Something I wasn’t aware of previously, and something that would’ve been really interesting to pursue as a medium to work with. From my research, I can buy pigments like the below online. I would imagine they would behave much like watercolour paint. There are no reliable published statistics on the size of the colour however, according to global industry analysts; the demand for organic pigments and dyes is expected to reach almost 18 million tons by 2023.
Among the various available pigments, the carotenoids alone were estimated to reach £1.4 billion by 2018. Filamentous fungi are known to produce an extraordinary range of pigments such as carotenoids, melanins, flavins, phenazines, quinones, monascins, violacein, and indigo. The use of Monascus for ang-kak (red mold rice) production is the oldest recorded use of fungal pigment. Monascus produce yellow (ankaflavine, monascine), orange (rubropunctatine, monascorubrine), and purple (rubropunctamine, monascorubramine) pigments which are often encountered in Oriental foods, especially in Southern China, Japan and Southeast Asia. Currently, more than 50 Monascus pigments have been identified and studied. The potential for fungal and microbial pigments could be a huge threat to pigments currently obtained by animal/insect means and be a powerful component in the sustainable movement currently gripping society extending to fashion and art with the encouragement from the urgency of climate change and global crisis.
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After my successful experiments in my previous project Habitat, I wanted to explore sculpture in this project too. Unlike my last project where I used kiln clay and glass glazes I wanted to try polymer clay for this one.
The reasons for this were mainly centred around accessibility, for me to be able to produce initial experiments, develop them and end up with a final piece I really liked I would need more time than I had at this stage of my development when factoring in the other aspects like my file and sketchbook alongside the restrictions the current coronavirus pandemic would have on me. I opted for oven bake super sculpey as it would allow me to create an array of experiments in a short amount of time. The official site was incredibly useful, as its advice on armatures and internal structures would serve to save me a lot of trial and error in sculpting time in these experiments. https://www.sculpey.com/create/support/faqs/ I also know from previous experience working with them that they work well alongside acrylics and gloss paints, which are all mediums I currently have which will save me cost when working. |Currently, amazon sell 3 1kg boxes for £30 which I will purchase, any not used for this I’m sure will be used in the future which avoids wasteful practice. I chose to include this article as it touches on sentimentality which is an aspect of art that I am very familiar with. Much like kitsch with Jeff Koons its an area of art that can be very hard to exist in validly. By this I mean that it is very interrogated, to be an artist who leans into the almost commercialism of kitsch as embrace it is difficult at best. You are always questioned as to how you can do that- and what makes it art? With this project I have attempted a navigation by allowing the sculptures to be a bit creepy, they are not cutesy figures you could find in a charity shop- they are unsettling and I think that was important in distinguishing them from say a garden centre decoration. They have pores and simulated bodily fluids and a cleft palette and very expressive faces (and not in a wholesome cute way) But I think its important to acknowledge my lingering in this area, and I make things that I enjoy looking at and I am fully aware they are weird and not comforting, and I like the way this looks. I enjoy the realistic skin textures and shading, I like that they look a little too humanoid to be comfortable around. I think this balances the over saturated and cynical aesthetics well, and the level of detail I put into them sets them apart from a commercial figure. A lot of time and effort was put into each sculpture, the expressions were changed countless times to not pour sickly emotion into them they needed to look around neutral, not like an evil goblin that would scare kids and not like a john lewis cherub figure. I am in general happy with where I landed on this. See excerpts from the article below https://www.theschooloflife.com/thebookoflife/sentimentality-in-art-and-business/
"The basic thing that happens in sentimental art, is that the negative aspects of life or a situation are repressed; and something is instead presented as wholly nice and lovely. Problem One: It leads to disappointment In an essay, De Profundis – written in prison – Oscar Wilde defines sentimentality as the desire to feed off an emotion ‘without paying for it’. He says: ‘We think we can have our emotions for nothing. We cannot. Even the finest and most self-sacrificing emotions have to be paid for.’ Problem Two: Sentimentality breeds cynicism Wilde also argued: ‘The sentimentalist is a cynic at heart. Indeed, sentimentality is merely the bank holiday of cynicism.’ It’s initially quite a surprising idea, because surely these attitudes are poles apart. In the middle – between sentimentality and cynicism – is the mature assessment, which usually means acknowledging that things have good and bad aspects that are unfortunately deeply intertwined. Maturity involves giving up on the attractions of a clearer, simpler (but actually unfair) assessment, whether totally negative or totally positive. Maturity means realising for instance that a single person might be both kindly and generous sometimes and quite greedy at other points. Or that a nation might be really quite admirable in some ways and rather horrific in others. I really love this artist and his works, he has a really interesting spin on photography. The photograph is not the focus, it is the photographed. He has completely deconstructed and rearranged what he wants people to see and how he wants them to see it, something I have not seen anything like.
