Show biz

Here is a tester with the Dogs I had finished, my glamorous assistants seemed to enjoy themselves while chasing each other around, it was also fun to watch so I think this would be the better idea instead of using them as wall decorations.

From this I made more dogs that would be either side of the person instead of only one side, this is entirely for convenience. 

Here are the dogs in action, I think it went well however there was a late minute change of plan for where two of the dogs would be walking, they walked round twice before waiting till their time to run down the middle to Diana (Kim in the nature themed dress).

Presentation

Our Project was to focus a sculpture based around Ovid's poem "Metamorphosis which is a 15 book long and about many different mythological tales. Unfortunately for Ovid he was exiled and later died, however his last few poems show that he had become to grow familiar with death, almost excepting, though his work did inspire artists and the gallery event.

so first I looked into Titians painting, Ovids poem around his time was as well known as the bible, and three of his paintings that I have seen follow them

The story of Diana and Actaeon, Actaeon (the hunter) wondered in on Diana (the goddess of the hunt) in her bathing area, she was obviously very annoyed to be seen in such a vulnerable possition, so she turned him into a stag(male deer) and hunted him with his own dogs

now with this I had to make a decision between going down a literal route of sculpture or doing something more figurative

My first decision was to do some research, seeing though i aspire to be an illustrator, it made sculpture something i couldnt really focus on, so i tried looking for sculptures that either looked sketchy or a mixture of both sculpture and 2D work. 

Thomas Houseago

As you can see some of his work contained a mixture of texture and sketches which i really liked, one side being smooth and planned out in appearance showing patients however the other side which is more textured shows a much more rushed and emotion filled response, well in my opinion any way.

His work references cubism and futurism and toys with the idea of sculpture, he is a very much figurative sculpture

Jean Debuffet

another figurative artist, their sculptures give off the illusion of movement or melting, they are still very interesting to see.

I then tried my own hand at making paper maquettes with any ideas i could come up, these are a few of my personal favourites

This was mostly inspired by Thomas' work, however it went no further, none of these maquettes did

here are a few paper maquettes i found searching the web

Then I looked to some artists that didnt fit in to my sketchy or 'mixed' sense of sculpture, the more literal or form based.

Sarah Lucas

Anthony Gormley

I later went to liverpool to see Anothony Gormleys 'another place' piece which includes around 100 sculptures lined along the beach.

here are a few primary images

I found his sculptures very lifelike, when  i looked out to the water i could have guessed they were all just passers by watching something in a far off place, which is why i think it was named 'Another Place' as they all appeared to be day dreaming, even when the water is well up to their shoulders.

But i started to wonder from sculpture, i became fascinated with puppets, even making my own, all because of what a test with bin bags lead me to

one idea was to dress up in a sort of sculpture/costume so that i could be some what of a living sculpture, like Gilbert And George

On a visit to the Victory and Albert museum i came across this particular exhibit on puppets depicting a scene of a woman carrying a body while business men tried to fool her into a false sense of protection or blame

I also found outfits that i could possible incorporate into my final piece (as i was convinced this puppet idea would be)

Even though i was convinced i felt the need to look into more life like puppets, incase i could come up with any other ideas, which i had many of its just choosing the right one always seemed bias to my opinion instead of what would really suit

Lion King

The puppets are used in a way to show emotion even though they are perfectly still, some even having deeper meanings for example

Simba's farther is always seen as good, not only to simba and the audience but also how he is made, with a halo around his head very similar to that of a holy figure shows his pureness, Scar does not have this so it cannot be coincidental. Scar has what appears to be flames

I also looked into the 'War Horse' which not only uses a very detailed horse puppet but also needs horse behaviorists to use to become a convincing horse, not even speaking to each other to determine their next move just moving with it.

