Sculpture II

After months of work and frustration, I settled on five pieces that I felt best represented who I am as an artist for the final sculpture critique.

It all started with this wall piece. I thought in the beginning that I was going to make this lifesize floor piece that was simple and natural, but in the process of building this piece …. I KNEW that it was simply meant to be a wall piece. It’s a very analytical piece, in which all the spaces measure the same length and every line is precise. No color was chosen at random and every detail was intentional. I got some grief from critics who said that I should push it further, but after all was said and done, it just felt right when it was finished.

Spawning from the first peice I DID chose to keep the materials quite natural and the process simple. I hadn’t thought about how I wanted to display it until I saw how it stood out in contrast to the marble like texture of the floor. Originally I wanted to mount marblized squares to the wall and have the piece float horizontally in front of it. However, this time I took my peers thoughts on displaying it differently into consideration and just went for it. After hanging it from the ceiling, I thought it was an interesting contrast to have such a delicate work hanging precariously, intruding upon the open space.

Following those two pieces, I had these 4′ x 4′ left over squares that I had tossed into my scrap pile. Thinking along the lines of repetition, I began to wonder what these pieces would look built up as a whole. After I had the body of the work constructed, I knew it needed texture. I then began to play with glue, paints and twine until I built the texture up. Again, I thought how interesting it would be to mount the piece against the wall or floor, perhaps painting the back of the piece to reflect color against whatever surface I chose. Unfortunately, due to constrictions I knew it would be impossible to paint the floor of the studio for the critique… Instead I cut a large square from cardboard and painted it white. I painted the back of the work with silver and placed blocks under it so that the light from the piece would reflect from the white surfure underneath creating this illusion of hovering.

A few of the squares had printed text from the factory where it was produced. I decided to stain the squares and bind them together with rusted wired in an ambigious shape of a tree. The two materials together, besides being beautiful, gives a commentary on the state of industrialization. (The form, although orginally from nature, has been processed and altered… And now is trying to go back to the orginal form in which it came)

The last piece I did this semester, is nothing like the usual, formal work I intentionally try to do. I never even considered that the quick and quirky objects I make would make a statement. However, this time I actually took something that literally took one minute to make, mounted it to a wood block, and positioned it on the wall. It’s my version of the Spiral Jetty from an aerial perspective and I think perhaps it pokes fun at the original artist. What took one man months to create on such a massive scale took me a small amount of time to create on such a miniscule level.

Overall, I think my work shows the process of growth I’ve encountered over the semester. It shows that I can make formal and rigid pieces, and that I can also make fun and quirky works. Regardless, I think that when one looks at these pieces they see the beginning of a show. And if there was nothing else gained from this semester, I believe it allowed me to show the type of artist I strive to be.

I can be Fun, Funky, Simple, Elegant, Repetitive, Quirky, and Dedicated to making beautiful art for the sake of it just being art.

Jenna Jameson is definitely an unlikely source of well…. anything remotely related to ‘conventional’ art. However, in a recent bulletin post she took a stand against a controversial ‘artist’.

Her Bulletin:

“In 2007, the ‘artist’ Guillermo Vargas Habacuc, took
a dog from the street,
tied him to a rope in an art gallery, and starved
him to death.

For several days, the ‘artist’ and the visitors of
the exhibition have
watched emotionless the shameful ‘masterpiece’ based
on the dog’s agony,
until eventually he died.

Does it look like art to you?

But this is not all… the prestigious Visual Arts
Biennial of the Central
American decided that the ‘installation’ was
actually art, so that
Guillermo Vargas Habacuc has been invited to repeat
his cruel action for the
biennial of 2008.”

This is the first time in my life I was truly disgusted by art. This video nearly made me sick. What I can’t comprehend is why people chose to go the the exhibit to watch it and do nothing. It might have been this man’s “art”, but not at the cost of a poor dogs life. And if he does choose to attempt to display this again, I have no doubt that PETA … Animal Lovers … People with freaking compassion and humanity … Will free this artist’s next victim … Tie this pathetic excuse for an artist up … And starve him to death …

Don’t get me wrong… I’m all for making art just to get a reaction … But this crosses the line … Whatever God complex this artist has does not entitle him to think his art is above another’s life …

Twelve hours in the studio allowed to me to crank out three sculptures and seven prints. If it wasn’t for those petty little issues of needing sleep, food and sanity – I would gladly remained in that studio indefinitely. But alas, I’m on the union plan and decided to take a break….
In any case, I’ve accomplished what I wanted to achieve with the grid-like wall pieces. But I have failed to complete a free standing, grid-like, floor piece as of yet. I have hopes that I’ll be able to play around with the idea, but due to time constraints, I doubt it. I fear I will have to just “throw something together” instead of taking the time to properly investigate how to execute this concept. Only time will tell. As of now though, I’m off … Back to the factory to grind out more pieces. Hopefully out of the mass quantities of miscellaneous pieces I produce in the next few weeks – something fruitful will be salvaged.

