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this is a blog i am currently using for my intro to sculpture class at VCU enjoy! if you have any questions, let me know

[claresmith]

an artist i have been looking at is Theo Mercier, a french contemporary sculptor, painter, and photographer. Born in 1984 in Paris, studied at a Parisian industrial design school, he now lives and works in Mexico City. After graduating from school he worked with Matthew Barney (of the Cremaster cycle) in 2008 which seems to have influenced his surreal objects and concepts greatly. 

Im a fan of the Cremaster Cycle, so I think it’s very cool that the artists got to work with Barney, even though it was long after the Cremaster Cycle. Matthew Barney’s focus on biological mysticism seems to carry on into some of the more grotesque pieces that Mercier has made. He says that Barney showed him that ambition isn’t always a ‘disgusting’ force linked with power and money, but an energy to create that can be used by the artist. 

His work primarily involves found objects and revolves around how we interact with these objects, how they interact with us, how these objects and interactions have changed over time, and the power that these objects have as totems and symbols for people. he has also worked with gender ambiguity and the shifting ways in which humans see their own forms.

there is usually elements of humor in his work, sometimes because of an expression he gives an object (he likes adding big blue eyes to things) and sometimes enhancing objects with human genetalia. His pieces in the series ‘land art’ juxtaposes processed food and fake body parts with tide pools. his work is beautifully textured and his work that seeks to imitate flesh and guts has amazing amounts of detail.

In his more recent since moving to mexico, he deals with primitive archetypes of humanity and reintroduces them into a contemporary setting. After moving, he found inspiration in the spiritual culture of pre-colonized Mexico and has adopted more of it’s symbols and themes into his work as time has gone on. In ‘desparanza’ he explores death, decay, stereotypes of mexican culture, and how these elements intermingle with each other. As he is a european white guy, there is a lot to be said about appropriation and possibly misunderstanding and misrepresenting important cultural phenomena. In his work ‘nowhere bodies’ he explores the role of the immigrant and how a shared history between two cities (mexico city and LA) can have such a varied view of an individual.

its hard to find good interviews and or writing about his work, as it’s almost all in french. i don’t speak french, so hopefully im not misinterpreting him completely.

[claresmith]

response 2 final critique

for this piece i was thinking about the way i portray myself vs the way that others see me. I’m very interested in the gap that exists between the two selves and i wanted to explore the area where they intersect. i feel like it was partially an effort to try to expose more of my true self / my thoughts to my classmates. i dont particularly love to share my sketchbooks with people i don’t know very well, and dealing with groups of people who already know each other makes me even more nervous than complete strangers, but by the time finals came around i feel like i was finally at a comfortable enough place to really put myself out there. i want to be closer with the people in my life and one of the ways you can do that is by reaching out and sharing parts of yourself.

i was really inspired by amanda and zac and roya for making such deeply personal works that had such an impact on me. a lot of their pieces came from place of pain, and i wanted to continue with my quasi-theme for the semester of comfort and acts of love, care and affection. it took me a long time to get to where i am in my relationship with myself, and i’m glad i could build a space where i could condense and reflect on who i have been in the past couple years. i also wanted to involve drawing in my final, as its so much of my life and how i process things. i want to explore ideas through art and create opportunities for people to feel like they’re not so alone. 

what is the self?  how can different objects represent you or play the character of yourself? how does one describe themselves non-verbally and what counts as a self portrait? in what ways do the objects and documentation of my life reflect who i am and where i’m going? how can i make people see the real me?

i thought a lot about winnicott’s essay on the transitional object, i was never breast fed, so maybe this essay doesn’t apply to me, but i thought of my transitional object as a stuffed cat i picked out on my third birthday, and my transitional phenomena as drawing. i realize now that these are less transitional objects and phenomena, and more of the first extensions of myself outside of myself that i could directly manipulate. these things i described fall outside and inside of winnicott’s description for the infant’s first possession and transitional phenomena. 

for this piece i created a small room (6ft x 8ft) in the corner of the critique room and filled it with pictures of myself, personal items like stuffed animals and blankets, pill bottles, sketchbooks, notebooks. I had drawings from middle school to the latest semester of college, and a project I did in 2nd grade called ‘clare land.’ clare land was very problematic for a variety of reasons but most people enjoyed it.

