Artist Statement Draft

Connor Felt

Sculpture

Eric Norman

29 March 2013

Artist Statement

Currently I haven’t narrowed down a specific path that I want to follow in terms of artistic expression or messages that I want to portray. If anything I want to create works that are thoughtful and make people question things that they normally ignore or take for granted. I find myself analyzing things that I would imagine most people don’t spend their time thinking about, so I would like to create things that inspire people to question the same things I do.

These questions could be about topics as broad as society or authority, or as specific as current world conflicts for example. We live in a very interesting age in terms of technological advancement which also consumes a lot of my thoughts. This is a theme that I would like to continue to depict or touch upon if I continue making artistic works. 

For me, life is a careful balance between logic and emotion, science and art. Even when it comes to an art studio class, I like to bring some function or scientific principal to the work as well. Sometimes this is required in order for a work to be structurally sound for example. This duality of nature is another theme that I like to express on many different levels through different works.

Statement of Intent Draft

Connor Felt

Sculpture

Eric Norman

27 March 2013

Statement of Intent

For the rest of the semester I want to focus on having a complete final project finished as well as catching up with my blog. Since there aren’t many class days in the semester left I will make sure to attend each one and work on my final project. Outside of class I will be coming up with ideas on how to improve it as well as keeping up with my blog. Ideally I would like a final collection of polished works to be able to display for my final project.

As far as concerns go, I am mostly worried about having enough objects, or detailed enough objects. I am not sure exactly which media I will be using exclusively either, but I want to mainly focus on plaster and wax. I am starting with simple objects and moving up to more detailed so I am hoping I will have enough time to have a set of detailed objects I am really proud of.

Overall I am not too certain where I want to take my work past this semester. I am glad to be learning skills that will eventually help me in the future. I am also learning that I enjoy working with my hands and 3D objects more than expected. This will help me narrow down a career path, which has been something I have been struggling with immensely. 

Gabriel Orozco Collection

Gabriel Orozco

After watching the video on Gabriel Orozco and viewing some of his popular works online I got a simple understanding of what his works are about. To be honest I am not a huge fan of artists like Gabriel Orozco who can take a picture of the simplest thing and sell it for thousands of dollars. I respect  what he does as an artist, but I don't see any value in a lot of his works. This isn't to say that some of his works were amazing. When asked to come up with a collection of three works that represent Orozco's style, I decided to take two photos and make one 3D work.

This first picture is of an abandoned piece styrofoam that I placed on top of a fire hydrant. What inspired me to take this picture was the segment in his video where he takes the flattened two liter bottle and places it different areas around Mexico.

This next picture is of a bunch of bananas that I put in a gap on a grocery store shelf. What inspired me to take this picture was his several photos of misplaced grocery items such as the cat cans on top of the watermelons.

This last piece was a simple clay model I made that sort of mimics the several clay works he has done. His are very abstract and have very little resemblance to a real objects so I attempted to make a shape similar to his.

Final Project Ideas

Final Project

My proposal is still somewhat vague as to what I will actually be sculpting for the rest of the semester. Rather than just doing a series of objects with no real relation to one another, I was thinking about having a series of objects that evolve from extremely simple to more detailed and complex. Starting with geometric shapes such as a sphere, a pyramid and maybe a cube, I would then branch off to more and more detailed and protruding sculptures. But the objects I will be creating will aim to be more realistic depictions rather than abstract works.

As for the media I will be using I still haven't figured out exactly what I will be doing either. During the semester I enjoyed working with plaster and wax so I imagine I will be using those. But I am also thinking about adding a third, whether it be wood or paper or maybe something I haven't worked with yet. The other problem is I'm not exactly sure which objects in the series of detail evolution will be made out of what. I may make a series out of each media which would give me a lot to work on for the last few weeks of class. Especially since I will have to make each sculpture in each media look similar to one another.

Currently I need to figure out what exact subjects I will want to sculpt in the series of evolution. I need to know how many I will be sculpting as well. Maybe three to five in each. Lastly I need to figure out what media I will be using and for which objects.

Ice Sculptures

Ice Sculptures

When doing some research earlier today for my final project I came across several different types of sculpture. I noticed many different images of extremely detailed ice sculptures and was very impressed. I have always been aware of ice sculptures but the works I viewed today astounded me after having to imagine the work behind them. Not only is ice extremely fragile, but is obviously extremely heat sensitive. It surprised me how well the artists were able to create such realistic and detailed works without the ice melting or cracking. I can imagine the artists in a very cold room working quickly but with great precision. Here is a small collection of pictures that I noticed earlier today.

Oil Clay Portraits

Clay Portraits

In class we were assigned a small, two-day portrait project. Using our oil clay and a mirror we were to make a small bust of ourselves, making sure to include identifying details. My finished clay portrait was satisfactory in my opinion. Although I had enough time to complete the work, I feel like there was still some work needed to be done to push the likeness of me. I haven't worked much with clay portraits so I actually was somewhat surprised with how well I did on the portrait. Overall I am slightly critical because faces are so hard to accurately portray, especially when it is your own face that you see just about everyday.
 

