#art10e

Material vs Immaterial Project: "Playskool Visions" When we are little, we have a vision of how we think our future will be. Our vision is basic, colorful, and fragile. We think we know what will happen, but in actuality, that is impossible and the reality of our future is much more messy and dull than what we imagined. The front of this house represents our playful, childhood dreams and the back of the house represents the chaos that life actually entails. However messy, we still try to make the most of life and add glitter where things look ugly.

Sixty green plastic flower tubes with a bullet like shape stand stiff in five tightly packed rows on top of a neon pink plexiglass board. The clear plastic tubes allow visibility to the fake flowers that are compressed and forced into the bullet like shape. Every row has color coordination, but no flower in its bullet is the same as the one next to it. Because of the orientation of Bloom Platoon, the rows of bullets appear to be facing the two fake roses that sit freely, front and center. The bullets sit on top of an elevated piece of neon pink plexiglass that appears to absorb, illuminate, and reflect an attractive radiant glow. The whole piece is glorified by a blacklight that also highlights the characteristics of the individual bullets.

Akira Starks Kauket's Temptation Materials: Clay, Glass, feathers, black matte paint Info: This project was based on the Egyptian Goddess Kauket(Kuk), who is the goddess of darkness. The imperfect body represents the bodies of those who have altered them in order to achieve the "perfect body." The glass represents the dangerous aspect of Kauket, discouraging the viewer to not be tempted to touch. The feathers are an invitation for the viewer to touch Kauket's body.

The burning, or smudging, of sage holds a cleansing power. It is a ritual done to cleanse oneself and/or a space of bad energy, something I often do myself. Burning sage provides me with an inner peace that takes me away from the negativity in my life and reminds me of who I am. It is a symbol of pure tranquility. The color of the strings each symbolize something different. The white string is tied at the base because it symbolizes purity and whenever I find myself surrounded by negative energy, I remember how pure and beautiful life is and how we were all once pure. The red strings symbolize the cleansing power and I continued to use red because I have done many cleansings and each time I do one, I root myself and remind myself of who I am and that I must be a good person. Sage holds many powers, one being a great peace that roots me and reminds of who I am.

 In order to grasp the concept of materials over form, my aim for this project was to create a form that contradicted its materials. I decided to create a sculpture in the form of a teddy bear, which is associated with comfort and security; in contrast, the materials used to create the teddy bear, such as sandpaper, wire, pins, and paper bags, are associate with roughness and danger. Thus, the emotion depicted would be betrayal. Though one typically addresses a teddy bear as cute and welcoming, the bear actually has the ability to harm them if they regard the form over the materials and embraces the bear. The one confronting the bear will feel a sense of betrayal because of the misleading form. This bear symbolizes those who alter their outer look in order to mislead or manipulate others, and the rough materials are a metaphor of the ill intent behind a kind exterior. You cannot always trust everything at face value; some people, like the teddy bear, will utilize this trust to ultimately hurt and betray you.

Statement: For this project I focused on emotions related to safety, warmth, and intimacy. Personally I enjoy soft fabrics and materials. I wanted to use white linen as a way to represent innocence and red to express love and warmth. Bed sheets and pillows are products that are capable of changing our mood based on their quality. We come in contact with these two objects on a daily basis and rely on them for warmth and comfort. I put together these objects to recreate a vagina as a way to show the space in which we were all first created (in the womb) and where were the most secure in our lives. I tried to make the piece as comfortable as possible to the point where it can be tken anywhere and serve as a safe spot to sleep on. 

Since the beginning of mankind, humans have been confused. Confusion is an integral part of who we are, but it’s impossible to fully capture the sense of being confused without diverging into other emotions. It can feel like anxiety, panic, and fear, but from it comes passion and clarity. When we are confused we can feel our bodies become bloated and stiff with fear like wires and balloons wrapped tightly in shrink wrap. We start to become dizzy because it gets harder and harder to breath and our body becomes something that’s foreign to us. With one stiff arm we use the wall to stay balanced, but the pressure from the balloons is too great; from our latex skin and mouth erupts gooey starburst candy because we can’t contain our emotions anymore and what was buried beneath all that plastic is revealed to the world and ourselves.

At a very young age we are taught by our parents and teachers to set goals for ourselves as goals not only make us happy but give purpose to our life. Of course nothing in life is as simple as planning it so we must learn to take on any challenge and barrier that may arise. Unfortunately, there comes a time in everyone's life were we get stuck and can't seem to move on for one reason or another and we start to feel a harsh frustration. That frustration often makes us feel depressed as we scramble all over the place trying to find our way out of the barrier we feel like we're in.  This is the emotion I tried to capture with my piece utilizing wire to show a physical representation of our messy life trying to put ourselves together to make us who we are. Furthermore, the glass is that barrier that traps us and does not let us move on until we are able to piece ourselves back together and learn something new. There will come a day were we will eventually break out of this pause but there will inevitably be more barriers that lie ahead.