the piece was titled ‘pictures of myself.’ i think it went over well overall. the construction wasn’t particularly great because I had never built anything like it before, but it did the job and it didn’t fall on anyone and crush them during crit. i think everyone enjoyed it and the different elements of myself that i added in. some critiques i got were to improve the construction, and to make the space seem more lived in. both are good critiques and something to do for next time, as i can only see this project growing and evolving over time. 

the professor said he missed the element of aggression i had in previous pieces, and i thought that was funny, ive never thought of myself or my art as aggressive, but im seeing what he means. we had the conversation of how art can either be a vessel or a method of transportation. this was definitely a vessel piece, i think the aggression i’m missing might help it transform, but what it will transform into and what it will transform for people is what i’m not so sure about. i want to push it further and see what comes of it, i want to push myself further and be more honest with myself so i can really learn and improve.

[claresmith]

i don’t really have a lot of response to my critique feedback. I’m mostly relieved this project is over, from start to finish i felt like i had no idea what was going on and very little control because it was such a new thing for me. i’m really glad its over and i don’t have to worry about it anymore. from the start of the project (not knowing what to do) to the debacle with the materials ( it took much longer than i wanted to get the materials because of financial things and customer service setbacks) to the FINALE (when I was feeling cool and confident but premier Really fucked me over and put my computer out of commision) I feel like I got what I wanted out of it; some experience with mold making and a number of odd unwanted gifts i gave to close friends and acquaintances. i so desperately wanted to have my projections on the walls of the crit room, because so much of this piece was the experience of making and the conversations i had during and after about the nature of the object, of gifts and gift giving, and the relationships I have with my friends and the materials I used. I’m bummed everything went to shit when i was putting final touches on it, But my computer is working now so I guess thats all i can ask for.

A lot of the feedback was to recontextualize where the gifts would be given/ where the materials are. I think that’s the best suggestion i got, and if I was to do this sort of thing again I would definitely consider the aspect of where i presented the final piece more. the main focus of this was supposed to be about the process behind gift giving and how a useless object of ‘love’ is interpreted by people. because my behind the scenes videos didn’t work, i tried to reframe as a process vs finished product sort of thing, which is a concept that seems so overused and boring.   im disappointed in this piece mostly because i had such a good response last time, and with everything that happened i ended up hating this piece. i wish everything had gone more smoothly, maybe the lesson here is to tone it down? to not use premier? who knows

(the night before critique is when everything digital crashed as i was making the final edits, i had a meltdown after my computer died and i thought i had lost all my files from my past 3+ years of owning this computer. in the midst of this i sent my professor an email trying to explain the situation. i reread that email just now and i wanted to apologize to you corrin because that was a Mess and pretty embarrassing to read)

[claresmith]

i think the prime objects and replications passage of kubler’s shape of time has me a little confused based on how dense it is, but it offers some good insight to the philosophy behind mold making and its process. even more interesting to me was the consideration of art history in the prime object replica-mass binary. Kubler explains that while we have very few prime objects left that stand for truly original ideas, we are almost completely lost when it comes to decoding the real meaning and process behind the work from 500 + years ago

at what point can an item go from a mutation to a prime object? is it possible?

i think that a lot of his words on innovation and modern technology ring true. we have so much stuff that we’ve learned, so many promising young students making giant strides in medicinal research and environmental consciousness and we’re ready to develop and put to use, but it may end up sort of just sitting there until some historian picks it up years later as a failed sequence or as a project for renewal. a lot of these problems are ones we can’t really afford to waste time on.

im glad he calls the artist obsessed. he writes about the apparent possession an artist goes into when working, i’ve heard of that quite a bit and talked about it with other artists, but i wonder about it for myself. it was described to me as another type of creative enery other than your own coming in to your body and forcing you to create what it wants. its never happened to me before, and i dont know if it will, and im not sure if i want it in the first place? i dont feel like im really myself most of the time so maybe its happening to me All The Time. what kind of temperament does the sculptor need? and corrin’s question to think about: WHAT ARE SOME POTENTIAL FORMAL/MATERIAL/METAPHORIC RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN THE MOLD AND THE CAST?

