enough to just work to live . Greed is consuming our planet.

The way Ive explored this through sculpture is by creating an idol from fake money . Showing that it is an object of worship , but an object that has no real value.

2. What research did you engage with

I began my research into concepts of the human condition

this expanded into brainstorming (see journal ) .. aspects I researched are as follows:

• definition of the human condition and the aspects of
• human self-reflection
• ontology
• philosophy
• Christian view points

the passages from Ecclesiasties heavily effect my life and also this project .. in particular the following passage

“life is pointless, completely pointless.

You spend you life working, labouring and what do you have to show for it? Generations come and generations go, but the world just stays the same. The sun still rises and the sun still sets. The wind blows and rivers flow into the sea , yet the sea is not yet full. What has happened before will happen again.. No-one remembers what has happened in the past and no-one in days to come will remember what happens between now and then.”

my observations throughout my day , I see people in cars cutting pedestrians off at pedestrian crossings, no longer time to date properly , no time for family , customer service in restraunts actually everywhere is appauling at most places since they want you out fast to get more people in ... turn over is more important to them . People are sueing each other at every given opportunity.. even on a personal level everyone I know is telling me I should be selling works right now .. why ? My initial response to this was that people are wasting time and should hold more value on it . It wasnt until I began to look at the cause of this rushing that I realised that it came down to money.

people aways rushing ...not stopping

most people are too busy to notice , too impatient to reflect on what is important in their lives , many focus on finance at the cost of others and the environment

artists I looked at with the project were :

Doris Salcedo

Fiona Hall

Antony Gromley

Lindy Ivimey

Lindy Ivimey's exhibition “If pain persists” , which we saw at the university of Queensland, I researched further into her techniques. In particular her use of excentuated posing of simple figures and her use of texturing her forms. I paid particular attention to how she portrayed hands without the need to use fingers , she usually had the wrist bent to accentuate the hand . Her work Ebris Ebruis , latin for intoxicated and exhilarated was clad in champagne-bottle top stickers , this helped me decide in how to use my Faux money.

I covered a great deal of image research on this project , I looked into iconography from many different religions. My research ended up focusing on Christian iconography , due to being a Christian myself. I looked at postures of forms , gender and its importance in a form. These decisions would be important to best convey my message.

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

planning – experimentation ,

for this project I chose to use “constructive” methods, the construction of my marquette helped me solve a number of methods before beginning on the larger sculpture. Use of armature , to aid in building up the form and pose of the figure was the most important AND the need for a base to attach the sculpture to while working on its construction ( I recycled a printing wood block for the base )

technical problems

as part of the construction process I had to use a platform/base for the armature to be attached to. Once the sculpture had taken shape I realised that this platform had to stay as it helped keep it upright but I had to now hide it . I decided to cut the base to match the shape of the drapery and then extended the drapery over the base.

The surfacing of this sculpture was an on going problem but one that I feel is resolved.

By using white paper in the initial covering I was able to make sure that the form was exactly how I wanted . My first choice was to emulate weathered bronze by using the different colors in the $100 notes .. from the yellow to the green. The wings initially were pure yellow and the money had been torn into chucks which were just too large resulting in very dominant 'O' s all over the surface. Aesthetically I felt that this was just too gawdy and detracted from the presence of this piece. This was resolved by using a uniform surfacing of smaller pieces of the notes to emulate marble.

limitations and constraints

due to the mottled texturing the features of the face were diminished as well as the strength of the drapery that I had created , this was partially fixed when the gloss finish was added

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

POSTURE OF THE FIGURE AND SCALE

The posture of the figure is very important , a great deal of narative is expressed by this so I had to chose carefully.

My aim for the idol was for it to visually be:

• inviting – arms open, looking down as tho to say “come my children , I have nothing to hide, my hands are empty, my arms are open. I look down apon you only to help you up. You will find peace and happieness in my embrace”
• striking
• worthy of worship

(see journal for image development )

SURFACING

I chose to use fake $100 notes as my ready made template , (650 in total) because of their color , with the initial intention to emulate weathered bronze. left the yellow on upper surfaces on first layer .. didnt like the aesthetic of this so I experimented further

I ended up changing to emulate green marble . Which was done by using smaller torn pieces of the notes over the surface.