Every now and again I google the terms sculpture or art.

The results are always impressive…

Finding Inspiration
by Alain Briot

They tell college students on the first day of classes that this is a once and a life time experience. We will never have another opportunity to live as carefree as we do now. We should make the most of the time. In every class they tell us that their’s is the most important and we should take every opportunity to study or create something amazing for their class. But when it comes down to it – every class there’s some paper paper to write, a sketchbook to update, or an assignment deadline looming ahead.

When we’re all running around trying to pump out exactly what professors want to see and writing all the right things they want to hear. All the while professors consistently beat the idea into our heads that we should be constantly inspired and passionate about works we see and create. My question is: where is the time? where is the time to discover inspiration? where is the time to find that little magic we all need that drives us to want to create something of awe?

Then they say – If you think it’s hard now, just wait until you get into the real world and have to deal with real problems. Just how will you handle the pressures of life then AND find your inspiration? To them I say – Who are you to judge? What right do you have to tell me the problems I face now aren’t “real life” problems. I’ll admit I am a bit envious of those who really can use their college experience to find what inspires them and simply create without dealing with the real world. In my perfect Utopia, I’d live everyday in wonderment … Living with the sole purpose of creating art and having it change the world …………….

I don’t even know if I’ll be around next semester. The possibility of what complications I might face this summer during my surgery haunts me daily. And it angers me sooo much that I’ve wasted so much time on what I felt like was insignificant obligations and frivolous assignments. Maybe it would have been better if I had stayed with my 9 to 5 job after I graduated high school. I would have at least had the time to do what I felt was important. To create the types of things that I felt were meaningful. And yet, when I think about it… I don’t regret the methods and techniques I was taught and the people that I meant along the way. Afterall, those tools have given me so much more than I would have had on my own…

So kiddies, listen up! Today lesson is about passion. Sometimes in our quest for inspiration we get derailed by life. And regardless of whether it’s the stresses of bills, work, relationships or even something bigger than that … It’s life. “REAL LIFE”. Stronger artists have an innate passion that allows them to create whatever they desire despite adversity. Others have utilized their experiences, become impassioned from it and developed amazing work. And some artists … Some like myself and perhaps even you – have been sidetracked with the stresses of everyday life and have hit a creativity block. You’re so bogged down with everything else that’s going on that you can’t see anything beyond it. It is then when you take a moment to self reflect and begin to wonder that maybe it is life’s way of telling you: You’re just not passionate enough for this line of work.

So kiddies … I ask of you: Just how passionate are you really? And how sure are you that it will last?

Today’s blogging inspiration provided by Carole (my sculpture professor) who gives me intimidating looks when I don’t blog enough

Image provided by Overstock.com

For my next two pieces I wanted to work with the idea of grids. One piece made of wooden free standing from the floor. The second piece I would like to be an abstract wall piece that deals most with texture. I want both of these pieces to be relatively large because I think when your doing something like grids or wall pieces they have to be large in order to get any sort of impact. Hopefully doing more simplistic pieces will reinterate the type of artist I’d like to be. Funky and fun …. Not cartoony

Finally after many failed attempts with creating the turtle, the ant finally is finished! I wished I had more time with the base. It was the first time I worked with fiber glass and plaster, and seeing how fragile the final product was …. Well, it indicates that I probably didn’t get the process right. In any case, since the ant was so animated, I liked the concept of having the leaf look cartoon inspired. I have a feeling that once the piece returns from being displayed at Randolph Macon that I will rebuild it’s base to be more stable. But as of now… I’m just happy it survived the trip there.

The doctor said that I’d be physically exhausted for at least another week, but that I should go to class anyway. I not only made the effort to haul myself across campus when my class let out at 12:45 … I was inspired and totally estatic that I was going to see the space where in a few weeks my work would hang. Alas, when I arrive behind Melchers, albeit late, no one was there. Something in me thought that if I made a conscious effort to be there that my sculpture class as a collective whole would make an conscious effort to wait. Apparently, I was looking through rose tinted glasses when I woke up this morning. Regardless, I’ll make my sculpture and I’ll make it to the best of my abilities. Come opening day, I’ll find some way for my piece to work amongst my peers and in the alotted space. And when asked what my inspiration was … I won’t say this mythical idea of the spore collective and this theory of group unity. I’ll say – I was inspired to make art for me just as I’ve always done…

I had heard for years about an artist who had composed a 4 minute and 33 second piece in which he played no music at all. Little did I know this composer was John Cage and that he had begun the movement. I like the idea of letting art happen by chance – it adds the element of surprise. The concept of the fluxus movement takes away the formal aspects of art (such as going into a gallery and viewing works of art on a wall) and gives it an air of freedom. Why shouldn’t we be allowed to take all elements of art whether they be visual, musical, or written and assault the sense in a whole new way? After all isn’t art “… a (product of) human activity, made with the intention of stimulating the human senses as well as the human mind; by transmitting emotions and/or ideas….”?