[claresmith]

after the mold making demo im still not entirely sure what i want to be doing for this next project. my roommate said to look within myself and really try to find out what i want from this class. i want to make things, i want to make things that make people laugh and things that make people question aspects of themselves or the world around them. i want to create precious objects but i also want to create useful objects. i’m excited for mold making because I’ve wanted to learn it for so long, i’ve been making candles and wax sculptures for a while and i’m excited to finally be able to make forms with regularity if i chose to do so. but i don’t really want this project to be about mass production of the things i want more of (I have some good candle shapes in my room and i’ve been dying to make molds of them)  my budget is also very limited and i can’t afford to buy a lot of materials, so it’ll have to be a little on the small scale side. based on class discussion and the philosophy of mold making, i’m thinking about plato’s allegory of the cave, about the true form of an object vs the forms that we are limited to perceiving it in. some sort of prisoner’s staging kind of performance? with the copies of normal objects obscured by shadow and viewing angle? I’m not sure how i’d cut a window into the wall of the crit room though. I’m thinking about the symbol of the ouroboros, and the cyclical nature of originality, aesthetics, and ‘perfection.’ I’m also thinking about filling up the space with so many copies of something that the viewer and original is overwhelmed through the power of repetition. Im thinking about making face masks of myself and hiring a bunch of doubles to come in during class time and wear them to confuse my classmates. I don’t think any of these ideas are developed enough to really in down, and I’m hoping looking at some of the work of other mold makers will inspire me and help me think through these concepts.

[claresmith]

response to uses of the erotic by audre lorde

I first read this essay in highschool (my junior year?) and I couldn’t really get behind it because i was in a bad place and i almost refused to accept the things she was speaking of, about accepting and utilizing the self, your intuition, feelings and the power of self satisfaction. i hated myself a lot so i think that makes sense.

a few years later, i’m doing much better with my self image and i find what lorde is saying is completely true. there is power in emotions and intuition, and its a shame that most work has evolved in a way that depersonalizes us and sucks out the mental, physical, and spiritual fulfillment of our labor. I think thats why i’m in the arts, i can’t stand doing anything else because i don’t love anything else as much.

she writes about the erotic as a force to be used by the oppressed, but she only writes about it through the lens of the woman, even though she is a member of other marginalized groups that should also be using the erotic. maybe because she was trying to appeal to a larger audience? i’d still love to hear her speak or black eroticism and queer eroticism, i feel like i’m not alone there.

at the end, i have a coup,e questions for the author. what about people who feel too much ? would paying attention and acting on their emotions become too overwhelming for themselves and for people around them?  what about all the nasty people in the world who feel entitled to x y and z? i understand feeling yourself and trusting your intuition is important, but some people are just Not Very Nice

🌸 thanx 4 reading 🌸

[claresmith]

So the second part of my critique compared to my first part of the 2 x 4 + 1 project went very well, everyone gave me mostly positive feedback, and everyone agreed the second part was much more successful than the first.  I made a comfort object in the shape of a human, with more or less accurate anatomy (2 arms, 2 legs, and a head.) I started with a wire skeleton made from the pencil rod provided for us, measured and cut out the proportions of my tall friend, because I knew I wanted him to be bigger than I am (I love making art thats bigger than me every once in a while.) I welded some parts (the ribcage to the spine) and tied joint on to others so they could be manipulated more easily. From there I took some scrap fabric and made something comparable to ligaments and muscle. Filled in with fluff, then two layers of the softest fabric I could find for ‘skin.’

I’m really glad everyone liked it so much, everyone was excited to sit with him and touch him and move him around, emmett said this is just what they needed, something soft and cuddly to hug because their week had been so stressful. I was glad I could help someone out, and I felt like my piece was really successful and came out the way I intended it to come out, much more so than the first part. Definitely one of the best critiques I’ve had in a while, and some people asked some interesting questions and gave helpful suggestions, like adding a heated element, or something to make him move or twitch.  I think it was interesting that the topic of gender was brought up in a work I tried to make genderless. I understand the connection between the pink, soft, purring body I made and the staples of traditional femininity, but I’m not sure how I didn’t connect them myself. Maybe because I was seeing this being as so devoid of gender I projected that identity onto very stereotypically feminine materials. Throughout the making, I didn’t have a name for my piece (I still don’t) so I’ve just been calling him ‘my guy.’ The name of the fabric, “blushing bride” is definitely loaded with associations of innocence, femininity, sexuality, and to me, passiveness. While some of those descriptors seem to fit my piece, the intention was just to really make a soft, cute thing to hug and listen to in times of stress, someone to keep you warm and comfortable at night and to make you feel like you’re not as alone as you are.