To strengthen the “lack of value” or “cheapness” that I wanted to portay in this work I chose to use a gloss finish, to emulate the plastic look of money.

SCALE

The only real restriction in this project was scale , I chose to fill as much of the 1m2 that I could .. with the tips of the wings touching that size both vertically and horizontally.

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

constucted a marquette (see journal for images ) this aided

• posture
• scale / proportions
• weather or not I was going to add wings

The construction and technical process were as follows:

• construction of an armature with mesh wire
• reshaping of the mesh to correct proportions
• the shaping of the drapery ( the wings had not been added at this point )
• first application of paper mache with large pieces that have 50% overlap for strength
• second application of paper mache with smaller pieces to define the form , pushing and cutting certain areas to accentuate the drapery
• several other applications once form had been built up to promote strength
• constuction of the wings .. first with sheets of paper so I could shape them properly
• building up of the form of the wings and applying layers of paper mache for strength
• cutting of the base to blend in with the drapery
• application of the faux money .. first texture
• reapplication of faux money .. final texture ( removal of the yellow and decreasing the size of the torn money
• application of Clear Super Gloss Varnish over the entire sculpture

construction of face – I used modelling clay to shape the face ( see journal for images ) then lay down glad wrap ( as a barrier ) then papermache over the top ... the papermache was then released from the clay and attached to the angel

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

I have shown this sculpture in its white and final stage to the Ministers of the C3 church in kingscliff and a future request has been made to produce christian sculptures for them.

The research into the human condition has helped me already in my other projects . I am now very aware of how resonance/passion with a theme can contribute to a better resolved project.

I really enjoyed this project , and the use of realism . Realism has become a mainstay of my artistic practice now which I intend to use in the future

ARTWORK ( painting ) Time served

 ABOVE:  Gouache on A2 snowden paper

This painting was displayed at the 2013 group exhibition, murwillumbah and the health and wellbeing festival, it is currently in a private collection.

Assesment Task #1: Experiment with materials and Processes

You are required to investigate a range of painting materials and processes prior to commencing you Self-initiated Portfolio Assessment task #3 Assessment Task #1: Experiment with Materials and Processes will be class-guided and will be addressed in the first weeks of semester 2. You will need to be prepared with appropriate materials for each class to engage with the set investigations in order to complete this assessment task.

The task consists of a minimum of four class-based investigations, with the option for interested individuals to extend to five. This can be negotiated with your teacher. For more information about how you will be assesed in relation to this task, please refer to the Elements and Performance Criteria at the end of this document

Note that the paper has been attached to a board with masking tape to prevent the paper from buckling. The image was then drawn up onto the paper using charcoal ( which is easily erased ) and the basic blue tones were established.

Further refinement of the image was made, adding in the details of the numbers and

The final image is refined further to create a sense of depth bluring the foreground and background and increasing the contrast by adding black and white gouache paint directly onto the surface.

ABOVE: framed painting 

ARTWORK (drawing) sense of place (sets and series)

1. How does your drawing project address Realise a body of work?

Project outline

During Semester 2 , 2013 you are required to produce and present a body of work. This body of work can have an overarching concept, which would be inclusive of all your studio areas whilst not excluding the unique qualities of each discipline. Or in turn can be related to the Drawing Unit alone.

The subject I am exploring across my studio areas is identity ... (exploring identity – looking inward ) I have been doing this by looking at , people (past and present ) objects and their significance , my spiritual and scientific beliefs etc . By exploring my immediate locational environment im providing an important piece of my identity.

My projects concept came from a combination of Rochelle Summerfield's Identity project from last year , the build environment projects from Sandy and Hobie and Caths Place project from this year.

Rochelle's project started with a quote from Hugh mackay

A sense of: “place is crucial to All Australians. It is fundamental to the sense of self , sense of community, sense of morality and sense of destiny”

my concept

A persons environment and their routines within it have a fundamental impact on their sense of self , sense of community, sense of morality and sense of destiny . Through this series of drawings I intended to explore the impact the tweed region has had over the past two years in drastically developing my identity.

