ART! WHAT IS IT GOOD FOR?.. ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING.
A breakdown of the work I have been creating..
My work tends to be personal and highly influenced on what is going on in the present moment . It is often sculptural based with hidden narrative or thoughts that I have expressed subtly hoping to encourage discussion. One of the important things for me is that everyone can appreciate and enjoy art without having to feel they need to be on a certain intellectual level. I’m trying this out in Calgary by exposing the public to a familiar image.
What I have been looking at during my stay:
Contrast of buildings - When I first arrived I needed to see some of Calgary and form relationships with my surroundings to be able to respond. I was interested in the contrast between the older heritage buildings in comparison to the sky scrapers. I was shocked when people said they prefer the ultra modern reflective buildings in comparison to these beautifully crafted houses in different colours with detail and charm. I soon began to realise I had a fascination with both I wanted to create a heritage building sculpture but using the reflective materials of the skyscrapers. The idea came from an elderly woman painting the windows of her traditional home and spurred the idea of upcycling these original houses to appeal to a new market rather than allowing them to deteriorate. Unfortunately I couldn’t push this idea due to the lack of metal/wood work facilities in my space. I did check out Protospace another makerspace within Calgary that could offer those facilities however without a car it was really difficult to access. I spent time at artist Jeff De Boer’s Studio an amazing metal work artist and hoping to head back before I leave to learn some cool things!
Hoose heeds - I did not ditch my research on the houses what I did instead was worked over the images and discovered some of the shapes in the houses were making surreal faces. I drew them then created 2-D faces from my sketches the made a 3-d mystical head. Its exaggerated features made me think about how in traditional african sculptures they exaggerated parts of the body that symbolised fertility etc. I enjoyed this process as it was good as a starter point but soon drifted to another idea.
Game changer - My work took a turn as I began to question whether we are missold happiness and what society want us to believe is the core reason to happiness. We seem to believe the ideal family, having children, the big house and an everlasting relationship is the happiest way forward but is it just because we are used to being told this? Are you shocked when a 40 year old women in a relationship hasn’t got kids? etc. I feel we are in an era now where people are beginning to challenge this concept. I have had discussions with people here in Calgary about how they have left their faith or the way they are told they have to live their lives because of their community and then are shunned by their families and friends because they want to live their life a different way.
Happiness? - The notebook I bought before I came to Calgary says ‘Stay Curious’ on the front cover and that is exactly what I did! In the first week there was a slow start in me creating work I decided to go between three methods to get me started... Sketchbooking, creating a progress piece when I was given a scrap bit of plywood by Maria, I decided I would work on this piece during my stay rather than one long sitting. Also pallette making I created 22 miniature palettes out of scrap wood and popsicle sticks as my meditation to get my creative mind flowing. The progress piece was influenced by my what is happiness idea. I created 3 main mystical characters: The soul mate, The child bearer, the virgin and genderpuss. Each evolved from an idea to sketches then I wanted to challenge myself to use the laser cutter. I took photos of my sketches then uploaded the photo file in Illustrator and painstakingly edited these then laser cut them whilst experimenting on different materials such as cork, wood, leather and perspex From this narrative of the mystical characters I had many ideas I could go to for creating a sculpture but chose to focus on the progress piece as well as a small centaur clay sculpture who is escaping the genital peoples temptation.
Experimentation - Using the 3-D pen I began creating small doodles, a woman's face with continuous line then onto creating a gas mask you can see in an earlier post. I experimented with lino cutting for the first time in 2 years. Recycling the dud 3d print parts and learning new software such a 123d make and design.
Progress Piece Collage - How it started… The virgin a majestic fairy painting looks down at the curious world we live in. The sexy soul mate half man half horse is surrounded by false relationships present and past. The child bearer a confident plus size individual swims past the lonely child even though as a women we are programmed to be nurturing she decides to ignore this side. Found objects, magazines and newspaper cuttings combine together aesthetically. This piece made me think about how different images can form relationships creating a narrative whether this is on purpose or not. The idea that all people can relate to art if they recognise a small part of the piece there imagination might curate their own narrative.
Tinder. - The single life smothered me over here. The dating game kinda become a real game to me. It started with the intentions to meet new people who could show me around Calgary. However after a handful of dates modern dating in a digital era became intriguing to me. Inspired by Amalia Ulmans Excellences and Perfections play on photography and performance. I wanted to create a piece based on both of those elements plus humour representing the repetition of dating.. This project may be continued back home?
Penis Art - Has been a subject in not only contemporary art for a long period but historically. The greeks claim that a big penis represented stupidity and those animal like, However a small penis represented intellectual qualities. Today Western christian values can be negative. Despite in the studio, my space is right next to Ryan, a christian - he just laughs and thinks i’m off my head haha. My interest in Penis Art is the opportunity to take a familiar symbol to most/all people and allow them to feel part of something using collage and sculpture. People will be able to make a comment about the art because it will be a familiar symbol whether they find it disgusting, laugh etc. We will all be on the same level and can add whatever intellectual understanding they want to the piece. The context of this project did evolve from dating - my continuous curse of meeting unusual characters influenced a small project where I made 6 small penises based on my experience of the date which was usually negative but usually hilarious. I would share my stories with friends in the space and this made me think of penis public art humorous art we can all relate to.
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