The Not Quite Pinball Machine

Ideas for art pieces can be prompted in the strangest ways, sometimes it’s by simple everyday events or as a result of much thinking, on rare occasions its because one of my lecturers says ‘do this you sculpting scum’ and I feel obliged. This was one such occasion, when I said I wanted to do some kinetic art my lecturer suggested creating a pinball machine, I decided this wasn’t a bad idea and decided to work with it. As I have previously discussed I was first made aware of Oldenburg when I went to a retrospective of his work in New York, days later I visited Coney Island. While walking around Coney Island I was inspired to create a work based on it’s landmarks and culture, I did some sketches in a notebook and the idea was left undeveloped. I bought a few years ago an old bagatelle board, I removed the old backboard and replaced it with laminated foam board, I then sprayed the metal framework for a upcycled look. I wanted to create a pinball inspired functional piece of artwork which depicted Coney Island so I painted the backboard using acrylic and sponge, I used several colours to create the appearance of a landscape. I started with blue for the sea and moved up through reds and oranges to beach like tones, I mixed in green for a treeline and turquoise of an autumnal skyline. Using skills i've worked on earlier in the project I then drew the landmarks of Coney Island in permanent fineliner. I think the end result was an interesting piece because it explore some media I don't tend to use, also it combined modern imagery with a vintage carnival like colour scheme. I create the work because I wanted to create another work which explore the relationship between movement and art and also because it allowed me to experiment with upcycling older object into newer more interesting ones, a theme in my final piece. The work was successful, it was perhaps let down by my drawing skills and although it isn't technically excellent it is visually pleasing.The ideas I explored in creating this work will assist me in my final piece, as my final piece will be a collection of modules it will be possible for me to intertwine a bagatelle like element. 

The Rolling Student

Today I worked hard in an art lesson, hopefully from my project you will not get the idea that I am a massive slacker but this is alas true. I use art lessons as an opportunity to think and brainstorm but rarely to actually work, why is this? Simple, I work better at home. However today I came to college with a syringe, two baubles and a homemade tilt table device. The tilt table device resembles a door knob attached to the front of a old wooden draw, and to some extent it is, however the genius is a recycled yogurt pot which acts as a socket to make a ball joint. This static ball joint was then adhered to the bottom of a large cardboard tray. I filled the baubles with ink and then using the tilting tray rolled them around on a piece of paper to create complex patterns. This doesn't seem to be exactly fine art however it is worth saying that the end result was not at all lack luster and that there is genuine thought behind it. Because in my final piece I plan to create a ball rolling machine I wanted to depict the way gravity acts upon a rolling object in a visual way, by painting with baubles I was able to create patterns which showed the curves and rolling tracks of balls being moved by gravity. The use of the tip table essentially allowing me to control gravity to my own ends, a principle I will using in my rolling ball machine final piece. This work was partly inspired by the work of Jackson Pollock, apart from some loose visual similarities I used similar principles to Pollock. Pollock created work using controlled and mathematical drips and flicks of paint, although my work is much cruder it does use some of the same ideas. This exploration with balls was not one of my most meaningful or indeed visually stunning works however it did serve its purpose as a way of looking at how I can control gravity and the rolling patterns of balls, the study also create several interesting visual effects. Although the work doesn't champion artistic skill it does demonstrate a way a piece of engineering (crude as it may be) can be used to create art in a very simple way.  

Wasting Orange - For this work I filled the baubles with ink, as they rolled around the canvas the ink escaped in drips from a small hole in each bauble. This work used three colours Green, Black and Orange this was not based on any particular meaning but due to the fact they were the only colours. This was the first work in the series, later works show how I experiment with other ways to spread paint around a canvas using paint. 

Cerebro Crimson - For this painting I started with a blank canvas, I covered two balls in diluted red acrylic paint and rolled them all over the work to create sweeping curved lines. The result of this endeavour was a haywire crimson pattern, to add depth to the work I put a dollop of silver paint in the middle of the work then used the balls to spread it from the centre. The centre of the work is a pinkish brains like form which looks to be exploding all over the canvas.