The focus of the imagery and form is to narrate my connection to the tweed region and places of great importance which have effected who I am today.

my execution

Also my 2D studio areas ive been looking at “finding the line between 2D and 3D”.

explore the spacial boundaries of drawing, at what point does a drawing become a sculpture. drawing is 2dimensional on a surface that isnt meant to be hung on a wall? Drawing on a sculpture. Contiuation into HYPERREALISM techniques, making use of depth of field and digital abnormalities.

From a technical and aesthetic focus my intention was to make a continuation of the drawing project sets and series , the construction of my book. The timber cutout which was drawn on with pastels and my painting project experimentation which led from tromp loeil

In my 2D studio areas ive been looking at “finding the line between 2D and 3D”.

See journal for Bluring the lines of 2D and 3D.

Explore my connection to the tweed region and places of great importance

the original places I chose were :

the original places I chose and reasoning for these choices were:

• C3 Church Kingscliff -the place of my spiritual growth , I serve as a decon , my primary social network
• blockbuster video/dominoes pizza -my bonding with my step children
• kingscliff beach - place of contemplation and exercis
• murbah tafe/sugar mill/tweed river - my place of destiny
• Bluejay circuit Unit / new home - my future is held within these walls

due to time constraints the 5 artwork , of home , didnt get completed

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

what did I look at when brainstorming, research focus?

Brainstroming initially focused on places in my life from my past and present which held great significance . IE

Glen Innes/new england tablelands at childhood

Lismore / Northern Rivers as a young adult

Kingscliff/tweed region where I live now

So as a result I decided to forcus on the tweed region

imagery ?

I purchased a SLR camera this year which I have been experimenting with so most of my imagery came from photographs that I had taken myself , with the exception of the mount warning image which I got off the internet. I chose early morning for most of the source images to take advantage of the high contrast light. For the beach photo I waited till the sun was at a point that it created a shimmer over the water as the waves broke.

Artist ?

Hobie brought attention to the artist Adam Cvijanovic , who he had seen at the sydney biennale.

So much of my inspiration for the “tafe drive” came from this research.

See Journal

Gordon K Hanley is a silverpoint artist who works with gold

See Journal

Gregory Euclide he makes landscape sculptural relief works , paintings and installations

Ive looked at his work previously while researching the mapping project for sculpture.

I Find his painterly relief landscape works have a lot of portential

See Journal

Kelly has since refered me to the artist David Noonan , his works are relevant to my own in regards to where I have gone with the experimentation and have presented some possibilities of where I could

See Journal

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 ?

last terms project covered most of the initial experimentation. It was the first time that I had worked directly on a timber surface , so I had to resolve a lot of issues. Placing a charcoal ground to give the super smooth timber surface a tooth and sealing it and cutting of the shapes . I had to borrow a scroll saw and learn how to use it properly.

I chose MDF because it is easy to cut and it has a smooth surface and no timber grain.

These experimentations can be seen in term 3s journal pages

Ive chosen pastels for these works because I enjoy the felxibility of the medium

its ability to smoothly blend and work in layers

My previous experimentation with pastels

in minimising tonal drop out and loss of blending, which came thru moving from mont marte to artspectrum , quality of pigments makes a difference.

and in improving sealing by using a clear plastic spray coat, which was a result of the book project.

It was very difficult to work with Pastels on mirror , I gessoed the mirror first but I found that I was unable to “draw” and make marks on the prepared surface without lifting the gesso off the glass, so I had to use powdered pastel and gentle smudging.

limitations and constraints, technical problems ?

Not being able to use my right(dominant) hand at all for much of the term was problematic. I found it was dangerous to use power tools , I wasnt able to sand the cuts afterwards leaving feathered edges.Lifting was difficult.It all added to greatly increasing my production time.Ontop of that I had to allow for a looseness in my markmaking as my motor skills arent as refined in my left hand Thankfully I am reasonably ambidextrous so it wasnt a total disaster.

