FINAL PROJECT

Assessment 2 concept statement + bibliography

For my project, I began experimenting with concepts relating to moon cycles and phases - the idea I began initially exploring in the first poster assessment. I chose the environment human/non human question and really wanted to explore how cycles of nature have prevalent significance in our lives on a metaphysical as well as human level.

Whenever I begin art projects I usually have no idea whatsoever as to where I should start. It always takes one of the most basic experiments for me to realize roughly what direction I want to go in, no matter how basic or obvious it seems. So for this one, I just filmed a leaf (and after that, paper) floating in a vase of water for a couple of minutes, just to see if there was any change or anything interesting happened. As it turns out, nothing interesting did happen (to my disappointment). However, it did get me thinking that I wanted to focus on MATERIALITY in my project and experiment with something a little out of the ordinary. This led me to my next leg of research.

When I think nature, my mind always jumps to the typical components of the environment that one would think of (flowers, leaves etc.) I was thinking about how I could explore this while still linking it to moon cycles. For some reason I’m very interested in moons, stars (anything metaphysical and celestial, really). I began thinking of flower pressing – and wanted to research how I could possibly build on this to make it into something more interesting. While researching this I came across the work of Ignacio Aracil and his ‘The Fragility of Time’ series (2010). Basically what he does is flattens and dries flowers, then delicately arranges them onto a dome until they’re dry enough to hold the shape on their own, and removes it. The result is ephemeral, delicate sculptures consisting purely of flowers frozen in time. I really loved the idea of this, as it related to natural cycles too. They have a lifetime and come and go, but generally imprint on us in a lasting manner. I collected some flowers and flattened them between some books, leaving them for a couple of days. However, unfortunately this idea came to me a little too late, as flowers usually need at least 3 weeks to properly dry out. Most of the moisture was still retained when I checked the flowers a few days later.

However, I still wanted to use the flowers in some way. And even though this stopped me from drawing inspiration from Aracil’s work, I decided to take a different approach to overcome this time obstacle. Instead, I separated all the petals and put them in a frying pan on the lowest heat, so that they slowly dried over about half an hour per batch. Once these were all dry I shredded them up (using a parsley shredder). Now that I had the dried flower material I thought about how I could use them simultaneously with the moon cycle concept. I went and bought three clear dry point etching plates and traced different moon phases on each one. I then glued the dried crushed flowers onto each one and photographed them in a layered manner so as to symbolize the overlapping of nature, cycles and human experience. For this project, the ‘cycle’ of experimentation was a large part of the concept. It echoes the overarching cycles we experience on an ecological level and the importance of time as a factor in the determination of our experience. The clear plates were used so I could layer the different moon phases and represent how they are really all parts of the same whole at different points in time - all dependent on nature (the dried flowers).

In between these other experiments I also began experimenting with long exposure photography using sparklers. I used an SLR camera to take 8 second shots of my brother as he drew different moon phase shapes in the dark. I instructed him of which shapes to draw, and it actually turned out really well (I was super happy with them). My thought process behind this was the translation of overarching metaphysical cycles to human experience and how we respond to them. However, I did want to complete a final project with focus on materiality that was a little less conventional, so decided to stick with the other threads of thought I was working on.

Overall, I’m really happy with my project. It appears quite a simple work, but there was a lot more work put into the process of drying out the flowers etc. Even now the dried flowers continue to fall off the plates a little bit, which I’ve come to like as a part of the work that speaks of the decay of cycles, before they begin their new life once again.

