#strodefad

Top left hand picture is the layers of fat & meat I cut up to layer up with the parts of hearts not sewn together inspired by works of Berlinde De Bruyckere (nxt 3 pictures) & Alsem Kiefer (bottom pic)

This week we looked at the hierarchy of ‘importance’ of art styles as defined by the 17th Century rules and are tasked with examining this perception and looking at how contemporary values may challenge these ‘rules’.

Our task was to look at a contemporary artwork and critique it according to the 17th Century rules.

I have chosen a piece by the Singh Twins as I recently discovered their work and love how they entwine historical references, multiculturalism, humour and social justice messaging in their richly detailed illustrative work.

Here is a quote from their Facebook page explaining their latest piece, celebrating the 18th Century British Artist, Poet and Satirist, William Blake, a local hero here in my home town of Glastonbury.

Today we celebrate the birth in 1757 of the brilliant British painter and poet William Blake whose political, symbolic and satirical art has inspired our own practice. Our painting ‘Beast of Revelation’ pays tribute to Blake’s work by the same title. Blake’s work illustrates the Biblical account of St John’s vision of the seven headed Red Dragon bestowing power on a Blue Beast rising from the sea. Within early Christian tradition this account was popularly regarded as symbolising the partnership between evil earthly rulers and Satan’s servant or the Antichrist which would lead to the temporary stronghold of Satan over the world before his final defeat in the ultimate battle of good over evil at the second coming of Christ.

First here is Blake’s original image- ‘The Great Red Dragon and the Beast from the Sea’ which was one of a series of watercolors which portray  the artists interpretation of Biblical images from the Book of Revelation. Note that the heads of ‘the beast’ are anthropomorphised, and could relate to figures from  the artist’s time? (Image source https://www.nga.gov/collection/art-object-page.11499.html).

And here is the Singh Twins modern interpretation and a very insightful quote from their page explaining why they chose to create their work this way .

They explain the Religious iconography and symbolism used in both images. There are modern historical references and satirical portraiture, and they have enriched the quite muted tones used in Blake’s original painting with vibrent reds and blues, perhaps a nod to the blood spilled by British and American leaders in the image? The Muted blue-green of the beast emerging from the sea is like the Statue of Liberty, and I love their final question, provoking the viewer to think about who they might include as a head of the beast! :

‘Our artwork explores the universal and contemporary relevance of this specifically Christian theme. Satan’s reign on earth is translated as the very real evils of this world which have manifest themselves throughout history in the horrors of war and the atrocity of slavery; in the gluttony that has made species extinct and laid waste to natural environments; in the moral and spiritual decline of an increasingly individualistic, consumer society controlled by market forces and political agendas and in the self-serving interests of irresponsible and corrupt political and religious leadership..It's a timeless message.

If we were to create this same artwork today, it would look like the second image. Who would you add?’

SCULPTURE WORKSHOP 

I made three plaster casts of my mould 

FINISHING: There are endless ways in which to finish a plaster sculpture. The main one being to seal the plaster cast as any moisture will be sucked up like a sponge as the plaster is porous. To seal a plaster cast, the best thing to use is shellac. A good couple of coats of shellac will allow the cast to be protected for a very long time. If you are wanting to keep your cast white in its purest form the best thing to use is PVA. Before I sealed my 1st head I used a sculpting tool to scratch a wood like effect onto the "skin" surface areas. I then used shellac and painted on top of the shellac in gouache paints. For my 2nd head cast i wanted to keep it white so i used PVA and then used gold leaf, which is very tricky and fiddly to use on the oak leaf hair part of the cast. Other finishing techniques can come from; oxidised metal filings inks stamps zip polishes and more to create varied amazing effects. 

REFLECTION: Looking back I think my own thoughts would be that I really wish I had experimented with the metal filings as a finish. The process itself from start to finish was some of the most fun I have ever had and i loved every second of it. I watched another student used dyes in the plaster mixture before pouring into the mould. which would be something i would enjoy doing myself at some point going forward. I've loved this process so much that I have it stashed away to use for perhaps "paint your own" kits to sell in my business.

ETHICAL: In the sculpture room there are endless amounts of materials that have been reclaimed from the skip on campus used by the builders. Through the process of creating our heads, I believe that there is very little waste from anything we used. The only possible thing that could be considered waste is if you created too much plaster mixture for your mould. With this in mind though our lecturer made sure to have several people at a time needing to fill their moulds so as to make sure none of the plaster was to be wasted. As a practice on your own however I think it best to perhaps measure accurately the amount of liquid you need for your mould or to have small moulds of embellishments perhaps to use any excess mixture. The sustainability of this process is immense due to only one mould of latex and mod roc being needed and then being used repeatedly over and over again almost endlessly and could last years. The layout of the room and desks allowed for a more communal atmosphere and it was wonderful and inspirational to see each others work as they all progressed. We were also given instruction on not cleaning plaster dust or mixture containers in the sink as the mixture would then dry and clog the drains but also would disperse plaster particles into the water system. 

I’m continuing my project looking at how we are restricted in certain ways in life and at the moment of course that is by Covid 19 and my artwork is reflecting that. In this short time lapse film (yes I love time lapse films to record how I’m working!) I am embroidering Covid 19 cells with a portrait of someone wearing a surgical mask superimposed. This is one of my experiments into an effective method to create my lattice work window.

Saw this Periodic table of the emotions for sale on a social workers resource site and thought it was a great way to help us identify how we are feeling.  Found it Interesting how the different emotions are colour coded- this is something I have been exploring in my sketchbooks for my #strodefad #summerproject

Blue is traditionally associated with feeling low or sad,

Red is associated with anger and yellow with happiness/joy.

Green for disgust/envy is also quite common.

Not to sure about the purple for fear though? I would associate darker colours- black maybe? Guess that might not work on a poster though :)