Puddle Rainbow - For this piece I placed a variety of undiluted acrylic paint around the centre of the canvas and then used rolling balls to spread and mix the colours. This work is the most Pollock like but I struggled to mix the paint around the canvas because the acrylic was so viscous. In ‘Cerebro Crimson’ I used diluted paint which was far more easy to spread around and created more vibrant patterns. I named this work puddle rainbow because it reminded me of the rainbows which petrol forms in muddy puddles.

Ghost Stria - This work was created by starting with a blank canvas and using the balls from ‘Puddle Rainbow’, these balls were still caked in paint. By rolling the balls around the blank canvas they created a much looser and less dense pattern. From a distance the work looks to be a grotty grey colour but up close its possible;e to discern a cornucopia of tones and pigments.

Lasagne Sunset - For this piece I used a combination of ink and acrylic, I squirted ink straight onto the canvas and then rolled the baubles through it, this creates a mix of different patterns and lines. To add more colour and depth to the work I then poured heavily diluted white acrylic over the work, the watery pigment mixed with all the other colours while still preserving track marks. The final product prompted debate amongst my peers who couldn't decern whether it resembled regurgitated lasagne or a sunset.  

Final Piece Prototype

There is, has and will always be a great emphasis on showing development in a project and demonstrating that I as a student can learn from my mistakes. I’m an old fashioned sorta guy and like to do thing right the first time, but I’m also aiming to achieve greatness while I’m still young enough to be called a prodigy. Technically and from an engineering standpoint this project is going to be my hardest yet, ambitious is the mother of creation and for some reason I have to keep making things more difficult to show I can overcome adversity. I started the development of my final piece with an idea in my head which was so complex it would require a lot of development and refinement, I decide to create a maquette of my final piece out of cheaper less aesthetic materials to work the kinks out at a formative stage. I made a non-automated prototype of my final piece so I could develop the mechanical side with cheap easy to manipulate materials. I made this prototype to see if my final piece was actually possible, my conclusion is that it seems possible but it’ll be difficult.  The thing is I made this maquette over about a month, I’d make a module every couple of days then I put them all together, essentially my final piece will be about a dozen smaller works of assemblage all put together and tuned to work in sync. I’ll have fifteen hours to make the real final piece, to stand a chance of finishing it i’ll need to do a lot of planning and material collection. The prototype is not an exact blueprint of my final piece, it sets out a rough plan and layout but I want my final piece to be shaped by the materials I use to make it. Below are some annotated images of the prototype describing the various modules and functions.  

Material Sourcing and Selection

Material Choices

There are three basic materials to choose from when I’m doing a sculpture... metal, plastic and stuff that comes from trees (wood, cardboard, paper etc.). In a work of assemblage I normally use all three, for my final piece I will use all three but for different functions and in different ways.

Plastic - Plastic material are normally light weight, easy to mould and can be strong, this make them sound perfect for art however they do have drawbacks. |despite being very easy to adhere to other objects because they accept solvents very well they do look rather cheap and uninteresting. we are surrounded by plastic so a work made entirely of it tends to look a little dull, also I want my work to have a vintage steampunk look which plastic doesn't really fit into. I’ll use a lot of plastic in my final piece but I will do my best to disguise it to look more interesting. I have in my workshop a large box of Bakelite fitting which I often use for their vintage appearance and because they come with all the benefits of plastic.  

Metal - Metal is a female dog of a thing to work with, it’s hard to cut, mould and adhere to other objects, it’s also heavy. In my works I normally use small piece of metal like coins or electronic parts for aesthetic interest, also metal parts can look vintage, rusty and generally steampunk looking which fits my design idea well. Metal is also very strong so I’ll use it structurally, I’d use metal more if I was able to weld or use other power tools but alas, I am limited in my skills and the trust placed in me. My grandfather on my mother’s side (the non-shed owning one) was a skilled metal worker so for this project as a homage to him I wish to use metal more, by using it more I’m also challenging myself to do better.

