Research Thesis
The type of art I have been working on this term is sculptural and it involves using my body to create body molds. The materials I used for constructing my work include plaster, plaster bandages, and tape. I create plaster and tape molds by wrapping parts of my body in the material, cutting myself out, and then connecting the limbs together. I cover my molds in regular plaster to make a more solid form. My concentration for this term was to create a piece that used my body to create a large textured form that conveys a feeling. I did not want the piece to be specifically about one concept rather I wanted to play with the space the sculpture was placed in and have it move out into the audience’s space. I was not entirely sure of a theme or concept for my work so I concentrated on developing my interpretation of the body within my work and the styling of my figures.
I studied the work of a number of artists that do work involving the body. Looking at how other artist have used the body within their art to understand why other artists find it important to use body forms within their work. The work I studied were by the artists: Henry Moore, Tim Hawkinson, Hans Breder, Rachel Whiteread, Marlene Dumas, Clara Lieu, Nausheen Saeed, Peter Jansen, Paul Mccarthy, Kiki Smith, Diana Al-Hadid, Kooang Choi, Felix Gonzales-Torres, Thomas Shutte, and Ted Lawson. The artists that inspired me the most or that I felt related to my own work are: Antony Gormley, David Altmejd, and Fanny Alloing.
When studying the work done by David Altmejd, I found that he also uses plaster to create molds of his body but in away that he plays with the material instead of having a mapped out plan of what it is he’s going to create. Altmejd creates his work by trusting how the material works, were he creates a piece just by working with the material (Art21.) This is how I came up with my piece. I started making a plaster mold and then plastered my hands several times and just started placing hands until this image of what the piece would turn into developed.
Fanny Alloing does plaster body molds as well. She typically casts dancers and partially covers the figures to show the disappearance of the bodies. Her work reflects death and the life that the plaster skins once belonged to (Alloing, 2010). The aspect of her work that most inspired mine was how she would plaster dancers placed in positions. This was something I tried to incorporate into my own work when figuring out how the bodies would be placed. I wanted positions that seemed fluid and carried a graceful quality.
With Antony Gormely he will make a mold of his own body to both represent the hollow space within the figure but also the space the figure is placed within. (Gombrich, 10). Gormely’s work got me thinking about my own process of how I construct my figures. Deciding whether or not it was important for my figures to have a clearly pronounced gender since Gormely’s figures tend to be more gender neutral. Before I did not think it mattered so much whether or not the gender of my forms was clear. However recently after hearing how people responded to the figures that did not have a clear gender indication. I have decided that it is important, especially for next term.
For my future work I plan to continue with creating body sculptures that are an extension of the architecture and space that it is placed within. Like the large piece that I created, I would like to create a series of sculptures that are created in the same style and laid out in away that seem to tell a story. I also plan to use both male and female figures to make multiple smaller pieces that can be installed on the walls and ceiling easily with a much smaller dimension. The concept for my work will be based on women’s issues, primarily issues that have affected my life personally. Topics in specific that I plan to explore in my sculptural narration include: eating disorders, rape, domestic violence, depression, and low self-esteem issues due to body image. Though these issues are more common in western cultures and leave out some important women’s issues around the world that I might bring into my work for next term, such as forced prostitution, infanticide, forced marriages, or honor killings (Women’s Right Worldwide). I have come to discover that a lot of the work that I do (outside of this class) continually touches on women’s issues. I was trying to fight the idea of focusing on issues pertaining to women because I did not want to be categorized as a feminist, however seeing as how a lot of my work tends to reflect women’s issues anyways I have decided to embrace it and follow in this direction for the upcoming term.
Art21. Boundaries: David Altemjd (2012). <http://www.art21.org/videos/segment-david-altmejd-in-boundaries>
Alloing, Fanny. Presentation (2010). <http://www.fannyalloing.fr/spip.php?rubrique13>
Gombrich, E.H., John Hutchinson, and Lela B Njatin. “Antony Gormely”. London: Phaidon Press Limited, (1995).
Women’sRightsWorldwide.“WorkingAgainst the Oppression ofWomen Around the World” (2007). <http://womensrightsworldwide.org/wrtoday.html>
I studied the work of a number of artists that do work involving the body. Looking at how other artist have used the body within their art to understand why other artists find it important to use body forms within their work. The work I studied were by the artists: Henry Moore, Tim Hawkinson, Hans Breder, Rachel Whiteread, Marlene Dumas, Clara Lieu, Nausheen Saeed, Peter Jansen, Paul Mccarthy, Kiki Smith, Diana Al-Hadid, Kooang Choi, Felix Gonzales-Torres, Thomas Shutte, and Ted Lawson. The artists that inspired me the most or that I felt related to my own work are: Antony Gormley, David Altmejd, and Fanny Alloing.
When studying the work done by David Altmejd, I found that he also uses plaster to create molds of his body but in away that he plays with the material instead of having a mapped out plan of what it is he’s going to create. Altmejd creates his work by trusting how the material works, were he creates a piece just by working with the material (Art21.) This is how I came up with my piece. I started making a plaster mold and then plastered my hands several times and just started placing hands until this image of what the piece would turn into developed.
Fanny Alloing does plaster body molds as well. She typically casts dancers and partially covers the figures to show the disappearance of the bodies. Her work reflects death and the life that the plaster skins once belonged to (Alloing, 2010). The aspect of her work that most inspired mine was how she would plaster dancers placed in positions. This was something I tried to incorporate into my own work when figuring out how the bodies would be placed. I wanted positions that seemed fluid and carried a graceful quality.
With Antony Gormely he will make a mold of his own body to both represent the hollow space within the figure but also the space the figure is placed within. (Gombrich, 10). Gormely’s work got me thinking about my own process of how I construct my figures. Deciding whether or not it was important for my figures to have a clearly pronounced gender since Gormely’s figures tend to be more gender neutral. Before I did not think it mattered so much whether or not the gender of my forms was clear. However recently after hearing how people responded to the figures that did not have a clear gender indication. I have decided that it is important, especially for next term.
For my future work I plan to continue with creating body sculptures that are an extension of the architecture and space that it is placed within. Like the large piece that I created, I would like to create a series of sculptures that are created in the same style and laid out in away that seem to tell a story. I also plan to use both male and female figures to make multiple smaller pieces that can be installed on the walls and ceiling easily with a much smaller dimension. The concept for my work will be based on women’s issues, primarily issues that have affected my life personally. Topics in specific that I plan to explore in my sculptural narration include: eating disorders, rape, domestic violence, depression, and low self-esteem issues due to body image. Though these issues are more common in western cultures and leave out some important women’s issues around the world that I might bring into my work for next term, such as forced prostitution, infanticide, forced marriages, or honor killings (Women’s Right Worldwide). I have come to discover that a lot of the work that I do (outside of this class) continually touches on women’s issues. I was trying to fight the idea of focusing on issues pertaining to women because I did not want to be categorized as a feminist, however seeing as how a lot of my work tends to reflect women’s issues anyways I have decided to embrace it and follow in this direction for the upcoming term.
Art21. Boundaries: David Altemjd (2012). <http://www.art21.org/videos/segment-david-altmejd-in-boundaries>
Alloing, Fanny. Presentation (2010). <http://www.fannyalloing.fr/spip.php?rubrique13>
Gombrich, E.H., John Hutchinson, and Lela B Njatin. “Antony Gormely”. London: Phaidon Press Limited, (1995).
Women’sRightsWorldwide.“WorkingAgainst the Oppression ofWomen Around the World” (2007). <http://womensrightsworldwide.org/wrtoday.html>