Murukami Kenta

[x]

I listed looking at abstract portraiture in my proposal as one of my courses of action for the next couple of weeks. I'm looking particularly for ones that convey emotion in a certain way to look at the atmospheric qualities, colours used, and posture of the figure to analyse how these things change the perceptions of an image.

I found this photographer through this image - turns out, this is the only image like it.

- bright colours

- 'seeing double' (can't think of how else to articulate that right now) reflective quality?

- the photo is dreamlike, a bit psychadelic

Nicholas Cope & Dustin Arnold

[x]


From Virgine series









From Vedas series

the information on their website is out of date (information page states that there will be work to be released 2012-2013) and there is little said on the inspiration for their works, that's alright though I was mostly interested in the effect of using fabric or plastic with the body in a way that seems to put strain on the figure. It exudes a kind of stress and heaviness. And mourning in the way that the materials veil the face.
Mostly i like the effect of weightedness that anchoring the fabric gives.

Yuni Kim Lang - Comfort Hair

[x]

Yuni Kim Lang is a Michigan-based visual artist who creates sculptures, photographs and wearable art that explores themes of weight, mass, accumulation, hair and cultural identity. She makes sculptures out of rope and synthetic materials where it transcends its materiality and become bodily. She is fascinated by what people give power and meaning to, along with our obsession with adornment. 

Comfort Hair is a live sculpture that is inspired by the Gache, which is a big wig that was worn by Korean women back in history who were of high social backgrounds. The bigger and heavier the wigs were, the more beautiful and aesthetic they were.

My vision was to see hair in the way we fantasize about it. The dead hair that we imagine to be full of life. It is the part of the body that has no nerves or muscles but has movements and rhythm that feel alive. When you cut it off there is no pain and it does not bleed. Yet, we perceive it as a sacred entity, where many cultures in history have preserved hair. I fantasize about my hair. It stands in for my cultural identity which is becoming an organism that continues to grow and prosper.

So powerful and beautiful yet so burdensome and heavy. It is this intense, overwhelming, yet so satisfying relationship with our hair that makes us obsess over it. 

Manuel Estheim

[x]

Photography has always been a large inspirations for me - I think just aesthetically because I was initially an drawer and painter, but also I really appreciate narrative told through imagery. Lately I've been especially inspired by portraiture. 

I'm unsure if these are something that will directly influence my work, but I find the expressiveness aligns with my interest in psychology and the individual.

Diana al-Hadid

links: [x] [x] 

Antonym, 2012

Diana's key element in her work is the block shapes texturised with dripping polymer gypsum - to understand the use of this material I looked at a video on youtube [x] which was a bit dated, dragged on some and used cooking as an analogy, but it explained how 'polymer modified gypsum' is used in casting and how to use it. 

notes:

- comes in two parts (liquid[B] and powder[A])

- add A to B and not vice versa

- ratio A:B is 2:1

- gloves were worn in the video

- drill mixer used to combine

- thin pourable consistency (like acrylic paint possibly?)

- can be used for hollow casting using a small amount (thin layers not too brittle/fragile?)

- pot life: 6 mins

- video uses rubber mold I imagine it would fuse with plaster.. foam? cling wrap coated forms?

I'm interested in this process for an idea for the project '3 Ways to Hold' (exploring the context of objects when arranged or presented in different ways) - a semi-transparent plinth where an object can be displayed inside instead of on top. There is a visual effects video[x] I've watched where the effects artist makes crystals by coating a foam form with brushed on layers of clear polyester resin to be removed afterwards. So, another example of a hollow casting.

Blind Bust II, 2012

Eva Hesse, Untitled or Not Yet

[x]

1966

sculpture | net bags, clear polyethylene sheeting, paper, metal weights, and string



Research for 3 Ways to Hold project
context of suspending the objects in nets, individually:

- mostly I like the organic shape of the objects, it's almost a though they are growing and remind me of my distorted memory of this drawing by Egon Schiele:



- looking at the net bags however, they look packed for transport - packaged, even
-  I like that the weight is at the bottom - that shape and arrangement is very visually pleasing to me - the word 'anchored' comes to mind.

Luca Pierro

[x]

Series: New Born, 2014

For the 3 ways to hold project, while this artist is a photographer, he often has his subjects within or against a stretchy translucent fabric. Depending on the object (or in this case, person) being held and how it/they are situated, the context could be gentle and cradling, or restrictive and stressful.

Considerations for proposal

^ click

Claire Falkenstein

"U" as a Set

Sun Sky

Untitled Composition

- welded bronze (custom made screen)

small scale (jewellery)