Tree sourced materials - I used card for my prototype because it is easy to work with however it’s limitations in both strength and appearance mean I won’t use it to any great extent in my final piece. Since acquiring some more power tools for my workshop at home I have been able to use a lot more wood in my recent projects. I will use wood as both an aesthetic element and as the main framework of my final piece. I hope to use mostly reconstituted wood which I’ll source by recycling furniture and other wooden objects, in doing this i’m assisting the environment and saving myself money. I’ll also use paper and printed card elements for aesthetic and no doubt I’ll return to my standby of ‘cardboard box card’ to make some pieces because it looks rustic and is easy to work with while still being cheap and accessible.

Material Sourcing

Having talked a little about what sort of materials I'll use I now need to discuss where I plan to source these materials from. My final piece will be a work of assemblage, I’ll create a new piece of functional art from a series of objects, these object will be everyday but interesting. I’ll use a big variety of objects for aesthetic and I’ll recycle old mechanical and electrical objects to make my piece move. By repurposing object to make my final piece I am linking back to the meaning of my work and I will be working with junk objects like many of the artists I’ve studied. I like the idea of recycling objects and taking interesting vintage or discarded objects and turning them into something new and interesting. I am also playing with the idea of taking functioning objects and in effect stripping them of any function by turning them into art. By doing this I’ll explore both my own artistic style and I’ll look at the relationship between art and function. As a kid I used to take apart old electronics and other discarded object to learn how they works, this idea of play, learning and exploration is something i want to incorporate into my final piece. As to where to source all these objects for repurposing there are three major groups, stuff I already have, stuff I find and stuff I can buy from car boots. I already have a lot of different objects to work with which I've collected over the years but I will also add to my palate by searching out discarded objects and by acquiring new ones from car boots.

Every Englishman Should Have a Shed

When I started this project I said I wanted to explore the relationship between engineering and art but I also wanted to explore the relationship between me and grandfather. I believe that I wouldn't be doing what I am now if it wasn't for his influence, so far in this project I’ve looked at the relationships between disciplines and objects, for this little side project I’m looking at an interpersonal relationship. The emotion I want to explore in this work is something I will synthesis into my final piece but want to outwardly explore in a piece of work first. Now pretty much every piece of art I have ever made has been influence by the teaching of my grandfather so for this piece I plan to create a work which depicts the place I was taught, a shed. My Grandfather was ardently middle class and had risen to the height of having three sheds and a greenhouse, One of these three sheds was a woodworking workshop which I have very fond memories of. I decided to create this homage to one of my greatest influences by building a model of this shed in my favoured medium of assemblage sculpture. No so far in this project I've avoided making anything that could be even loosely related to a dollhouse but I am going to regress to my past works and create one for this very special emotional piece.

Hillock Shed

A few weeks ago I wandered down the road by my college with minimal interest in the world and maximal interest in myself and tripped over a car mirror. said car mirror had an appealing shape as seeing as it was but the side of the road I decided to give it a new home. It spent a few days sitting in my workshop until one afternoon when I decided it would make a prime hillock. I've looked at the work of Oldenburg as an aware that some of his works were great from objects he found on the streets of New York, I’ve also been pondering exploring sheds. The resulting work of these ideas is a shed made of various junk objects which its wonkily on a car mirror hillock. I source a lot of art supplies from various source but the road side is a new area. The work explores the idea of me just using a pile of objects to make an object and the premise of art materials finding me instead if me seeking them out. The work was successful because I used it as a chance to explore ideas and induce the flow of creative juices for my main shed piece. The work has influenced my idea for the model I plan to create of my grandfathers shed, I’ll use similar materials and design techniques.

Lego 3D Model

For my Hillock Shed I started with a bundle of materials and made something from them but for my main shed piece I will be basing the piece on real life place so I’ll need to make it authentic to the original. I don’t have any picture of the shed I hope to create and  want the model to look as much like the real thing as possible, with this in mind I decide to create a digital model of the shed before I started making it. I used Lego Digital Designer to create a model of the shed which I could adjust and edit to make it as realistic as possible, the digital model I create was based on memories but with a lot of trial and error I came up with something that looks very familiar. By doing some planning designs the final product with be far better, if I had gone straight into making it like I normally do with piece I wouldn't have had something as accurate as I’d like. By using Lego Digital Designer I could adjust the prototype As I went along and view it form numerous angles, the 3D render was much more of an in depth plan than if I had simply done some sketches. 

