A reflection.....

As a reflection on my work this term I feel that my work has evolved as my object making has changed and moved to creating more thoughtful pieces which have required create input and nursing during the process compared to my last works using glass and hot gun which were more reliant on unconscious decisions. Furthermore the objects are more intriguing as they require deeper investigation not only from observing but also by touching and feeling the objects. 

The colourless objects also a challenge to the viewer to create your own ideas and relationships with the objects and pods when colour and familiarity are removed. This can be through interpreting  forms or properties of the materials used however I feel this allows the pieces to be more interesting as they evoke varied responses rather than a dictated meaning set by myself as the artist. 

I feel this has also helped me progress as an artist to give faith to object and process making as a art form and appreciate how straying from the literal to investigate the world through the non physical allowing deeper understand which is detached from the opinions of human significance. 

Pods.

These peculiar forms are a result of my experimentation and evolving thoughts and how they have progressed over the last year as I have focused on the mind and body. 

As I began my focus on art and science and questioning the human body I focused on the literal forms and physical attributes in the body; making body casts, sculpting organs and trying to recreate bodily tissues and cells. However through this and through a interest in questioning the mind I have become distanced from physical representation become more interested in that which we do not see and finding dead ends and limitations to what else there is to discover by focusing on literal aspects of the human body.

These 'pods' are sculptures which I have experimented with creating to question my own limits of understanding in the world around and my own capacity to move away from the need for structure. Stemming from a interest in ideas surrounding the Copernican revolution, as I intend to write about this for my 3rd year dissertation, the pods represent a questioning of space in which they float in and the space inside them.  

They are imperfect and hard to interpret however in contrast to the process based object making of my other pieces they provide a personal challenge to myself to reconsider how I might make art and what art is. As I have been hanging these in my studio space I have been questioned as to what they are and what they mean however to my understanding this is where realizations can be made about ones mind by how they may interpret abstract objects which is made harder when colour and familiar form is removed as our minds rely on preset connections to interpret the world around. 

The physcial attributes of the objects are delicate and fragile as the cling film can be easy crushed or torn whilst the wire frames offer a structure and frame for them to cling upon. 

Degrading....

To document the process of my objects changing over time and degrading these photographs shows how as the flowers have begun to die the nature of the objects have changed from the vibrant and beautiful objects to remains past life as the flowers die and degrade into the wax, peeling the wax away with them. By viewing the objects changing over time emotions towards them change. Soft and subtle tones of greens and yellows darken to browns and dark green demonstrating the affects of and influence of colour and it's ability to affect emotional responses. 

Inspiration: Veiled intentions

Having found this photography online labeled 'Vieled intentions' or 'Vedas by N.A Cope and D.E Arnold. I found in very inspiring and relevant to my work. Having researched this I found that they were inspired by the idea that 'A veil that covers, deforms, and when it reveals it does so only in part. A metaphor for knowledge, that expands certain values and contracts others.' This affect is interesting to themes I had began to explore offering a different perspective to what happens when you veil and mask objects thus transforming their meanings and values.

A further point I found very interesting about this subject is - "In "Vedas" the subject of knowledge is explored by Nicholas Alan Cope and Dustin Edward Arnold in the specific aspect of how the Copernican revolution provoked radical changes in thought, thanks to the book "De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium". This again resounds to the previous research conducted into Darwinism and Freudism as further Copernican shocks to the value of humanity. 

Taking this into account I find these images very interesting and haunting and the human form because masked and unfamiliar as features which we use to differentiate and emotionally connect with are hidden, transforming the human form into a mere veiled object. Taking this affect further is the similar emphasis on the colourless to remove familiarity and warm to unnerving images which appear alien to the usual human existance. 

“We are not trapped by our thoughts. What we generally do, however, is create thoughts that trap us.” ― Joshua David Stone

Further experimentation has lead to testing trapping objects in wax. These again change the feeling of these small sculptures to allow the connotations of the objects to be questioned, furthermore rather than joining with the wax shell as the colourless pieces, these objects appear trapped and stuck however what this means to various viewers will differ. 

Personally I find these evoke a feeling of anxiety and being trapped as the wax wraps itself around the objects as they sink into and become stuck in the pool of wax at the base creating a sense of falling or sinking. The dullness of the light bulb which can no longer be illuminated and the rusting of the pots also creates a sense of loss and aging. 

Colourless Sculpture....

Having established a sculptural process by manipulating wax to form shapes and encapsulate objects as seen with my last flower sculpture, I have continued to progress with this technique but this time reverting back to an interest in the colourless. 

These are interesting as the boundary between the wax and the materials disappear leaving only texture and form to be examined forcing the eye and mind to investigate further to interpret these pieces. 

I am interested in the removal of colour and how this affects the interpretation and emotions which can be associated as we naturally use pre-existing structures to determine a emotional response to a object by responding to its colour as a first unconscious response. Furthermore this leads to a need to explore and question the concealed materials and the meaning of the forms of these objects to form an opinion. 

Images above: Plastic sheet in wax.

 Images above: Cotton wool in wax

 Images about: Netting in wax 

Images above: Plastic bin liner and wax  

 Images above:: Zip in wax.

"From my rotting body, flowers shall grow and I am in them and that is eternity."- Edvard Munch

Having explored the idea of life and death and experimenting with object making I made this small sculpture using wax and flowers. The overall affect of this has given a delicate and fragile wax shell which degrades away from the flowers to reveal the top whilst encasing and trapping the bottom of the plant, similarly to Abigail Lane's dog sculpture which appears trapped and frozen in time. Whilst the direction and heaviness at the base of the sculpture create a sense of sinking and falling- like dying, as the flowers will too slowly die and degrade into the wax.