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

I chose to work in grey scale , I enjoy the focus on contrast and there is something about the black and white aesthetic that can create drama

Since these are all sculptural in nature ill talk about my choices in form for each and visual and form individually

Beach mirror: Spiritual contemplation , realisation and growth

Visual

• chose image of looking out to sea , the shimmering of light on the water and the high skyline
• the mirrored surface to provide that element of contemplation as to why ? I thought about how the 'bible' is refered to being the mirror to the soul, so I wanted to discuss how my beach walks have that same parallel for me. Ie how the vastness of the ocean gives me a sense of insignificance and is humbling.
• I had to accept that I couldnt have a sharp image as I was using pastel powder

Form

• the thinking behind the smaller mirror form was from watching my wife do her makeup and hair looking for those imperfections. The mirroring I am talking about when you enter that period of self contemplation and realisation I am searching for those imperfections in my self . Ie how I react and process situations .

Pizza box: “Cheap tuesday” , family bonding

Visual

• view down laneway to increase depth of streetscap
• text on building blurred
• continuation of the black shadowing in the forground of the drawing onto the pizza box surface so that the entire form of the box and drawing are one
• box open and upright , we eat the pizza and watch the movies at the same time , allegorical reference to this

Form

• pizza box shape because thats the other half of the “cheap tuesday”

Church Cross : spiritual growth , sense of community , social networking

Visual

• I removed the people from the original images , they werent important to what I was discussing , my sense of community and social networking primarily does on within the walls of the church(not literally) so having people outside did not strengthen that concept.
• Continuing the drawing to the base over the structural support

Form

• the form of the cross indicates the faith system that I have , christian , and without that the image would just be a building with some cars parked out the front

Tafe landscape :professional training, fellowshipping, sense of destiny

Visual

• the choices of the sugar mill , mt warning and the mountains is because thats what I pay attention to while I drive on the way to Tafe.

• The blurred “road” is chosen to emulate the headlights and taillights of my car , over many times.

Form

• The complete cutting out of the forms used was originally to avoid a large amount of “white space” and allowed for the addition of mountwarning in the background as a separate form

• this created the aesthetic of a diarama or a popup book which im unsure if I like

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

The entire process of making these works was enjoyable and satisfying . I was reaching a point in my 2D studios where I had a very structured process for concepting and executing an image. I was finding it too restrictive to work on the wall and within the confines of the traditional formats.

This year ive been working on broadening and refining my artistic vocabulary so that I can choose a technique to best express the concept that I am exploring. Im looking forward to taking this aesthetic of cross disipline work even further , and incorporating more sculptural elements.

For example

Making use of the shadows cast by the forms , im thinking of those piles of grabage which cast shadows of crows etc which I could use to explore concepts of duality or by Drawing on both sides of the form.

Im still unsure as to the point that they wont be drawings anymore.

Also ive noticed that as my dominant hand healed I was able to draw and paint with both hands simultaneously .. this is something I want to refine in the future.

ARTWORK (drawing) Working from creative text ( Rumi poetry Year Book ) Artist's Book

1. How does your drawing project address SETS AND SERIES?

Project outline

The task was to produce a set, a series, a collection , a related group, an arangement, a sequence or suite of drawing that investigate drawing materials and processes via a narrative. The set or series you develop can relate to each other via imagery, colour, texture, size, materials and techniques. The narrative , the story, the description used to drive your suite of drawings is to be a responsive depiction using poetic devices as opposed to an illustrative explanation.

The options were to

1. Drawing inspiration from either:
   Working from creative text ( Rumi poetry Year Book )
   or
   A book about Death
2. You will develop a suite of works that will either result in a unique
   Artist's Book
   or a
   Set of drawings

my concept

For this project I chose to Work from creative text and create an artists book Artist's Book.

To get the line of poetry from “the worlds contracted thus edited by J.A and J K McKenzie”

“i looked out of my window in the dark” was my line of poetry.

contemporary society became the focus for this project , steming from the phrase “in the dark”. Personally I cant think of a darker, more souless place. Where everyone MUST be equal , we are identified by numbers , credit cards , customer reference number , drivers licence , phone number, login ids. A faceless expendible mass.

my execution

To get the line of poetry we placed our date of birth down on the board , and converted that into page and line number . Mine being 278/1 became page 278 line 1 .

The poem was the Five Bells by Kenneth Slessor , the line being “i looked out my window in the dark”.

The next stage was to do word brain storming after breaking the poem down into three sections , “i looked” , “out of my window”, “in the dark” , followed by visual brainstorming of color , texture and poetic visual devices.

This aided in direction of the final image development.

