Absolute Madness

READY FOR PRESENTATION. Prepare for the horrors within.

Boxes always hold the hope of something within; I never imagine a box to be empty. The process of my artwork started with the concept of fear of the unknown, associated with quote by horror writer H.P Lovecraft who said, “The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown”. The original plan was to have it be an abstract artwork, to cover a box with flowers and positive imagery, only to have flaps reveal horrific imagery within; but the structure itself was still a box. I later came across a Sydney Morning Herald article “Natalie Wood: The woman Sydney forgot” which covers the story of a woman who was dead for eight years; her body being mummified within the very house she lived in. This influenced me to experiment further and to evolve my concept from “fear of the unknown” to “the horrors within”. I started using acrylic paints on the cardboard to give it a nice solid and paved texture, similar to a house, but at this point, this was still an idea.  Looking back on lectures regarding “Zombie Modernism” focusing on the concept of transparency, it occurred to me that objects, people, and forms of architecture are judged their appearance, and not for the things that lie within. In creating the drawings that would be stuck inside the cut out flaps, I used inks and experimented with the tones to create shades of black. I liked the disjointed textures and overlapping tones as it created a look of distortion and refinement- something that I associate with madness. The subjects of the drawings themselves were mummified/ preserved creatures, keeping in touch with the theme of horror. What’s been created is an interactive juxtaposition. A friendly house has been presented to the viewer, but when one removes the flaps, they see the horrors within.

Looks a lot better. Now all I have to do is paint it a darker shade of gray. Use blue tac and sticky tape to keep it together. Roof will be seperable from the structure so as to make moving it around far more easier.

Simplistic roof is sooo much better, easier to handle/ doesn’t require that much support.

Roof still looks tacky. Support beams stick out, roof looks sloppy, isn’t that well supported. Need a more simplistic roof. Admitadly, the colours work nicely.

Testing flaps. So far, is looking okay, but I need to trim the door flaps/ paint the edges with a dark colour. The roof still looks a bit tacky as it’s slipping. Will add darker paint/ structures beneath it, to see if it looks any better.

finishing touches, by using acryclic paint/ measuring drawings with flaps

Testing roofs. Have been able to add windows/ doors to the cut outs. Roof looks somewhat tacky. Perhaps paint it with a darker shade and add a darker coat?

Previous roof looked tacky. Might want to use different roofs, so they look more genuine.

Using dark coloured inks. Red is a good spot colour. >Colours will consist of various shades of gray with red as a spot colour (different shades of that as well)

More experiments required, ink needs to be more solid/ darker with a few shifts in tone.

Measurement of different papers that i will place within the box.

1. Experiments with different inks- tones/ shades of black. 2. Addition to drawing. Inspired by H.P Lovecraft’s fictional deity- Cthulhu- the god of madness 3.Measurements to place drawings.