Shed Construction

I will now talk briefly and uninterestingly about how I made my shed model. The basic frame of the shed is made of foam board, I used a paper mache for strength and texture as an outer layer to the shed. I painted the shed first using a sponge and acrylic paint then  used an airbrush with semi acrylic pigment to bring out tonal variation. I've recently started using as airbrush to create some of my artworks, it’s excellent for paint small pieces and its good in association with acrylic spray paint. The use of an airbrush and spray paint in the piece is evident as it has more depth and authenticity than some of my earlier works. The interior of the shed is created from various objects, most notable tobacco and kitchenalia tins are used to create man of the work benches and appliances which link to my grandfather love of both food and smoking. Many of the material choices and object within the shed reflect aspects of my grandfather’s personality and my relationship with him, the work is meant to explore the emotional side of the work I create and to lay the bedrock of the emotional aspects of my final piece. Notable parts of shed include back bench which I made from small blanks of wood and then painted, the power tools which reflect ones which were in the shed of my memories and the shelving at the back which was actually made by breaking up a piece of dollhouse furniture and reusing the wood. Every aspect of the model reflect the original as is shown by the similarity between designs and the final result, the materials I used to make each aspect reflect the emotional ideas I’m encapsulating.  Penultimately and as a personal aspect of interest the water pump outside the shed is made from several parts most significant of which is the barrel of an airbrush which broke during the making of the shed. Finally the foliage outside the shed is made from a medium which for me makes a debut in this piece, it’s made from dried lichen a natural moss which has an excellent effect because with the scale adjustment it looks like larger plants. 

Shed Built 

The purpose of this happy little diversion into making sheds was to explore the emotional aspect of my final piece by create another final piece quality work. My final piece will look at the relationship between artists and technology and explore my personal transition between making things for a function and making things for art. Now that is all well and good but I also like for all my piece of art to have a personal emotional aspect, I can’t create a piece of art about engineering, technology and myself as an artist without thinking about the relationship between me and the person who taught me all about making things. I wanted to create a homage to my grandfather who was my mentor and the reason why I started making thing and I decide the best was to create this was by making a model of the shed he worked and taught me in. So this piece is visual exploration of the emotional aspect of my soon to come final piece, it’s an opportunity to explore and improve skills and mediums and it’s an excellent dry run for the real thing. I’m calling it, this is the most multifunctional and important piece of art so far in this project. This piece came from my Hillock Shed piece which in turn was spawned from my research into Oldenburg so he acts as my heaviest influence, however this piece is beginning to draw together all the research and experimentation up to this point in the project sop there are little nods to everyone I've looked at so far. I think this piece is very good, my dollhouses and assemblage works get better with everyone I do and this is no exception its great and I’m going to really use it as a influence and hint at what’s to come in this project because I’m very pleased with how it’s all come together and the overall zeitgeist of the work. Next in this project I’m going to create a prototype of my final piece, then talk a little more about materials and techniques then I’ll bring all my research together in one big happy lump of text. 

Claes Oldenburg

There was a time in my life where I could hardly name any artists, I could describe dozens of works but couldn't put a name to them, for a long time I’ve had a block with names in general. Over time and dubious amounts of study I can now name far more artists however at times I still have blocks with certain names. I went to a retrospective of Claes Oldenburg's work at the MoMA gallery in New York, I was captivated by his work yet forgot his name almost immediately. Two years later Oldenburg's work has been on my mind due to its use of junk object to create art, a principle I want to use in my final piece. Claes Oldenburg, is an American sculpture, the best kind of American. With a name like Claes Oldenburg you can tell he is like most New Yorkers an immigrant, he was born in Stockholm. what interests me about his work is that he uses everyday cheap objects as inspiration, he uses collage and assemblage of waste or ephemeral items to create works which explore scale, the body and erotic analogies. Oldenburg uses materials he finds on the street to create some of his works, his best known work is public art pieces which take the form of large everyday objects. I first discovered Oldenburg at a retrospective of his work in the MoMA gallery in New York, this is just one exhibition in a career stretching many years. Retrospectives look back at a persons career and their work so you have to have really arrived if you have one in a prominent gallery. What intrigued me about Oldenburg was his use of medium, he used mediums which aren't normally associated with high art like, paper mache and assemblage of junk objects. The exhibition, looks at two of bodies of work ‘The Street’ (1960) and ‘The Store’ (1961-64) the early sixties were a time of great creative output of Oldenburg. Alot of Oldenburg’s work is made from resources he find in the street. Oldenburg may not seem like the obvious link to my final design but there are several ways in which his techniques are a good fit. He looks at everyday objects and repurposes found objects into new pieces of work which are to aspects I hope to include in my work, also his work is visually intriguing, my final piece is going to be meaningful and it’s hopefully going to be functioning and kinetic however I also want it to have a grungy, steampunk work which plays with scale and looks visually impressive. 

