gargon's world

k r i s t i n a  r o g e r s

[krogers]

although meant to be viewed left to right, here are close ups of each of the prints in the series :)

(for a more detailed reflection view my earlier post)

[krogers]

here it is!

the final print series

i spoke about what each of these sections means to me in another post during this project but i will sum it up again here:

the entire series is chronologically (and roughly) broken into three sections

at the beginning I was where I thought a “low” was. I was in a phase that repeatedly comes into my life where I struggle with my physical health that in turn deteriorates my mental health. As i do every time these waves come over me, i decided to try and get a hold of myself. 

this is where the middle of my semester, and my series, takes place. I was on top of my weight in a way I had never been before. I had never been as successful in my attempts to be healthy in all forms of life as I was in the middle of the semester. at points it was euphoric.

then we went home. and things did not go as planned. not only has quarantine taken a toll on my attempt to keep my health up, there has also been a non-covid related struggle during this time for me as well. both have not allowed me the mental strength to continue working on my physical health. i can assure you all that i am safe and have a great support system both in my home and professionally, but i have to say that the last two weeks especially have been a real low. 

i am very happy with my final piece

i am still photographing the potatoes as they deteriorate and just seeing what happens with them to make a little photo series as well. 

[krogers]

here is my favorite print from the piece! 

I’m still figuring out how to document and put it all together :/

[krogers]

Here is the first piece after sumi ink!

I have to find a way to put them all together to be displayed how I want them, like a story line but I don’t want to make a book.

more updates on that later!

[krogers]

Here are all the potatoes post carving.

I’m going to photograph them everyday to see how they decay, and maybe organize them a photo series once they’re totally gone :)

[krogers]

printing!!

today I carved and printed all the pieces for the remapping project!!!

I’ll walk through each of these pictures, because it was a really weird process.

#1- I laid out the paper I made in the order I wanted the prints to be presented. There are three general stages that i categorized the semester into. First I was having a lot a mental blocks/issues about my health and my weight, but life progressed as it normal does. Then I really started to get on top of my health and life was going really fantastically. Thirdly, everything fell apart not just for my health but life in general. 

#2- I printed out some pictures I wanted to recreate in the prints so that I could transfer them onto the potato surface when I cut them. This took some trial and error of how to actually get a sense of that image onto the tato.

#3- I realized if I cut the picture with an exact and then drew with marker over those cuts, I could transfer rough details onto the potato and start carving!

#4- The result of the first cut potato was really cool, but when transferring onto the paper, it did not look hoe I expected. After a couple trials, I got a better transfer to the paper, and I thought it actually looked very beautiful. I decided that after all the printing, I would paint on top with sumi ink to define the imagery.

#5- okay thats just the most massive potato I’ve ever seen and I didn’t want to cut it up because he was so beautiful.

#6/7/8/9- here are some of the prints without any sumi ink that are still drying :)

#10- this was my setup for the entire process.... my room is a MESS.

[krogers]

paper is dried and ironed!!

very happy with the result

[krogers]

today I made paper! (for the first time :))

here’s how it went:

To make the base of the pulp I ripped up a bunch of cream and white paper, then I ripped up one sheet of blue, one sheet of red, and one sheet of yellow - I thought this would make a speckled cream colored paper, but I was wrong - she’s pink.

After I ripped up all the paper I found a bin and cleaned it (kind of) and soaked the paper in it for about 20 minutes.

During the 20 minutes I went through my recycling bin and ripped off a bunch of food labels that I was going to put into the paper. When I realized the paper wasn't going to be anywhere near white, I decided to leave the labels out, because I think it would have distracted from the prints.

After the paper soaked I took a submergible blender and blended - blent? - the paper into a watery pulp. That was fun as hell. Also the wet paper pre-blending felt so cool I couldn't stop playing with it and when you swished it around it sounded like a frog and I love frogs so that was fun.

I sprayed the screens that I got on amazon for like 6 bucks with cooking spray so that the paper wouldn't stick to it (I was originally going to make my own screens but I knew if I asked my dad for help he would end up making fifty thousand screens and I really only needed two or three).

I then submerged the screens, got an even layer of pulp on them, drained them and laid them out on out on the towel to dry before flipping them over.

I began the whole process at 11:45am and finished 3:50pm but it went by really fast because I was having a really good time.

Final product? it looks like salami to me - completely unintentional, but works soooo well with the rest of my concept and I’m sooo happy with it.

also, the potatoes have been secured.

[krogers]

another update

okay 

I want to make paper that i will print on

I want to put things into the paper to make it correlate with the prints themselves like food wrappers, parts of cans, etc.