 

Speed Project: Domino Effect

Speed Project

This project was a bit more abstract than the previous ones we did this semester. It required us to think about speed and use that idea to create a meaningful art piece. Our limitations were very few and we were left up to our own creativity to extrapolate the idea of speed. 

At first I had very little idea what to do, just like with most of these projects. It didn't take long though for me to decide on using dominos as a way of representing speed or rate. Initially I just wanted to use different patterns and spacing to create fluctuations in the speed of the domino run. But realizing that was too simple I added some features to the idea. Because we are in sculpture class I figured I would utilize materials we have already worked with to create a piece that had more interest or more reason for the viewer to continue watching. So I decided I would create one final domino at the end of the run out of plaster. This domino would fall at the very end of the run, off of a ledge, causing it to shatter on the ground below.

Still I thought that the domino run lacked enough thoughtfulness or relation to speed. That's when I decided I could compare the process of creating the domino run to the process of the dominos falling, in relation to speed or rate. So while I set up the dominos in the art studio, I filmed myself doing so on my laptop. When it was completed I filmed the dominos falling down on my phone, following it along as it went. Unfortunately, even after the hour or so it took to set up the dominos, the run had to be started again by my hand about three times, not including the final domino which didn't fall after being hit by six or seven little dominos. Overall the whole process worked out the way I wanted without the actual success of the domino run. 

With the final two videos I placed them side by side, having the domino fall video on a loop to show how fast the dominos fall compared to how fast they are set up. With the two videos next to each other, the viewer can really see the comparison between rates and speed. It was also mentioned that the two videos could be a comparison of effort or work, showing the amount of work it takes to set up such a short lived event.

Final Project Proposal

Final Project Proposal

For our final projects you wanted us to choose something that we wanted to do. Ideally you wanted us to work on an area that maybe we didn’t get to work on as much during the semester or on something that we were hoping to make, coming into the class. After taking awhile to think about what we have done so far and what I was expecting before the semester, I decided I wanted to work on a series of subtractive or additive sculptures that push realism and accuracy. 

You mentioned for our final project we didn’t have to spend all of our time working towards one big piece, but rather we could work on several smaller works. I think this would be the way to go for what I want to do. My idea right now is to create a series of sculptures of various subjects and various media that are detailed and are clear what they represent. I’m not too sure what subjects I would like to create yet but I know I will probably want to work with plaster, wax and maybe a new medium that I haven’t used yet. 

Carving Project: Graphite Tree

Carving Project

For this project our goal was to take some object or material, carve it and manipulate it in order to make it appear like another material or object. Rather than making something that was clearly wooden or clearly wax, for example, the idea was to fool the viewer's eyes. 

At first I had very little idea what I wanted to make. I remembered during the mold projects how much I enjoyed working with the wax so initially my idea was to carve candlesticks. I didn't want to make a series of just random shapes or objects so I decided that combining them in some way could be interesting. I decided a tree could be simple yet different enough from the original candlestick. After talking with Eric, he suggested that I use a wire frame for the tree and drip the wax onto that. Although I liked the idea of having exposed wicks on the tree limbs, the problem remained that they still looked like candles.

Next I decided to abandon the whole candlestick idea and move onto the brown wax. After dripping wax onto my wire frame I was left with a large tree that very much looked like it was made of wax. I have to admit thought that leaving it in this way would have looked very interesting, but wouldn't have followed the guidelines well enough. So I carved the drops and blobs away from my tree to smooth it out and make it have a little more natural and organic surface. Finally to transform the object's look further I added graphite powder to every inch of the tree's surface. This produced a really shiny, silver gloss that contrasted the original wax texture very nicely. I then used the heat gun and let the graphite sink into the wax a little deeper which allowed that silver color to mesh even better, but retain its sheen as well.

Artist Research #7: John Newman (Painter, Sculptor, Printmaker)

John Newman

This week's artist research was another student's choice. Since this class is focused on sculpture, I wanted to choose an artist who had some unique and interesting 3D works. John Newman is an artist who works with paint and prints but is mostly known for his 3D crafts. During the beginning of his career he was primarily interested in creating grand sculptures and installations that used size as a dramatic effect. Later in his career he took a trip to Africa which influenced his perspective on the scale of art, causing him to shift towards smaller, table-top sculptures of equal aesthetic value. Overall, throughout his career he created several works which embody many different moods and tones, but almsot all of them are a complex arrangement of mixed media that is placed in ways the viewer would not expect. 

All of his works, whether they be 3D, paintings, or prints use a variety of elements to keep the viewer asking questions. He seems to be interested in abnormal lines that twist, turn, thicken and thin for example. He also isn't afraid to use bright and contrasting colors. The abstract nature of each work shows how much effort he puts into the geometrical shape of each object or image as well as they symbology behind it. The titles of his sculptures provoke further inquiry and speculation, with each element meant to bring the viewer closer—as close, the artist says, as one gets to "food, babies, a lover, or a book." 

Newman has had over 40 solo exhibitions and numerous group exhibitions in galleries and museums through out the United States, Europe and Asia. He is represented in many public collections including the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney, the Tate Gallery in London, and the Albertina in Vienna. He has received grants and awards from the Guggenheim Foundation, the Rome Prize, the Pollack-Krasner Foundation, the Joan Mitchell Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts, as well as other organizations.