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