He takes what literally gruesome, not perceived or associated is with but what is actually rotting and squirming and transforms them into shots that capture a moment where these unsightly things are still, and beautiful. Much like Sonja he has worked a lot with petri samples, but his work is not as refined or perfected his is a lot more raw. I particularly love his sculptural works, I think his use of texture and muted colour is very evoking of natural elements and his use of shape gives his works a fluidity that I find almost playful in the display of some very morbid mediums like the coiled dried snakeskin. Scientifically his works like domus aurea are ground-breaking, dealing with frescoes and their aging ancient reputation from Rome. He has actually researched bacteria at the site alongside biologists and trace some of the bacteria growing on the frescoes.. Recreating a calcium rich room he utilised the bacteria’s light sensitivity to create a moving project that would grow and seek out the light. Repurposing the bacteria that has eaten amazing things into the darkness of nothing, to create new art in itself. The result and the process itself are both phenomenal works of art. I think artists who make work like this that blur the lines of science and art are fascinating, and will help to build a bridge between the sciences and art, which can be used to raise awareness and spread knowledge and potentially inspire new creative ideas in both fields. I wanted to research this side of fungi, so that I would be aware of any precautions I needed to take when collecting primary research in photographs and sketches in my book.
I learnt that spores can cause irritation and even infection in any open wounds, so I opted to avoid touching the mushrooms I could not identify with my mycology book and app. I am also very aware that many strains of mushroom are toxic and poisonous, so I will be maintaining a safe distance and ensuring I won’t be entering any poorly ventilated areas with potential spores. I got this list from my foraging app Shroomify.
This artists work is really relevant to my current project, she explored the line between science art using a lot of different mediums.
She has worked in sculpture, textile, microbial, photography and more mediums. As I have a keen interest in Fungi, she has a keen interested in micro-organisms. Particularly those that thrive and on the delicate ecosystems of the skin and body. She has nurtured this fascination for over ten years now. A strong portfolio of artwork exploring this theme. I think a huge driving force for her work is scientific curiosity, she is fascinated by what we know and what we aren’t yet privy to. Her work expands and evolves in keeping with the advancements in science, she is constantly updating herself about what is new in the field and what this could mean to her, her work, and the future. I really like the physical links in her work to humanity, as this is something I’m currently exploring and trying to find the balance of imposing presence and subtle nuances. I think the way she presents this non verbally is really fantastic, and her involvement of the public like in her 2017 work MOMENTUM 9 is really amazing and innovative, to invite the public in whilst using their presence to complete the work from the outside, the person inside the work making up the mushroom stem is just really visually and conceptually interesting especially paired with her interest in the link between humanity and micro-organisms. I also adore her textile work, I think it’s very delicate and elegant, a hard aesthetic to capture when dealing with microbial subject matter. She visually represented the macrocosms she is obsessed with, in such a fragile way as to compare it to the fragility of the human ecosystem. Ph. balances, infections, even conditions can alter so much about the delicate balance we have and completely transform our outer landscape. Another artist I chose to research due to her navigating of the morbidity in art. I think Morgans use of imagery if subdued and fantastic, and I am not surprised she is at the forefront of trending Britartists. As someone who has worked consistenly with animal imagery in the past and in past projects like "Habitat" and "Plight of the Piglets" I decided to make visual responses to "The Fall" and "Reciever"
https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/features/death-becomes-her-meet-polly-morgan-britarts-hottest-property-2027383.html "I'm not a morbid person, I'm actually really optimistic. I hate the fact that death hangs over us all our lives." It is the aesthetic of the body in a state of total relaxation, she argues, which is of central interest in her art. "I see it as a raw material to work with; with no soul left, the body becomes a beautiful ornament." These were my first and second attempts ever using photoshop and my drawing pad to try digital art, this was useful as an experiment but I am not developed enough in this area to pursue it as a final piece, these are useful though as references for possible sculptural development.
Thomas Dambo is a fantastic artist. In a completely different way to the other artists I've looked at, his use of scale is overwhelmingly present. He has these towering characters that loom over the residents of Copenhagen, which I have been so fortunate to see in person in 2019 on my trip over there. They are very much buried in the wilderness, with unclear signposting, so finding them is actually part of a journey its its own right.
The use of natural materials found in sustainable ways is very much something that appeals to me and inspires me due to my ecological interests. I think I will take inspiration from his use of found materials, and his natural means of displaying his work. The sort of adventure in finding them. I would love to be able to work in his scale, but sadly I do not have anywhere enar the correct means to try and do so in this project. |
Author24 year old student from Nottingham, United Kingdom. Archives
June 2020
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