My choices were :

“i looked” = turning my head to look

“out my window” = through my eyes from within my own head , eyes being the window of the soul

“in the dark” = contemporary society , I have always seen this as a dark place.

NB : both the Book of Death and Artist's book were completed

See journal for Book of Death works

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

visual inspiration for the cutout of the book came from:

Chanelle Collier’s intricate book sculpture La Chasse au Météore ,

Chanelle is a self-taught artist who has been working primarily with books as a medium since 2009. Her interest in past technologies and nostalgia has developed through her work with old books, which are fast becoming an old technology themselves.

chanellecollier.wordpress.com

Another contemporary artist I looked at was

Denis Peterson an American hyperrealist painter who uses Figurative images in compressed space and incorporeal landscapes of social decadence are visual commentaries on the aftermath of genocides, diasporas, and cultural divides

I also looked at Francisco Goya's print set , Los Caprichos when looking into how I would best portray “the darkness”

text inspiration

“the exquisit corpse”

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

experimentation

a story board and paper mockup was created before I had made choices into materials of the book and technical selection

my painting experimentation – in bridging 2D and 3D played a major roll as did experimentation with pastels . Purchase of an Art Spectrum white pastel ( I had previous issues with white pastel fading greatly ) led to experimentation of pastels on Mdf boards and snowden paper

technique selection , why ?

Timber cutout – use of a scroll saw

the choice of timber is an extention from my painting project and experimentation. I found that the surface was faster and after preparing it with a charcoal ground which was then sealed I could control the amount of tooth. Additionally the timber allowed me the luxury of experimenting with shapes and not having to worry about the final form being compromised.

use of carbon paper

I experimented with various transfers that I had used in the past , pastel , charcoal , eukaluptus etc to get the text onto the bare timber . the use of carbon paper and writing on the timber was laborus but worked well in the end.

pastels on wood

I have been experimenting a lot with pastels and find that they lend themselves well to my working methodology . That being refinement of form , from an inition blocking in I can work layers to create my final image.

Fabric on the spine of book

I wanted to make sure that the spine of the book was strong , so I used black fabric ribbon. I had difficulty in purchasing this as it seemed that most ribbon is now either mesh or patterned. I had to be consious when glueing the ribbon that I did not use to much or it would bleed through to the visible side

technical problems

pastels – quality

Art spectrum white and black .. mont marte grey

tonally dropped when sealing with spray

had trouble sourcing the ribbon

getting good registration of heads

potentially smudging of the pastels was going to be an issue , after all the book was going to be handled. My method of sealing the pastels once they had been “fixed” was to use a aerosole plastic spray. This successfully sealed the pastels to prevent smudging

limitations and constraints

quality of pastels

unfortunately it wasnt until the project was finished that I solved the biggest issue of the project . An that was with my grey tones dropping out . It turned out that the pigment in a mont marte grey pastel would diminsh greatly when fixative was applied , but the art spectrum white pastel I was using remained strong. After further tests with the AS pastels I have found that the pigment/tonal drop out from them is minimal.

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

display

The upright freestanding display choice was made to retain the 2D wallmounted origins of drawing and to enable me to splay the pages so you could also view them simultaineously.

aesthetics

realism

I have been working with realism this year and intended to extend this visual throughout my projects , Denis Peterson was inspirational in using the close field of view for my faces. The final image which was blurred is a play on hyperrealism , in that they make use of digital anomylies , ie camera blurs when objects are out of the focal depth

regular book shape

Inspiration for the timber cutout was Channel Collier's book La Chasse au Meteore which was part of the Steampunk antopedian exhibition.

previous experiments with cutouts in painting

the aesthetic of being able to see all the images simultainiously was appealing and worked well after the marquette had been created. This was influenced by my painting experiments and by Channel Collier's book

filling both sides of the image

Since both sides of the images were to be filled and that these works were going to be cutout forms I chose to experiment with using the entire poem . The cutout nature meant that an “exquisite corpse” was created

pastels

my choice of pastels is a continuation of my experiments with the medium this year , I enjoy smooth creamy texture and flexibility of the medium , in contrast to Ink which is less forgiving

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

Through my experimentation over the first semester I had learnt a lot about the nature of pastels and the value of image preperation , in particular in the invented artist project.

pastels

portraiture

high contrast

digital image compilation before doing anything with traditional mediums

precise drawings on surfaces before working of layers

working all images of a series up simultainiously to maintain consistancy

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

This project has opened up many posibilities for the future which I hadnt considered.