 Bibliography

Etherington, R. (8 Dec. 2010). The Fragility of Time by Ignacio Canales Aracil. Dezeen. Retrieved 10 Sep 2017 from <https://www.dezeen.com/2010/12/08/the-fragility-of-time-by-ignacio-canales-aracil/>

Bagua Centre. (13 March. 2016). Moon Cycles and their Spiritual Significance. Retreived 1 Sep 2017 from <http://www.baguacenter.com/moon-cycles-and-their-spiritual-significance/>

Proflowers. (2017). How to Press Flowers (Blog Post). Retrieved from  <http://www.proflowers.com/blog/how-to-press-flowers>

Assessment 2 experimentation 

So unfortunately because I started the flower pressing/drying so late it was never going to absorb all the moisture out of the flowers in time to make them very dry and crisp which is what i needed to make the sculptures. This usually takes about 3-4 weeks to be done properly from what I read online, and I only thought of this last week sadly (could be a long term project for another assessment though). HOWEVER, as i still wanted to use the flowers in some way, I decided to speed dry them by separating the petals and putting them in the frying pan on a very low heat until they became crisp enough, but still had their colour (as seen above ^). I then shredded them up and had the idea of buying dry point clear etching plates and gluing the dried flower remnants in different moon phase shapes and then layering the plastic sheets as a method of demonstrating the role of time and progress in cycles. I’ll see how this turns out! :)

Assessment 2 experimentation

Flower pressing!! It can sometimes take a week-ish to dry out so I’m hoping they’re done in time :) I’ve put different kinds of flowers between pages lined with printer paper. I’ll see how this turns out and then see if the ephemeral flower sculpture works/need to be tweaked/how i can possibly to adapt it to fit my ideas on the prevalence and significance of moon cycles in our lives.

Major project inspiration 

Ignacio Aracil ‘The Fragility of Time’ series (2010)

I was thinking about use of natural materials (as I’m still on the hunt for banana leaf sheets to laser cut as an experiment but can't seem to find them anywhere in asian supermarkets :/) and kept returning to this thought of flower pressing. Flowers are exemplary of a very ordinary but beautiful cycle of growth, death and decay that echoes the exploration of cycles that i investigated through astronomical calendars in the previous project. I was googling flower pressing and came across this artwork and thought it was BEAUTIFUL. The artist presses flowers, and once they’re dry arranges them by delicately weaving the branches together, on top of a dome mold, until they’re dry enough to stand on their own. It’s a very delicate sculpture, which adds to the idea of ephemerality. I think this is an interesting idea to explore as well seeing as so many cycles in our life are constant yet simultaneously transient in nature, ever changing. So naturally after seeing this i went flower collecting and bought a couple of stems from the florist which I'm hoping will press and dry well!! Currently being squished between the pages of a very thick bird species book as we speak :) I’ll take pictures in a couple of days when i replace the paper! Going to see where this takes me and whether i can link it to the original moon cycle idea.

Assessment 2 experimentation 

I gave the sparklers a go!! Besides the fact that it was difficult lighting the sparklers because of the wind and took A LOT of matches before it would finally ignite, the end result was quite pretty - I directed my brother as to which shapes to make in the dark while i took the photos on an 8 second shutter speed. I was looking at how moon cycles (like i explored in my first assignment), can be translated and interpreted through human experience. I got him to draw a crescent moon, full moon and half moon.

Experimentation 2 inspiration 

I was thinking about experimenting with long exposure sparkler photography to create moon shapes and orbits - I got thinking about something I’d heard in my psychology lecture (the other half of my uni course) where we were looking at memory and cognition, and how facets of our life that are most visually bright stand out most in our memory. In this sense, this could relate to the way moon cycles are prevalent and overarching in all human life - the use of sparkler photography could be a human translation and representation of this. I’ll experiment with the sparklers tonight. 

Assessment 2 experimentation

So far, I’ve been doing some directionless experimentation loosely based around the ecology/human question I’ve chosen - this is what i usually do when I’m unsure what I want to do with a project. I start with broad experimentation and see if any ideas spark because of that (experimentation led practice). My first experimentation was less than successful ahaha - I decided to place a leaf (and paper in exp 2) in a vase of still water and film it. I wanted to see if something so simple could have some greater aesthetic or metaphorical meaning in relation to my project. Aesthetically, it looked quite nice - but I was hoping for more action to happen in the film; for the paper to tear and decay in the water or the leaf to sink to the bottom. Unfortunately, both of them pretty much sat on the surface going nothing :) Although this was a failure, it DID get me thinking about my use of materials and as my next experiment I’ve decided I’m going to get sheets of banana leaf and laser cut them. I’ll see where this leads me. I might laser cut moon phases onto it (idea of cycles).