so, here he is, on my couch : 

[claresmith]

after reading reading things i feel like i could understand object lessons a bit better. 

i agree with a lot of what the author says as a trans artist who sees themselves in the inanimate, the ordinary, and the otherworldly. i want to experience more art that challenges me and teaches me, and i want to stop making as many assumptions as i do.

on the topic of ‘whose ability to read, interpret, and translate whose bodies should we consider credible?’ i would say the conscience of the person inhabiting the body we’re talking to. they know themselves best, but we can only get there with honest and open conversations that many people don’t like to have.

once upon a time on tumblr.com someone said it makes sense that trans and specifically nonbinary kids see themselves in monsters, aliens, and abstract landscapes, because we have nothing else to see ourselves in. i think this extends to what gordon is saying as seeing objects as teachers and friends. its often hard to think very deeply about something and relate it to yourself unless you are forced to do so.

i dont really get “reparative objectification”

i really like this section, it makes me feel better about being as materialistic as i am, and how much significance and sentimentality i place on throwaway objects.

In thinking about Mark and her succulents, I am wrapping myself around the sustaining potential of relations of care with non-human things. I wonder about the role that the cultivation, protection, and recuperation of things might play in the day-to-day processes of healing necessitated by living as a body that is objectified, misread, or unrecognized. Can attending to objects with care be a labor of self-sustenance for us as well? Can the things of our lives be our companions, our children, our comrades?24 What can we know or feel about our own bodies through the ways that we relate to objects? I want to propose the possibility that our relations with objects themselves might function as a means of remodeling our own often-fraught bonds with the materiality that is our own lived bodies. 

[claresmith]

with the first project, we have to add a metal component to our sculpture revolving around the conversation we had about our pieces during the critique. A lot of the comments I received were about making the piece more personal and specific to my experiences, which isn’t really what I want to focus on, but I understand that you need to open up and make yourself vulnerable before others feel like they can do so. I was told to use the altar in order to better understand it and what people would use it for. Some people said it was too obvious as an altar/shrine, and that I should try to separate myself from the classical visual representation. moving forward, I can’t say I have much of an idea of what to do in the metal shop. as of now, I’m trying to reconceptualize what a place or object of gathering, trust and healing would look like, now made out of metal. what I can pull off the top of my head seems like more of the same thing I just did. because metal is so hard and sharp and jagged, maybe i’ll wrap it with something, in order to create a soft sculpture with a skeleton? a friend to hug and tell your secrets to?? that sounds pretty good actually.

when things get rough, does a good friend listen to you or console you?

[claresmith]

ive been going around asking people who they trust and feel most comfortable with, trying to reach some sort of consensus on who I should have as the center figure in my piece. most people say their mom or their dog or sister or boyfriend or best friend. I’m thinking of having either a figure carved from the wood, or a small wax figurine, possibly with just a generic face. Someone in class said I should create my own goddess or power figure, and while I think that would be useful for me, I don’t think it would fit particularly with the community aspect that I am trying to bring to this piece.

Maybe the figure is a generalized religious figure in robes, maybe a child, as children can be seen as symbols of the future as well as the past. maybe a mirror? its important to learn to trust, love, and be comfortable with yourself. maybe a small window facing an outdoor scene? i have always felt the most connected to the earth and to myself when i am out in nature observing.

[claresmith]

2 x 4 + 1

for our first project, we were asked to have a ‘real, meaningful experience’ with a 2 x 4 and one other material. the finished piece is something that is supposed to deal with things that weigh on us psychologically, politically, emotionally, etc. 

it seems like a bit of a cop out, but I know that any interaction I have with this 2x 4 will be a meaningful experience. I don’t work with wood that often (its been 2 years maybe??) and i’m still inexperienced with the medium so i know i will learn something, challenge myself, and come out with new knowledge without trying too hard to make the experience meaningful. I think all the things that I create are real and meaningful to me because I made them and they are my thoughts and experiences processed through my personal way of thinking and artmaking. 

