Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Mundane Memorial --- Ideas

OK, so now I am at the point where I have to 'memorialize' a 'mundane task' that we all do daily that gets overlooked (That's if I understand the assignment correctly). Again, having very little artistic experience I was a bit overwhelmed at the idea of having to not only create something on my own from scratch but then to have to DISPALY it to the public ... fun, fun! I initially thought of my mundane task being 'tying a shoe' & all I thought I could possibly make was a paper Mache shoe ... not a very interactive piece but what can I really create right?!
My teacher brought out this figure that was essentially a paper Mache figure .... but made out of tape. Genius! I automatically thought that I wanted to add color & I thought of 3 figures. After talking with the teacher the idea of paint may not be a great idea since the clear packing tape will not really take the paint well. Also ... I have to think about the fact that these figures will be sitting around my house & will be transported in my car ... I don't want paint everywhere!

I am not someone who can draw that well & I am certainly not good at drawing people. I thought it would be more productive to take photos of my friends & I posed in different positions to get an idea of what I might want to create. I need to see the big picture in my head first (most of the time), THEN I can break an idea up into the little details.

I agree that 3 figures may be a BIT ambitious ... when the thought popped into my head I saw 3 figures. For the two female figures I imagine windows to their stomach, lungs or mind ... also I see either duel themes& / or lots of color. For the male figure I see less symbolism & more direct use of objects like stuffing the figure with laces or shoes ... 








The thought of two figures is sweet / endearing ... if they are interacting ...














The teacher told me to look up "George Segal" for ideas on human figures. The plaster (I think) figures below are his.



I found more than a few "tape" figures that seemed popular in Europe and Moscow. ;o) Some were pretty funny.
There were many things I observed when I was at the place I picked for the "mundane" site. I saw people: waiting, smoking, eating, drinking coffee, tying their shoe, holding hands, talking on their phone & so on ...
What I noticed was that no one was ever just doing 1 thing at a time. This makes me think that my figure(s) should not be about just one thing. We are all usually doing or thinking about several things at one time so why not make my piece show more than one thing going on?



What should & should not be memorialized? I saw people smoking but should I "encourage" that?
Should I make a statment against it then? Art is often used to make statments but what about a memorial?
If I did smoking I would like to make a "window" at the figues lung area & fill it with something to show that this area of the figure is being effected negativly.
I would also like to 'balance' the dark, tar, smoke filled, damaged area with something opposite ... like green & growing!


What medium to use? I want to add color to my clear figures but how?



The teacher suggested wrapping my models in fabric first, then taping them to add color. That got me thinking about what would be most cost-effective & yet not too heavy for the tape structure? I came up with tissue paper ...

The idea of tissue paper became an exciting one since there are apparently a lot of things you can make with the colorful, thin, paper. ;o)  
I like the idea of possibly stuffing a part of one of the figures with cranes. I think it would be kind of cool (they are supposed to be good luck) ... & since I know how to make origami cranes ... it would be doable. Yet, how do I tie that in? I thought one of the figures could 'find a penny' and I could fill a whole arm or something with 'lucky' items.
 












There is still quite a lot to think about & I have only really started ... I am excited to see what I end up "creating". ;o)

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