Final Piece Artist Research

The thing with art is it’s very hard to do something which is genuinely completely new because there so many artists in the world theres little to still be done, but artists keep on innovating, from my point of view I make personal works because they have the most room to create something new. I did want to look at a variety of artists to get inspiration and flesh out my design Ideas, there aren't that many artist who create literal kinetic sculpture, most galleries are still full of mostly static work however after a degree of digging around the internet I found a few artists who do work similar to what I’m planning. I don't want to wince on about my first four artist because as much as I've discussed them and they've influenced my project it’d be nice to find some other to bring new ideas to my work.

Great Ball Contraption (GBC)

Fame is relative, I almost started this paragraph by saying ‘one famous example of a Rube Goldberg machine is the Lego great ball contraption (GBC)’ however I assumes it was only really famous to me and not to the world in general. As a Lego enthusiast (see dictionary definition of social pariah’ I have often watched videos of and read about the GBC and look at its artistic feature. It’s an interesting piece of engineering which I will now describe to you with all the transferred joy I can muster. A great ball contraption is a series of devices (modules) which receive Lego balls and then transfer them a distance, as a series of chain reactions. The interesting feature of GBC is that because there is a set specification a series of modules can be put together which are made by different people. The modules have to made to a set of rules so that each different module can work with any other. Each module should have an "in" basket, and will move balls to the next module's "in" basket.

The IN basket should be 10 studs by 10 studs (outside dimension) with an 8x8 opening, and should be 10 bricks (beams) tall.

The In basket should be located on the left side of the module, and output should go to the right.

Each module should be able to accept balls at an average rate of 1 ball per second. Balls can be passed continuously, or in a batch. A batch should not exceed 30 balls.

Rolling ball machines like the GBC appeal to me because they can be an elegant and intriguing repeating installation. I’ve talked a lot about the concepts and materials I want to use in my final piece and after narrowing down my options I’ve decided on doing a rolling ball device which is repeatable as my final piece, although I won’t make the work out of Lego I will take inspiration from some of the GBC module designs.

GBC Module Designs

Academies Screw

Academies screw modules are rotating helixes which slowly raise up balls. Academies screw were invented by the Grecian inventor Academies and proposed as a way of getting water above water level crops. This module type can be used to raise up balls between levels but require a motor to work.

Ferris wheel

Ferris Wheel modules are large rotating wheels with small cups around the edge, they can be used to control flow by either speeding up or slowing down and they can be used to raise balls to higher levels or lower them. This module requires a motor, preferably with speed control.

Conveyer Belt

Conveyer Belt modules work just like the convey belts at super market checkouts, they can have variable speeds and be used to raise or lower balls, they are versatile but prone to jamming, also they can’t control ball flow. This module requires a motor, preferably with speed control.

Up Pump

Up Pump modules use a com powered pusher to raise up balls, they are prone to jamming but are one of the simplest and most effective ways of raising balls. This module requires a motor and isn’t very interesting to look at but they can serve a purpose.

Train/ Mine Cart

Train/ Mine Carts are small carriages that can collect balls, transport them and deliver them. Train base modules can work on a circuit so they are repeatable and are often powered by motors within the trains. Train cart module take a lot of set up and thought but do work well as well as being visually appealing. 