I found this facinating.

but eventually i had to rethink my designs, i started to go down the preformance sculpture ideas, coming up with a 'monster' that could have just portrayed Actaeons fear of what he had seen and the inevitable doom he had brought to himself

I had planned it out so a veil would cover a pot/modrock mask underneath which would look very pretty but would not be visible till i lifted the veil from the monsterous look

I planned and came up with a few possible mechanics to the face making it moveable, even going as far as creating the eyes for my final piece

However asking my class for opinions they told me to look back into puppets and what i had learnt from them, so i did

I looked back mainly to Thomas houseago and the lion king puppets

these caught my attention and i started planning my own performance once again with still puppets

Flat and motionless, however when they are used as part of a performance it gives the illusion of movement which I really liked

so I thought of making a more literal piece

paper maquette practices

I would of course need to look into deer and dog poses more, I first planned to make wolves/german shepherds however in the painting they are clearly beagles, as well as beagles being the typical choice for hunters, you may remember from the higher class hunters going after foxes with the sight of like 15 beagles jumping over each other with their tails pointed high, this is to help the hunters find their beagles if they go in high grass or etc.

I decided to keep the Stag white because of the story of Albin, an albino moose that was said to bring good fortune which used to be able to walk by hunters who simply saw it as a magnificent creature and would never go for it, until not too long ago when a Dane hunter finally killed the legendary moose.

I have a few options for presentation my sculpture

either with posing and a use of photography,

I could hang them from walls to portray its story, or my personal favourite I could get my class mates to run after each other as I record it to show the 'movement' or business of my sculpture

Marvin Gaye Chatwynd

or 'Sparticus'

Is a British artist who does a mixture of performance and material sculpture in that she will make items for a performance that will later on become art themselves.

her art is sometimes called 'intentionally bad' or 'amateurish' when really she is trying to portray her ideas as fast as she can while they are raw in her mind.

She also uses just random people to preform, they don't have to be dancers or performers, and they have no set movements, it is just what they want to do

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I would like my performance to be described as 'intentionally bad', even though I have put a lot of thought into my creations, perhaps I could make my performers have some throw together outfit, that from a distance will look highly thought out but up close look rubbish. 

2D sculptures

Small Paper machettes as practices

Update; I am enjoying making these 2D sculptures, i as an aspiring illustrator love to draw, I do admit i like my wolves and german shepherds but looking back on my previous work i decided it would be best to make beagles, not because their cute little dogs, but because they are well used hunting dogs, even today.

To keep the figures 2D I made them completely one sided, you can only see their left or right side, no not both and no over lapping, except the tail and horns but i find that necassary.

My idea is, instead of a final performance or single sculpture was to have a performance photograph, to make the sculptures look as if they are moving. However I am nervous about being a sort of 'Director' for this photo, Im not entirely confident with telling people what to do or where to stand.

I have decided to keep the deer white because of an article I saw not to long ago about an almost legendary Albino Moose in Norway Named Albin who was shot dead not long ago

A definate health and safety for this new material which is very smooth and a sturdy material would be to wear gloves because we are using knives and the corners can also become very sharp on the sculptures.

also because of its smoothness it was a pain to paint, 3 coats in and i can still see sketches.

I have been thinking on ways to hold the sculptures in the photo, i have had two ideas, fabrics to make it hang or some sort of handle, for example toilet roll tubes, 

Sketches

"A torso fleeing from grabbing hands, to symbolise how vulnerable Diana felt when Actaeon walked in on her"

"A monster like torso which would be a metaphor for the sheer terror Actaeon would feel when he realises what he just walked in on"

"A face squished between two horns as if forced to see through, I could also use hands instead of antlers- as if peeking"

"Pokemon- A franchise that pretty much revoves around change, something small can evolve through fighting to become something stronger, this also could be a reason to look into Charles Darwin's theory of evolution"

"Kelpie, Scottish Lore- A shape shifting water spirit that inhabits lakes, pools and locks on scotland, usually depicted as a beautiful horse that fools people into riding it before it will drowned them in the near by water source. This is another example of change"

I recently watched spirited away, a Japanese movie by Ghibli Stubios, I felt it could relate because the change that happens within the characters, for example the main characters personality changes from self-centered to the understanding young lady lady at the end. The character here also changes from murderous to quite loveable"

Plan sketches for a possible out come, a moveable puppet like head dress, inspired by no-face from spirited away however i was having quite a bit of problem with motivation and i just didn't think it looked the part.

This is what i started to go more in depth to, i was quite enjoying working on it too, my idea was to have a doll like mask covered by a black veil with only two mod rock eyes visible through it, it would be a performance piece, when i got to the end of the catwalk i would then lift the veil to expose the eery face.

____________Final Ideas and Reviews______________