Unfortunately my rather uneventful video experimentation was too large a file to upload on tumblr or vimeo! But on my computer if you’d like to see it again. 

FINAL PRODUCT FOR ASSESSMENT 1 :) all done!

ASSESSMENT 1 - ARTIST’S STATEMENT

For my final poster I decided to experiment with a less traditional, more sculptural form. The question I chose to research and explore through my experimentation and artwork is “Art and design often explore relationships between humans and non-humans, the environment and ecology. How can contemporary art and design propose new possibilities for imagining the ‘human’ and the environment?”

 When I saw this question, I actually happened to be in my kitchen where we have an astronomical calendar hanging on the wall. It’s where my initial instinct led me to immediately, to this idea of cycles and patterns, and the external influence of the world’s natural overarching cycle of day and night on us as human beings. I then thought of the theory of biorhythms – that there is a regular alteration of physical mental and emotional states of a person, due to many external influences. It is believed that just like the earth’s cycles, human cycles can be determined through a calculation. While this has also been described as inaccurate and a pseudoscience practice, I believed it was an interesting concept to explore for my initial research and response to the question above… and see where that leads me in the next assessment.

 In terms of the form of the poster, I constructed a cardboard backing and stuck down a moon chart to it. I then took another moon chart and used sticky tape and glue to create a ‘wave’ appearance so that it would resemble the appearance of biorhythms in their mathematical form. I used the moon charts as I wanted to allude to the intrinsic connection between cycles and in the environment and cycles within the human being – whether they can be ‘predicted’ by science or not, their connection is undeniable. From here I took three colours (green, blue, red) to correspond with the primary biorhythm cycles. 23 days physical cycle (red), 28 days emotional cycle (blue) and 33 days intellectual cycle (green) and circled the corresponding numbers with the colours on the side of the waved moon chart poster. The transition in black and white to colour further represents the day/night cycle, adding another layer to the poster’s concept of patterns. For me, I want to see the audience’s response in terms of their beliefs on this theory. For now, I’m simply alluding to the natural relationship between humans and the environment in an approach perhaps less explored in art.

 I was inspired by Tracey Emin and her less representational way of presenting ‘posters’, e.g. ‘Helter Fucking Skelter’ (2001). I wish I could have incorporated more of her style into my work (I was really hoping to work with light like in her neon light series). However, I can build on this next time! I was also hoping to use projection of text onto my poster like in my experimentation on tumblr, but logistically I wasn’t able to do this as I couldn’t find access to a projector on the day of assessment. I also drew inspiration from Halvor Bodin in his ‘Poster Mortem’ and the architectural way he rethought what could be considered a ‘poster’. This is what got me initially experimenting with 3D forms.

ASSESSMENT 1 EXPERIMENTATION - 10/08/17

Sculpture + projection experimentation 

Experimenting with the metaphysical conceptual here - I’m really liking the idea of exploring cycles and patterns throughout the environment and the way they impact on us as humans, and connect us intrinsically to our surroundings. The moon charts here represent the idea of cycles, whilst the wave like exterior of the poster is meant to correspond with the mathematical ‘waves’ that are used to describe the emotional, mental and physical patterns said to be predicted by the biorhythm theory. The text projected contradicts this though, questioning whether we, as humans, can actually be deduced to a simple equation that will predict the course of our lives and state. 

I think I’m going to go with this course of thinking because it was my initial interest when thinking of the environment/human question (the first one). I think its an interesting theory (though controversial) - nevertheless, an interesting angle to explore. Still thinking what I can do with the poster to build on this!

