images of new figures from studio
I mentioned in my post yesterday that I planned to post photos of the figures I've been working on in the studio.
These are the best of the photos I took tonight. The pieces are of course still drying and will change in colour and texture.
The first set of images are of the first of the two figures I've made to date. Above in a front view.
As they dry I will perhaps rework some parts. But on the whole I'm happy to let them stay as they are. I like the technical crudeness of most of my work.
Sometimes this is down to limited abilities, but it's often a conscious decision.
When I first started seeking out art that meant something to me the music of The Fall and films of Derek Jarman were among the first things I truly loved. Each offering crude surfaces.
Philip Davenport reminded me of an another consideration in making these forms that I forgot in my earlier post when he commented that they look like bells.
They do. In fact as I was cycling to the studio on Tuesday when I still had in mind something more like the Tell Brak Eye Idols I also had bells in mind.
I already knew I would make the forms hollow and from clay rather than the alabaster of the Eye Idols. I wondered if it would be possible to make a working clay clapper to hang inside each figure. There was no expectation that it would make a noise but the gesture seemed interesting.
In the event there are no clappers and I don't plan to make any.
The second set of images are fairly obviously the second of the figures I made. Here the hole is in the head rather than the chest.
That raises something of a problem. I may already have painted myself into a corner. I don't want to make figures with the holes in any other places migrating around the body.
It will be possible to make figures with holes in each face of the head, and with matching holes in front and back of the torso. Perhaps even with holes in both head and chest. A featureless figure is possible.
I'm also reluctant to change the shape of the holes for the sake of variety. Both migrating holes and holes in a variety of shapes push the figures a little too close to the cheesy and ridiculous for my taste.
Something else I hope I avoided is making the figures too close to Anthony Gormley's Gorms. Not that I dislike them - they're among the few pieces of his that I actually like - I simply don't want to appear derivative.
Despite what the image below may suggest Gormley's figures weren't in my mind until after I'd made the first two forms.
Finally I made some photos of the two figures together. The second figure with the hole in its head is a little larger than the other figure.
I'm still quite happy with these and there will be other figures joining them. Even as I was typing about painting myself into a corner solutions suggested themselves.
Edit Fri 25/2/11: A quality I think I can detect in my work - and which I originally thought was a kind of blankness - seems to be a kind of inscrutability. The simplicity and crudeness appear to contribute to this in some way. It's a quality I think I like.
Further edit 25/2/11: Some influences on these pieces I haven't noted yet come from friends.
Although not in any way anthropomorphic the forms Jennifer McDonald produced during her recent residency [my review and more pictures here] very much fed into these pieces. Among other things I'm thinking of the images here of one of her pieces still in its moulds. I have also thought about displaying the figures with ribbons spilling from the cavities.
Louise Woodcock's biomorphic forms and some of her other work were present in the background. Especially with what I regard as the precurssor form to this, which was among those scrapped on Saturday. This was a hollow piece, half regular geometric shape, half irregular with a small hole through to the interior. It was intended to be the beginning of a series now also abandoned.
It would also be odd to not acknowledge the influence of Helen Shanahan's much more representational figures in her Abandonments project. Her pieces are more obviously personal and a lot smaller but there is a distinct relationship as far as I'm concerned.
These are the best of the photos I took tonight. The pieces are of course still drying and will change in colour and texture.
The first set of images are of the first of the two figures I've made to date. Above in a front view.
As they dry I will perhaps rework some parts. But on the whole I'm happy to let them stay as they are. I like the technical crudeness of most of my work.
Sometimes this is down to limited abilities, but it's often a conscious decision.
When I first started seeking out art that meant something to me the music of The Fall and films of Derek Jarman were among the first things I truly loved. Each offering crude surfaces.
Philip Davenport reminded me of an another consideration in making these forms that I forgot in my earlier post when he commented that they look like bells.
They do. In fact as I was cycling to the studio on Tuesday when I still had in mind something more like the Tell Brak Eye Idols I also had bells in mind.
I already knew I would make the forms hollow and from clay rather than the alabaster of the Eye Idols. I wondered if it would be possible to make a working clay clapper to hang inside each figure. There was no expectation that it would make a noise but the gesture seemed interesting.
In the event there are no clappers and I don't plan to make any.
The second set of images are fairly obviously the second of the figures I made. Here the hole is in the head rather than the chest.
That raises something of a problem. I may already have painted myself into a corner. I don't want to make figures with the holes in any other places migrating around the body.
It will be possible to make figures with holes in each face of the head, and with matching holes in front and back of the torso. Perhaps even with holes in both head and chest. A featureless figure is possible.
I'm also reluctant to change the shape of the holes for the sake of variety. Both migrating holes and holes in a variety of shapes push the figures a little too close to the cheesy and ridiculous for my taste.
Something else I hope I avoided is making the figures too close to Anthony Gormley's Gorms. Not that I dislike them - they're among the few pieces of his that I actually like - I simply don't want to appear derivative.
Despite what the image below may suggest Gormley's figures weren't in my mind until after I'd made the first two forms.
Finally I made some photos of the two figures together. The second figure with the hole in its head is a little larger than the other figure.
I'm still quite happy with these and there will be other figures joining them. Even as I was typing about painting myself into a corner solutions suggested themselves.
Edit Fri 25/2/11: A quality I think I can detect in my work - and which I originally thought was a kind of blankness - seems to be a kind of inscrutability. The simplicity and crudeness appear to contribute to this in some way. It's a quality I think I like.
Further edit 25/2/11: Some influences on these pieces I haven't noted yet come from friends.
Although not in any way anthropomorphic the forms Jennifer McDonald produced during her recent residency [my review and more pictures here] very much fed into these pieces. Among other things I'm thinking of the images here of one of her pieces still in its moulds. I have also thought about displaying the figures with ribbons spilling from the cavities.
Louise Woodcock's biomorphic forms and some of her other work were present in the background. Especially with what I regard as the precurssor form to this, which was among those scrapped on Saturday. This was a hollow piece, half regular geometric shape, half irregular with a small hole through to the interior. It was intended to be the beginning of a series now also abandoned.
It would also be odd to not acknowledge the influence of Helen Shanahan's much more representational figures in her Abandonments project. Her pieces are more obviously personal and a lot smaller but there is a distinct relationship as far as I'm concerned.
Comments
Thanks for the suggestion, I'll think about it and experiement once they're dry.