Tip table

Tip Table modules are simply tray like tables where one end can be raise to create a slop so balls move using gravity to one end. Tip tables can be used to control flow and are capable to taking a lot of balls at once, they are simple and can be controlled with a simple motor and cam.

Wave Motion

Wave Motion modules are similar to Tip Table modules they work by changing levels to move balls. Wave Motion module work as a series of small slopes move up and down to create a flowing motion. The advantage of these module is they can move balls along but the module doesn’t change the height.

Bagatelle

Bagatelle Modules work similar to pinball machines, balls are fed in at the top they then roll down a slope and are filtered by small pegs. These modules are static and don’t need motors however they can be a simple way to create momentum in the ball flow, sort balls and regulate the flow speed.

Shooter

Shooter Modules simply shoot balls into targets they can be used to raise up balls and regulate flow however they are unpredictable and hard to calibrate. Visually they are the most entertaining.

Z Ramp

Z Ramps are a series of track that let balls roll downwards in a Z shaped pattern, they are static module which don’t need motors. Z Ramps only allow balls to go downward but the crate momentum and are very simple. As a side thought I could put bells at each corner to make the module more interesting.

Sweeper

Sweeper modules use a rotating arm to sweep balls along. The module is simple but requires a motor, it works at a variety of speeds so could be connected to another modules drive system, this module can move lots or only a few balls at a time and is very reliable.

Lift

A lift works like a small version of lift in a building, it can be used to move a lot of balls a long distance but is complex and require at least one motor. This king of module would be ideal as a final module because it take balls from the bottom to the top to repeat the system.

Counter

Counter Modules count the number of balls that pass through them, mechanically they are the most complex but are interesting and artistic. I’d like to have one of these modules but the mechanics may prove too difficult.

Rube Goldberg Machines

My decision to make a moving kinetic sculpture for my final piece lead me to researching Rube Goldberg Machines. A Rube Goldberg machine is a device which does a simple action in an overly complex and overly engineered way. Rube Goldberg Machines can be contraptions, device, apparatus or sculpture and the term has become used as an idiom to describe something that is purposely convoluted. Most of the times these machine use a chain reaction where one motion sets over a series of other to indirectly cause the end result. The origin of the term and of the type of machine comes from American cartoonist Rube Goldberg, who drew images of complex machines which did simple tasks, they were amusing and on occasion made political comments. Across the pond in England we have Heath Robinson, he also drew complex and fantastical machines which predated Goldberg's, To describe something as ‘Heath Robinson’ suggest a repair or piece of machinery which was created using ingenuity and whatever was to hand.  Now how exactly this relates to my project is to me obvious, art works and sculpture opposes pure functionality, so a device which is unnecessarily complicated for the purpose of intrigue is evidently a piece of art. I want my final piece to explore the link between art and function so a work of art which has a convoluted function would be effective.

Kinetic and Interactive Art

Kinetic Art

Kinetic art is a blanket term, similar to ‘flat stuff’, it relates to any piece of art form any medium which contains movement perceivable by the viewer or depends on motion for its effect. The first kinetic art was painted work like that of Boccioni which looked like it was moving but was in fact stationary, these days the term relates to 3D work which move in a literal sense, such as mobiles, environment powered works or machine power sculptures. Some kinetic work rely on the viewer to interact to achieve functionality, this is engaging and unusual in the art world because the interaction between work and viewer is direct and tangible. It’s possible to segregate art which looks like they’re moving and is in fact moving, virtual art is work which appear to move, apparent works actually move. Kinetic art had its origins in the impressionist movement when Monet, Manet and Degas all started to paint in a style which accentuated movement. There are two major reasons I want to create an apparent kinetic art piece for my final design idea, firstly it is an intriguing media which lend to my themes and the concepts I wish to depict and secondly it is a new avenue for me as an artist which will mean I can try genuinely new things.

Interactive Art

Interactive Art interests me greatly the idea that the spectator become part of the art take art on step further than just being something you experience in a detached way but instead in a way that you become part of it. The work takes the focus away from the artist and put it on the viewer they become part of the art and allow it to achieve its purpose. Most interactive art is in the form of installations whereby the observer or visitor can walk in, on or around the instillation an example of this is the 2007 Tate modern instillation where slides were put in the turbine hall and visitors could directly interact by sliding down them. What I like about installation art is that it is a rapidly growing and developing medium because of its tight links to technology it is evolving and changing more than any other medium in present day art.