I might throw different colors in there as well

this is all for now.

[krogers]

more (re)mapping ideas

okay. i have thought more.

potatoes cannot be kept for very long.

i don’t think a performance will work.

I might print on fabric - on blank clothes? maybe make a wardrobe of these prints? I might sew a bunch of shirts together 

lots of ideas. so much thought. I need to lay in the sun like a lizard now 

probably more updates later 🤟🏻

[krogers]

(re)mapping proposal continued

just some more thoughts on how this will happen:

I want to photograph the potatoes as objects as well as the prints they provide.

I will print them on paper (possibly homemade) as well as on my body - maybe I’ll make a video of this as a performance?

In my head I have an idea of how I want the prints to look but I don't have the words to describe it yet and also I don't really know why I want them to look like that.

[krogers]

(re)mapping proposal

Over the course of the semester I’ve been tracking my weight, calories, and general health. This is something I’ve struggled with for my entire life and I was finally getting very on top of before we had to move out for COVID-19 and I’m still very angry about it.

For this project I want to create a series of prints using potatoes as stamps! I want to make either a series of separate prints or somehow make a very long, almost timeline like piece. I haven’t worked out exactly what the imagery will be like that I will print, but I like the symbolism of using a potato as the facilitator as it has to do with my weight.

There is definitely a rollercoaster of emotions when it comes to this subject, specifically this semester with all that's happened, so I think the print(s) could be very nuanced.

[krogers]

Damn !

I can't post the video interaction for my body extension project because the file is to big! I will not make it smaller just for tumblr! I refuse! It can be seen on the Google Drive, please watch it, it’s very cute

[krogers]

BODY EXTENSION

extension in action

here the arms and stilts are attached to me. When the arms are put together, it creates a cavity for a person to stand in. The interlocking nature of the arms allows me to hold or trap a person inside of the cavity (can be seen in the video in the Google Drive). The stilts allow me to negate my natural *short* stance, and dominate the space. These extensions are both a physical representation and a facilitator of my extroversion. The only thing that does not translate well from concept/design to the physical extension is the ability, or lack there of, to freely move in the stilts as much as I’d like.

on that same note, this limited mobility might actually reveal another side of my extroversion. If I am rooted to the spot, the only thing I can do is reach out and hold as many people as I can. In real life, we are not always in control of where we are and what is happening around us, but we can reach out and hold people that we love. This extension is a physical representation of this concept, which is now more relevant than ever. 

[krogers]

BODY EXTENSION

extension as objects

here there are two arm extensions, and two leg extensions. The leg extensions (stilts) have a central cylinder made from rolled cardboard. This central cylinder is then glued to circular base five cardboard layers thick. The circular base is surrounded by a tube of cardboard made by scoring the outside. The space between this outer tube and the central cylinder is filled by brown paper to solidify and support the object as a stilt. Everything is handcut for the leg extensions.

the arm extensions are composed of one outer shield of cardboard, curved by scoring, and 6 supportive arms. Two supportive line the outside of the shield and two sets of two arms create a slot for the arm to hold it up. The supportive arms were laser cut, everything else was handcut.

water activated archival tape was used to strengthen all parts of the extension, as well as make the “straps” for where feet and arms go to keep the extension attached to the body.  

I originally wanted both parts of the extension to be conic shaped, but given the circumstances, I adjusted the design to be both lighter weight and more manageable. If I were given unlimited supplies and time I would have ideally laser cut every piece for maximum accuracy and cleanliness, as well as made the stilts slightly more comfortable and lighter. 

[krogers]

tumblr really doesn't like me and never lets me upload my videos >:( 

so here’s a bunch of screen caps from me e n t e r i n g the body extension, again with help from my mom 

the arms are very lights and easy to put on, the stilts require a ladder or someone with longer, more agile legs than I have.  But I can walk in them! Very slowly but I could for sure get somewhere if I needed too (or was allowed to leave my home 😔) 

When it’s onI feel like a transformer which is fun but not necessarily what I want - I think it comes from the wing like arms 

[krogers]

welcome to my makeshift covid-19 photo studio :) 

feat. my mom and her slippers

I spent thirty minutes (?) ironing a king size white shite because I found out there are no big white walls in my house! I hung that baby up with some frog tape (”Do NOT rip paint off my walls” -mom) and then proceeded to tear up my living room. I found some lights in my dad’s tool room and set this whole bad boy up. I was very sweaty after. The lights are very strong. I am very lightheaded now. 

also wow that noise at the beginning is my floor??? I didn't know it sounded like that. 

also: my voice sounds like a little baby in this video. Life has been very hard lately. Yesterday was very hard. I am doing better today.