Beginning Sculpture

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Doodle.

For this exercise, I wanted to do something different. They instructions are very simple and straightforward, but they also leave a lot of room for options. Because of this, I thought that doing something more experimental, like drawing on my mirror, would be a fun way to take a different approach than traditional materials. I regularly write notes on my mirror as reminders, so doodling on it made it a place of creativity as well as productivity as it has been in the past.

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Look straight don’t see

This instruction was a bit odd, so the result matches. I chose to document myself staring straight as my mind wondered, putting myself in a state of “seeing” while no longer actually looking at what’s in front of me. You can almost see when I’m focusing and unfocusing my eyes on my surroundings depending on if my environment brings my thoughts back to my sight, making this an almost meditative exercise in keeping my eyes open, but keeping my focus on the mind.

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Apply glitter on your eyes and glabella and roll your eyes up to see the sky.

For this exercise, I followed the instructions quite literally. In the documentation however, I chose to only feature the eyes and not the sky. I think the glitter is meant to mimic the stars in the sky, and being in the city, there aren’t any visible stars anyway. The action of applying glitter to my eyes was the only way for me to see anything resembling a real night sky in the city.

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Phantom Bodies: Reflection

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Project #5: Index

1. Phantom Bodies: Test Cast

2. Phantom Bodies: Research

2, 3

3. Phantom Bodies: Reflection

4. Phantom Bodies: Final

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5. Immersive Environment: Quote

6. Immersive Environment: Research

2, 3

7. Immersive Environment: Final

2, 3, 4, 5

8. Final PDF Portfolio 

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Immersive Environments: Final

For our final Immersive Environments project, I decided to utilize electroluminescent wire to create contour lines in objects and architecture. From organic forms such as the cluster of leaves highlighted to mundane objects such as the broom, these lights were used as an exercise to bring out lines from everyday visuals and accentuate objects that we would otherwise ignore. This exercise also speaks of design and space, highlighting patterns within buildings and forms within a chair. Using light in this manner is a new way to apply line to an environment, quite literally highlighting and selecting forms to become the focus of any surrounding area.

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For this idea, I’d like to create a frame with blind-like cutouts and light it from behind, using the frame to illuminate forms and spaces.

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This piece would require some experimenting, but I want to use light to highlight the movement of the human form, through a performance of colored lights illuminating a performer.

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This concept would include creating a geometrical form from el wires, illuminating the space. I’d like to experiment with possible forms and locations of display.

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Phantom Bodies

Our bodies are clearly a part of us, all of us are aware of how important every limb is for us to function, and how every part of us is inherently a representation of us. With that idea in mind, I wanted to explore just how little of “me” I could capture for the idea of myself being present. The presence of just my feet and hands implies the presence of the rest of my body, as well as the position I must be in for this image to be created. The viewer knows my body is leaned over, as it has to be to grab my own feet. In this piece my being is broken down to these two parts of my body, in which my feet signify the beginning and my hands the end of the container that is me. Another important part of this piece became the environment, as how this sculpture interacts with its environment works towards that illusion of my body being present. Leaned against a wall, we can imagine the rest of the body behind the wall. Leaned against a tire, we begin to see the contradiction of what the sculpture is implying versus the limitations of the environment, as the whole body we are imagining can’t physically exist within that tire or the seat of a car. Robert Grober was a huge inspiration for displaying the piece in this way, with his work Untitleg Leg being the reason I even thought of incorporating the environment in this manner. This piece becomes not only about the body, but the absence of it and replacing that space with environment, manipulating the meaning and context of the piece.

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Abstract: Art of Design, Episode 1: Olafur Eliasson: The Design of Art QCQ

“How do I make what is abstract tangible? It’s the process of narrowing it down to the bone.”

I chose this quote from Olafur Eliasson because it’s not only an important part of his work, but it’s a universal question that many other artists seek to answer as a well. Eliasson does this with his intricate environments and shifting of perception, but many other artists approach the topic in much different ways. Making the abstract tangible opens up a world of possibilities in which we take a look at how the artist in question views their world, as their abstraction of it is inherently a reflection of how they experience. We can see this with Eliasson’s work as his pieces focus on light, environment, and architecture, all of which are parts of his life that he pays close enough attention to to see the value within manipulating those subjects. With that being said, my question to the class is this: how would you go about making the abstract tangible? It’s quite a large concept, but it varies from artist to artist, with no answer being wrong. I think that’s the beauty of having the power to create something no one else can imagine but yourself, making it our responsibility as artists to share our eyes through our works.