ASSESSMENT 1 - inspo 

I really loved Tracey Emin’s neon art. She makes simple but provocative statements that her audience can perhaps relate to on a personal level. I don't just like the idea of using simple, provocative statements on my poster but also love the use of light as well. I’m thinking of ways to incorporate either projection or LED lighting into my project :)

‘Blinding’ Tracey Emin. 2008. White Cube.

‘I don’t believe in love but i believe in you’ Tracey Emin.

‘The soul will always do what it needs to do’ Tracey Emin. 2014

‘I listen to the ocean and all i hear is you’ Tracey Emin. 2011

ASSESSMENT 1 - inspo

I have one of these moon charts hanging in my house and for some reason I was drawn to the idea of it as incorporated in my poster. It’s an intrinsic daily cycle that surpasses the irregularities and change present in our world as our social expectations/traditions change alongside art. This will always remain constant which i finding an interesting and intriguing idea (though the moon dates change every year). Considering incorporating this into a poster idea or transforming the already existing poster into something else ^ ...

ASSESSMENT 1 experimentation

I’m exploring the idea of sculptural posters, as opposed to 2D. I’m brainstorming interesting ways to present the poster so the aesthetic differs from the traditional concept or idea of ‘a poster’ (much like my interpretation of Emin’s work). At the moment my research is based around the humans vs environment question and the constructed binaries question. I’m seeing what I come up with/which I'm artistically drawn to more. Considering the idea of projection on a wave like surface as pictured above? Could distort the projection to make a statement about the breakage and fragmentation of constructed binaries (traditionalist thoughts, compared to that of a regular 2D poster). Still seeing where the experimentation leads me! - 6/08/17

ASSESSMENT 1 - ADAD1002 inspo - posters 

‘Everyone I have Ever Slept With 1963-1995′. Tracey Emin. 1995. Appliquéd tent, mattress and light. 

Although this artwork isn’t technically a ‘poster’, I viewed it this way. If you were standing inside the tent I can imagine it would be like an interactive poster space where you are surrounded by four detailed walls of personal statements made by Emin herself. I chose to post this as I was playing with the idea of an interactive audience work where they could ‘experience’ it themselves to an extent (still experimenting with/developing this idea). P.s. I’m posting the experimentation/inspiration I have gathered for this assessment over the past few weeks now as i was having trouble logging into tumblr, so prepare to be bombarded with posts and images :) 

Artist Statement - assessment 3

The topic I have been exploring throughout this project is ‘failure’, and simultaneously the success that can sometimes come out of it. Initially I really had no idea what my final product would be, so thought I would do some loose experimentation around the idea of failure with a focus on materiality, and see where it led me. I had the idea to draw flowers (as always, I love them as a recurring theme throughout my work because they make me happy) but with non-traditional materials that are designed to fail in producing the desired aesthetic. I experimented with eyeshadow (with and without water applied), blunt charcoal (with and without water applied), and regular pencils (with water applied) as opposed to watercolour pencils. I also did a non-representational ink drawing without a paintbrush. The result – documented on tumblr – is varied. For the most part, they didn’t work out. But it did provide a slightly different aesthetic that I liked in some cases. For example, adding water to the eyeshadow transformed it into a paint-like texture, while adding water to the charcoal and treating it like watercolour improved the drawing to a degree. In this sense, there was some extent of success in failure. However, I liked the idea that you could use non-traditional materials in art.

 I used this idea and decided I wanted to create an artwork that was fun to make, had some connection to my past projects, yet still explored the concept of simultaneous success and failure. Hence, I decided I would paper mache a box (the same type I used for assessment 1) to make a lamp, and then decorate it with non-traditional materials – in this case, popcorn. However, the failure in the artwork is that the paper mache is too thick for the light to shine through. Although this means it can’t function as a lamp, it is still a decorated box that exemplifies a use of original and unique materials in art.

Final product ! The result is a lamp that somewhat cannot function, created out of non-traditional materials. I like the idea of unfamiliar materiality so went with this as an endpoint to my experimentation (it also smells like popcorn yummo) :)