#wire portrait

WIRE SCULPTURE

So the sculpture is coming along quite nice, and I really like what the mask added to it. I really wanted to make copies of the mask using different materials but I’m limited not being able to use the facilities at LSAD so this will do for the time being. 

Fernand Léger Before his Wire Portrait by Alexander Calder

WIRE SCULPTURE

Playing with the figure and it’s shadow, experimenting with how movements in the shadow can manipulate the viewer into thinking the figure itself is moving. 

WIRE SCULPTURE

I wanted to get started on a body to accompany the face I had made from wire, so I purchased more from the hardware store and got started. The wire was a bit sturdier as it was a higher mm diameter, which was a relief as I wanted the figure to be able to hold shape as well as move. 

I started with the hand, which after a few minutes of trying different things, I realised the best way to execute the idea was coiling the wire around each of my fingers and then pulling the end through the coil. this will not only get and accurate shape and size of the appendages, but it will make it easy to move each finger will also hold it in place, kind of like what a bone does for muscles, skin etc. 

Once I was happy enough with the hand, I continued the wire across the wingspan of my body and created the other hand and arm and pulled the rest of the wire into the figures chest. 

WIRE SCULPTURE

WIRE SCULPTURE

Continued on with the rest of the body and attached it to the head. I used steel scrub from under the kitchen sink to make hair for on top of his head, which I think was a nice touch. 

WIRE SCULPTURE

I had a play around with materials using a garbage bag and red paper table cloth. I’m happy with the colours, I would like to stick to black with splashes of red, as that seems to be the usual colour palette Hess works from. 

LINE DRAWING EXPERIMENT 

IN PREPARATION FOR WIRE SCULPTURE

One of a few sketchbook experiments I did using a single line to draw each layer of the face with a different sized fine line pen. 

My aim was to think of the lines as wires when constructing this sketch. The first stage in the drawing is flat enough. Using a thin lined pen to outline the “skeleton”, I continued to build on the drawing using a thicker pen with each layer, until the character was given “depth”.

Observing the images now, I think the 3rd (maybe even 4th) image had the most “character” and that the final result maybe went a little too far and got lost in the thick lines. 

Knowing when to stop is an important lesson when making art. Alexander Calder was a master of “less is more” and I can see how his success in applying this idea to his own work factors in to how highly regarded he was. 

My goal now is to translate expressions in body language and movement using kinetic wire sculpture as a medium. I can also see how this aesthetic can fit nicely into my graphic design and painting work so I’m going to bookmark the idea for now and come back to it.