Knowing that the timber surface holds the pastels and that I can seal it properly

I am interested to explore drawings which are not displayed on the wall but instead on objects themselves

the materiality of the surface and the surfaces form can be used to enhance the concept .

I also intend to extend this project , I am greatly interested in the Trompe loeil technique , I feel that it has great potential , I cant wait to begin researching and experimenting.

Allan Kaprow's essays on experimental and total art have also influenced my mindset for future

experiments into:

-the viewer and the 2d surface

-the 2d surface as a 3d object and its relationship with the gallery space (since a painting is a physical object therefore a 3d object even tho it is regarded as 2D )

-the display of a painting as a 3D object in a space

-the spacial relationship between paintings , in particular at what point does a series become a single image and or a sculptural form

-at what point does a painting become a sculpture  

ARTWORK (painting) Influence on identity , painting series

1. How does your painting project address Self-initiated Portfolio?

Project outline

You are invited to design your own painting project with the intention of producing a Self-initiated portfolio. You will need to produce a minimum of four resolved paintings for the Self-Initiated Portfolio. You are required to gather resource material, from which to select and develop appropriate materials and processes to make a body of work.

The portfolio should show evidence of a sophisticated use of materials and processes. It is thesefore necessary that your investigation of a range of materials and processes should be completed prior to commencing the portfolio.

Produce a body of painting work that consists of a minimum of four paintings.

my concept

People throughout your life can influence the development of your identity.

The formation of a persons identity is a life long process and comes from an abundant amount of sources. The areas I am focusing on in the development of my identity are Relational , Scolastic and sociocultural . The sociocultural aspect is important in reflecting current society as it is now common for individuals to be greatly influenced by popular culture.

Through a series of paintings I focused on “people” who have directly and profoundly changed and guided my life. And by people I am using the term loosely , some that I am focusing on I have never met in real life... Some are not real at all.

The purpose of this project is to explore the development of my current identity through the 'people' who have had a great impact on my life.

my execution

The following is the list of paintings:

Goku ( culture shock) – Cartoon character from Dragonball Z

color multi-layered glass oil painting of the cartoons starting logo

Ian Adams (enlightenment) – year 4 school teacher

cubist inspired jigsaw portrait in oil paint

Marija (maturity) - wife

miniature color oil painting portrait inside a real pocket watch

Zatoichi (hope) – Japanese film character

timber cutouts of animation sequence , painted in monocrome

Gamehacker ( avatar) – Computer game character

contemporary take on still life painting to create illusion of figurine in display box made from plastic,glass and timber

titles for artworks based on what they mean to me:

ian adams childhood enlightenment

goku early 20's culture shock

gamehacker cyber , avatar , cyberlife avatar

zatoichi disabled , recovery , hope hope

marija adulthood,settling down,responsibility maturity

avatar = an embodiment or personification, as of a principle, attitude, or view of life.

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

what did I look at when brainstorming ?

Conceptual brainstorming revolved around people who have had a great impact on my life. I broke the list down to 6 eventually , to people who had had a profound impact on the development of my identity throughout my life.

I had started Visual brainstorming for different methods of cross discipline forms as early as july , so I had a lot of ideas to chose from. Choices for imagery were made to best support the importance that each person had in my life.

research focus

Most of the research and experimentation which lead to this project came from research into hyper realism artists , cubism , tromp loiel and the essays by Alan Kaprow on total art and experimental art . Upon seeing Ron Mueck's giant head sculptural construction I decided to not limit my 2D studio research and experimentation to the regular canvas/2D plane . I instead decided to explore painting on surfaces and forms which relate to and strengthen the concept of the piece and looking at paintings which have the ability to be displayed on plinths.

image

image research was specific for each artwork as they are aesthectically very different .

(see journal for each paintings image research)

artist

Other contemporary artists Emil Alzamora ( beyond rodin exhibition , frosted glass/blurred face ) and Kathy Temin ( cube shape) influenced visual experiment choices.

