Only Death.....

“Only Death,” Pablo Neruda

There are cemeteries that are lonely,

graves full of bones that do not make a sound,

the heart moving through a tunnel,

in it darkness, darkness, darkness,

like a shipwreck we die going into ourselves,

as though we were drowning inside our hearts,

as though we lived falling out of the skin into the soul.

This a experiment casting flowers in wax. By doing this I wanted to test the affect which could be created by casting tonal objects in the colorless wax to create contrasts like Christina Bothwell's work. 

I chose to use flowers to explore the idea of morality as the flowers begin to die as the hot wax is poured over them, however they then remain preserved and trapped for the rest of time. 

Christina Bothwell

A artist who has particularly influenced me is Christina Bothwell. Her sculptural work is mythical and enchanting whilst questioning ideas of death and rebirth. This is very appealing but made more powerful by her inspiring use and command of materials to combine various materials such as clay and wood with glass which creates powerful contrasts between the dense solid materials to the transparent glass as it is illuminated by light. 

I find this particularly interesting in relation to my work to experiment with using tone and sections of colored objects into my sculptural experiments to add greater depth and power to the work as show with Bothwell's work, the dense materials offer a greater emphasis on the translucent making them seem even more weightless and ghost like. 

"In my work I am drawn to the processes of birth, death, and renewal. What lies below the surface fascinates me and I try to capture the qualities of the "unseen" that express the sense of wonder that I feel in my daily existence. I am attracted to glass because it can do everything that other sculptural media can; in addition, it offers an inner space and transmits light. 

My subject matter includes babies, animals, and children as they embody the essence of vulnerability that is the underlying theme in my work. Currently I am exploring metamorphosis as a topic, and have been incorporating figures within figures in my pieces. Within each glass figure there is a smaller figure seen through the surface of the glass. 

I think of these pieces as souls, each being pregnant with their own potential, giving birth to new, improved versions of themselves."- Christina Bothwell personal statement. 

"Don't tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass." -Anton Chekhov

Using techniques of using glass and glue guns for past work I experimented with how these could be incorporated with using wax to create sculptural forms. To do this I used broken glass which were arranged into fragile structures, carefully balancing the glass shards on top of each other to create interesting forms, I then used hot glue to make fine netting around these.

Once finishing the sculptures I poured wax over them which gave interesting results as the wax instantly set onto the cold glass shards creating interesting patterns as it did so. The wax also dripped off the glue stands to make beads of wax along them. The over all result of this makes a ghost like affect which offers a interesting dimension as the transparency of the glass gives a affect of the wax floating. 

Overall these small pieces offer a interesting juxtaposition between the hardness of the glass and thick wax base with the fragility of the joins and broken edges of the glass shards. 

"Human identity is the most fragile thing that we have, and it's often only found in moments of truth." -Alan Rudolph

"Human identity is the most fragile thing that we have, and it's often only found in moments of truth."-Alan Rudolph

To test and explore the theme of fragility and the delicate in my sculptural work I experimented with making thin wax forms. These wax shapes were made using modrock casts of metal trays which I formed into various shapes and then coating the inside with cling film. Into the cling film lined cast I then played with trying to make thin coatings of paraffin wax. The result of this experimented allowed me to observe and learn how to work the wax into thin sheets and how it interacts with the plastic coating to make patterns and textures in the wax. 
With these test pieces I then experiemented with how these could be transformed when light is passed through them, illuminating the areas of light and dark and the delicate edges of the forms. 
Through this method of testing ways of working with wax I have been able to observe the diversity of it as a medium to cast with or coat other materials. Furthermore it has opened up themes of fragility and ideas of degrading due to the physical attributes of the material itself but also the connotations which arrise as a emotional response to viewing and holding these pieces. 

Making wax patterns

These images were experiments with casting and coating wax to attempt to create different patterns and textures inspired by Rose-Lynn fishers work. I found that shining light through these thin tests revealed interesting patterns and textures which naturally occurred as the wax cooled. The test on tissue paper gave the most interesting result making vein like patterns. 

Finding Patterns....

From this project I have observed that after looking at many images of neurons and scientific drawings similar patterns can be observed in day to day life... for example in old washing up water. When finding these patterns in the water they intrigued me as ghost like forms which would quickly disperse when the water is disturbed. This fleeting and fragile nature lead me back to considering these forms within the mind as thoughts which can pass as quickly as they occur. From considering this I considered what these forms could represent  I came across Rose-Lynn Fisher's 'Topography of tears'. 

A question which has continually come up in my work is how the mind manufactures emotions and how these could be physically represented. Rose-Lynn Fisher's work offers an insight into these as they show how different types of tears look under a microscope.After studying 100 different tears and she found that tears which have been caused by different emotions and external factors look drastically different.  This offers a realization of human experience and immaterial experiences. 

Continuing to explore deeper...

After reaching a end point to my last section of this project I feel like my progress had only just began and there is much more to explore and create to try to find analogies for the mind and explore creating colorless sculptures. 

When considering this and researching for my next starting point in this project I found this curious fish which has a transparent head. The Barreleye also know as a 'spook fish' has a transparent cranium so that it's eyes can look straight up as it swims, presumably so that it can detect the silhouettes of available prey. Its eyes can rotate within the socket so that the fish can look in multiple directions, which would be impossible if not for the transparent cranium. This inspired me as a way of looking into the mind and being able observe the surreal and beautiful patterns which naturally occur. 

This is to be my starting point to take inspiration from naturally occurring phenomena in the brain and in nature which demonstrate the inner workings of the mind and develop these through a range of sculptural forms. 

http://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/animals/photos/11-intriguing-transparent-animals/jellyfish