We had our 1st progress review in Sculpture to-day, it covered our work for the last four weeks. Our project was on the body. The brief was as follows,
''Employing a range of sculptural activities, processes and forms prove/re-constitute/re-define/re-construct/re-design one or more aspects of the human body.''
As before we started with mind maps.
From this process I started to look at the lungs, the trachea and scaring, bringing the inside outside. I explored elements that involved layering, soaking and linking. I started to make a form out of recycled cardboard, packaging from some kitchen appliance. To give it a spine I used wire. After that I tore the card and wet it and layered it on to the wire. I also use a glue gun to stick the card in places.
After it dried completely I decided to soak it, immerse in water. I wanted to see how it would react.
The results were as follows,
- the colour changed it became darker
- it pulled apart, the glue didn't hold
- it became shorter, slid down the wire because it was heavier.
Once it dried again I decided to see what impact colour made. Below are the results.
My next experiment involved pipe lagging and stronger wire for a frame. I'm still thinking about scaring and layering using different materials. I used a glue gun to layer pieces of the pipe. The hot glue melted and ate in to the pipe and completely transformed it, no longer bearing a resemblance to the smooth surface I started with, turning it into a scarred textured one. As the glue fell over the pipe it left delicate strands that looked like thread. This reminded me of the mucus that is expelled when the trachea tightens in response to allergens.
I really enjoyed this experiment as the materials were doing all the work, transforming themselves. This ugly looking thing was emerging before my eyes and all I was doing was facilitating its happening.
For me this experiment was a success, even though it could have been better if it had come directly from the floor and not from a base. However this was necessary for to move it around. Again as before one of its weakest elements was its colour, so I experimented with this by spraying it. This is what happened.
At this stage I decided that I should revisit an experiment that I had started earlier in the project and had tired of. I was working with sponge and flexible pipe. I started by stuffing the pipe with newspaper to give it some rigidity so that I could apply sponge to it. Before I put the sponge on I covered it with tissue paper and pva glue. When it dried it looked like scaly skin as it was flaky and came away from the pipe in some areas. I also used coffee to stain it so it looked ugly and diseased.
Next I started to layer the sponge on the pipe using the glue gun yet again. As before it melted the pipe and some of the news paper started to peep through. This time I wanted the pipe to come directly from the floor so I put some strong wire through the bottom part of the structure filled it with expanding foam and stapled the wire and pipe to the floor. As the foam started to expand it found holes where it came through reminding me of ooze and mucus. It also held the form of the curve in place. I wanted it to look as if it was winding its way up and protruding into the ceiling when finished.
To make the sponge look scarred I burned the sponge on the stove but later I used a heat gun get the same affect. While working at home this got dangerous because of fumes. I should say that in college there is a facility to do this in a controlled environment with extraction but because this was getting so big and non transportable I left the burning aside in favour of paint to get a similar look safely.
At this stage I wanted to exploit the soaking qualities of the sponge further so I sprayed it with acrylic paint until it was full of liquid, it dripped and ran and took the colour right through the piece. Eventually after hours of sticking and gluing sponge its 13 meters twisted its way up to the ceiling. I secured it in this position. The last thing I did was to add thread to it. I liked the way the strands looked like dripping liquid.
Again I feel this piece of work has been successful, grant it there's nothing beautiful about it, but its ugliness certainly makes me think there's something nasty going on here, there's decay and disease.
The last experiment I did in this project was to look at ooze. Again I used pipe, this time a piece of land drainage pipe. This had pre cut slots to enable water to disperse into the soil but I decided to make them bigger. I used heat to make bigger holes and I melted fabric and wool on the surface of it with the heat gun. Earlier in the project I was looking at possible materials that might ooze and seep through and I identified materials such as butter and golden syrup as having some possibilities. I was also remembering the giant squid installation we saw in Dublin Contemporary and the liquid that was on the floor there. I remembered our guide telling us it was some kind of syrup and indian ink.
I mixed margarine and golden syrup together and pushed it through the pipe. The heat of the room made it melt slightly and it started to weep. This is what I wanted to happen so the sticky mess that I handled and pushed into the pipe was definitely worth the effort. This is what it looked like.
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