Cuts to public funds will make art and artists in this country suffer, but the positive out of the negative, the antithesis to the thesis, could reconnect us with our instinctive creative ‘will’. We may become more in touch with what really moves us irrelevant of monetary concerns. Poverty can inspire, but this is not to condone the impoverishing of artists and the lack of respect this culture has for us as the cuts demonstrate. I hope that we realise we can overcome these obstacles if we maintain our individual and collective passion to create and spur each other on, if we keep on keepin’ on. I hope you will join me in the Danse Macabre.
Posts Tagged 'sculpture'
My pledge – Manchester Artist’s Bonfire 28th January 2011
Published January 16, 2011 Exhibition , Performance , Sculpture , Talk Leave a CommentTags: activism, art, art activism, auto-destructive art, casting, cuts, fire, funding cuts, guerilla art, installation, oil, oil paint, performance art, public funding, red, sculpture, skull, vanitas, wax
Project Potato
Published January 2, 2011 Drawing , Installation , Sculpture Leave a CommentTags: art, artists, casting, installation, plaster, potato, sculpture
I discovered a stray potato in my vegetable cupboard. I found it quite disturbing. The fur-like texture on the growths and the vein-like qualities and spiny bits are all quite unsettling. The potato part looked like the shrivelled head of some sort of creepy octopus. It was inspirational. I didn’t know what I would end up with but I knew I wanted to use it for something. I thought I would try taking a mould of it and cast it in plaster.
I knew the tentacles would be a nightmare to mould but I managed to get some tiny fragments which look quite beautiful in delicate plaster.
Clay research – Germaine Richier
Published October 10, 2010 Drawing , Installation , Research , Sculpture 1 CommentTags: alberto giacometti, bronze, casting, clay, germaine richier, giacometti, sculpture
I wanted to learn more about clay as a material so I looked at the work of Alberto Giacometti and Germaine Richier. Richiers’ work is astonishing. This life-size version of a preying mantis that resembles a woman is so disturbing that I could barely look at it when I came across it. The texture of the piece is also exactly what I was looking for with clay. I realised I need to work on a much larger scale with the material and with much stronger foundations to support it. I will get some wood to make armatures. I’ve watched some youtube videos of people making them that has helped.
This crucifixion is so powerful. The vulnerability and pain is almost excruciating to look at for me. I am very moved by it.
How she did this cast I will never know…
Actually, I very much intend to find out! This is the first piece I saw of Richiers. These angry but vulnerable anthropomorphic creatures are so intense. Richier was certainly the pre-cursor to Louise Bourgeois.
This (below) is such a contemporary seeming form.
Dead Rat
Published October 1, 2010 Drawing , Installation , Sculpture Leave a CommentTags: abject, abjection, art, casting, clay, julia kristeva, kinetic, kinetic art, kristeva, powers of horror, sculpture, sound art
I found a strangely mutilated rat while walking the dog around Hulme. I actually cried out when I saw it as I was so disturbed. It’s one of the most horrifying and fantastic things I’ve ever seen. It’s head was missing and it’s flesh was folded like a foreskin revealing much of the headless spine. I took some photos of it, I visited it a couple of times. I’ve grown very fond of this rat and have been drawing it and making objects that resemble it. I am fascinated by the abject… “No shit?”
I’m still trying to hone my watercolour techniques. It’s not easy. I’ve had some success but not much. Some of these are too careful. The freer ones work better but they still take a lot of work.
I decided to make a version of the rat using clay. I wanted to make an oversized version. I have thought about sound with it and can imagine the sound of rats scratching wood, like when you can hear them running under the floorboards. I need to do a lot of recording with live rats. I will approach some pet shops although it would be better to have the real sewer rats like the one I found.
I made a sort of armature with steel wire to support the clay.
I found that I wasn’t happy with the finish and the structure wasn’t strong enough to support the clay. I haven’t worked in this way with clay before so I have a lot to learn. I learnt that to dry clay without cracking you must dry it slowly and cover it with plastic and damp cloths (thanks Matt Dalby and Jennifer McDonald for the advice).