Damien Hurst – essentially gave permission for total exploration and to focus on using techniques that best support my concepts.

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 ?

painting experimentation .

Experiementation came out of my brainstorming over the july holiday break . Hobie had mentioned that we may be doing a portfolio which revolved around the “image multiple” , so I began experimenting with my self portraits to see what I could do with the same subject matter.

This experimentation then informed my final choices

I had to experiment and learn the nature of my materials because of my Technique selection

glass cutting

glass painting

glass glueing

timber cutting

puzzle piece designing etc

My experiementations with glass contributed greatly to my hand injury.

To cut glass you have to make one strong clean line , the cutting process makes a particular sound so you know that it is deep enough.

Research into books , videos and online aided in learning little tricks to get around the purchase of equipment needed , for example to bevel the edge of glass I used a river stone.

I glued the glass using a co-polymer glue .

For Ian Adams and zatoichi,s paintings I experiemented with painting with both hands at the same time. Zatoichi was first , Starting with the dark tone in my left hand and the light tone in my right.

This proved successful and a very fast way of painting which worked well with oils . That allowed me to push and pull the paint in a freer more expressive manner. For Ian Adams painting I took this experimentation futher by painting color with both hands , again using he dark tone in my left hand and the light tone in my right.

technical problems

glass painting

after the experimentation with oil paint and acrylic on glass I discovered that

• oil paint stuck well to the glass
• I could layer the oil paint
• drying time of oil paint was about 3 days per layer
• visually minor difference between oil paint and acrylic paint on glass , oil paint have greater vibrance/intensity than the acrylic
• acrylic laying was difficult as it flaked off easily BUT worked if thick application of paint was made and applied in on mark

the drying time of acrylic paint determined my choice to use it

miniature painting

limitations and constraints

• time, the technical difficulty of the works requires a reasonable amount of time to execute them at a professional level but the 4^th term was so short

drying time

• due to injury to right hand I am unable to use my thumb and limited mobility of fingers which will greatly slow my ability to paint and reduce my ability to refine detail in painting

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

goku

• glass slides = old animation techniques , since this is from a classic animation
• cell animation = linework on one side and coloring on the other . Transparent layers over the top of one another

• The upright display – retain some of the origins of the tv , by allowing light to pass through it and to conceptually experiement/express that this watching of TV/anime is something that has carried thru till this day.

ian adams

• cubes , extended from my cubism research and the 4^th dimension
• form was chosen because : the influence of quantum mechanics had on cubism and the 20/21^st century which aludes to the dramatic and underlying effect ian adams had on my life in the same way

marija

• pocket watch , keepsake , something that is precious to me ..
• pocket watch image orientation , normally same orientation as the clock face but I chose the current orientation and composition for display purposes , so that the watch could be sat on a plinth
• my original intention was to paint directly onto the inside of the pocket watch but I was unable to dismantle it to gain access ( injury to my hand meant tha ti was unable to work directly on the metal as I couldnt get my hand into certain positions) solution was to paint on a a piece of gesso'd paper and attach it to the pocket watch.

zatoichi

• 4 images which cover some of the aspects of zatoichi that I felt resonated with me.
• cutouts = black and white animation stills , the empty space to alude to the celuloid origins of film

gamehacker

• box – it is the momento that you can get from the game World of warcraft
• cutout is an extention of the bust I had made over the holiday break
• cutout is to emulate the figurine that would be inside the box and is an exploration of the still life in a contemporary manner.

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 entire process of making these works was enjoyable and satisfying . I was reaching a point in my 2D studios where I had a very structured process for concepting and executing an image. I was finding it too restrictive to work on the wall and within the confines of the traditional formats.

This year ive been working on broadening and refining my artistic vocabulary so that I can choose a technique to best express the concept that I am exploring. Im looking forward to taking this aesthetic of cross disipline work even further , and incorporating more sculptural elements.

For example

Making use of the shadows cast by the forms , im thinking of those piles of grabage which cast shadows of crows etc which I could use to explore concepts of duality or by Drawing on both sides of the form.

Im still unsure as to the point that they wont be drawings anymore.

Also ive noticed that as my dominant hand healed I was able to draw and paint with both hands simultaneously .. this is something I want to refine in the future.