as for things that weigh on me, most often its stress and or other outside factors i cant control. the country is a mess and only getting worse, my sister is going through a very hard time, i miss my mother and my friends back home, i fear for my own health and stability. the life i am living in school is amazing, but its hard to be on your own and try to handle everything yourself, and i very much wish i had someone to turn to, who wont be afraid of the things i say and who wont get tired of me.  im not religious in a traditional sense, but i think for this project I might want to do some kind of altar? where people who need it are able to collect themselves, tell their thoughts to someone, and feel some kind of comfort. i don’t know how strong prayer is, and i’m not sure if the figure in the altar is going to be a religious one, but religious art is supposed to be powerful, and coming from someone who gave up catholicism years ago im interested to see how this concept will change and grow in my mind as i continue it.

im also very excited to talk to our resident grad student and classmates so I can see what ideas they have, and have a conversation about the things that weigh on them.

[claresmith]

short response to after looking at a little work by anicka yi

When I first looked at the work I was a little confused about most of it and kind of grossed out from what pictures I had seen of 7,070,430K of Digital Spit. After reading a bit in her press section I find her work more comfortable and almost familiar. I love the theme of putting yourself into your work, and it’s amazing that the artist took samples of the women she met to create an organic, bacterial monster that grows and disintegrates with time. I wonder if the artist is still in contact with the women she took samples from. The articles I’m reading tell me she uses a lot of strange and unexpected materials, but I think it’s perfectly normal to use whatever you can get your hands on to create the texture or feel or look you want, maybe people are just upset about the smell? I’ve always considered things from the body as viable art supplies (hair, bones, spit, etc) but I haven’t thought much about using non-human things that grow in, on, and around the body as material. I hear that there are thousands of bacteria specific to YOUR body and your body alone, and I’d love to see what a piece grown from my bacteria would be like. I would also like to smell the perfume she created for her gallery as well, the scent of ‘Forgetting’.

[claresmith]

stacking sculpture, 2015

[claresmith]

charcoal practice, 2016

[claresmith]

intro questions

What kinds of learning environments are/have been most exciting for you? classrooms where the students are friendly and willing to critique and challenge my work, a professor who is encouraging and empathetic to their students. i’m very interested in what my peers have to say, and when everyone is comfortable with each other it makes the class a really positive experience.  

List five questions that you want to fuel your work? where did the care go in this piece? did you try anything new? does it look good? did you learn from any mistakes you made? in what way does this reflect an experience?

If you were to conceive of one art assignment/prompt for yourself what would that be? full size non-human self portrait? or a piece using a non-paint material as paint/as a surface of an object

Who would you list as the five artists (either contemporary or historical) that interest you? Why? niki de saint-phalle - she seems like a beautiful and colorful woman who would have a lot of good advice to give junji ito - i would love to see how he works and what he’s like in his daily life pablo picasso - i used to think he was a little overrated but then i heard some interesting facts about the way he worked and lived, and i’d like to see his studio egon schiele - i just really like him a lot vincent van gough - he painted beautifully and his story is pretty sad, i’m interested in the way mental illness takes form in art and i can really relate to some of the weird things he did

Are you indoorsy or outdoorsy? Can you describe ways in which you have thrived in interior architectural human made spaces? Can you describe ways in which you have thrived in exterior or non-human constructed spaces? by classic definition, i’m indoorsy. i like to be cozy and safe under a roof where i have my needs met, and i spend more time indoors than i’d like. i love the beauty of the natural world and it’s important that i am able to spend time by myself in the outdoors to relax and reflect

Does your lack of sleep make you feel stronger or weaker? weaker. i have enough health issues as is and sleep feels good. the day after an all nighter is fun in a delirious kind of way, but after a while i tend to shut down.

What is your fantasy working/studio environment? Where is it and what does it look like? a large empty room with wood floors and large windows (and preferably a balcony) that i can fill with materials. part of the floor and walls are dedicated to works in progress, but there is still a lot of room to move around. there’s a kitchenette with a coffeemaker and food in the fridge and a couch big enough to sleep on. the windows can look out to anything, as long as it’s not a wall or a fence or a side yard or something.

Do future technological developments excite or scare you? Or both? How? the future of science and technology is very exciting to me! we live in a time where computers and medicine are going through some pretty huge advancements, and i’m always looking to see what sort of advancements we can make next. it’s no secret that humans are awful most of the time, and there is always going to be some scary stuff, but hopefully something good will come in the process. 

[claresmith]

pet rat, 2015, stoneware

[claresmith]

exercise in oil, 2015