The Turning Point

In the middle of this paragraph I will reach  fourteen thousand words towards this project, before the sunsets on my fine art A-level I’ll have probably written twice that (sorry). But this is the point in the project where I make my turning point, I’ve written about four artists in detail and nine more loosely, I’ve looked and dozens of works and covered three questions, I’ve come up with several design ideas and I’ve explored numerous avenues. My design Ideas were meant as four options, I’d pick one and progress, but is that true refinement? For each of my designs I’ve found the cusp of what makes it exciting and interesting and I think it shows more refinement to take that single good element and combine it into one mantra for my final piece. I want to move away from how I normally work and I want to spend the second half of my project looking at more artists and trying out more things so that at the end of the process I have a single excellent, refined and well developed final piece.

To describe my final design theres a long story and a short story, read whichever you wish.

The Long Story

Medium

I’ve looked at several mediums and in the development process of my final piece I’ll explore more to find the best suited to my idea. But I’m not going to avoid the obvious truth that my final piece is likely to be an example of multimedia assemblage. How can it not be? It’s what I do best, all the work I’ve done up to this point has elegantly proved that although I’m not a one trick pony I do one trick better than any other.

The concept

I want to create a work about the relationship between my art and engineering, this links to the question, makes the work personal to me and links to my underlying theme. My design idea Inken Cities looks at urbanisation into nature and my work on apocalyptic artists looks at the relationship between artists and technology. So for my final design I want to explore the idea that technology and engineering is surpassing artistry. For me the whole point of art is to do something for its own sake, it doesn’t need a purpose it’s just about creating something interesting for entirely selfish needs, machinery always has a function art doesn’t. The repurposing of a book in my POW escape kit prompted the idea that I could use scrap objects, rejected technology and machinery and rebirth it as a piece of functionless art. Making my skull I used waste products to create art and this idea can take the satiristic twist I used in my POW kit to use discarded machinery and technology to create a piece of art. The satire is that I’m mocking the fact that maybe one day I’ll be replaced by a 3D printer by using other pieces of machinery to create art, I’m taking objects with a function and using them for art. By repurposing junk I’m explore the relationship between humanity and lifeless object which I looked at in my apocalyptic artist and showing not only how fleeting that relationship is but how as an artist I have a purpose because I’m making something out of discarded objects.

The Piece

The final piece itself will be a collection of scrap objects, pieces of machinery and outdated technology that come together to create something visually interesting. I want the whole work to be kinetic, I want it to move because that separates it from my previous static works. I want the work to be created from object that used to have a practical everyday function and I want to morph them into an object which only function is to be a piece of art.

The Links

This idea links to every piece of work I’ve done so far for this project, because this idea was born from the research and exploration I’ve already done. This work links to Andrew Wyeth because I accept I can’t paint like Wyeth but I can strive to create a work as meaningful and deep as his. It links to Giles walker because I’ll use scrap and found object which have been discarded by people to create a new piece of meaningful art. This idea links to Da Vinci’s sketchbooks because I will use the beauty of mechanical forms to create an aesthetically beautiful work. Most obviously it links to the work of Theo Jansen because I want to create a piece of work which moves and intrigues and I want to create something which is both engineeringly amazing and artistically, just like his strand beasts.

I have done four design Ideas and take an aspect from each and blended them into this final design. My POW escape kit influence this project because the repurposing I used in that has inspired my idea to create a final piece made of repurposed objects. My mosaic waste product skull looks at the use of discarded objects to create something beautiful and that’s what I aim to do in the final piece. Inken Cities looked and the interplay between people and urbanisation, this work will take that further and look at the relationship between artists and technology. Finally in my post EMP artist idea I explored what a bare bones artist would look like and I thought about what an artist would do if the world as we knew it ended, the world as we know it is changing every day because of technology so in this piece I can explore where the modern artisan stand in the face of modern engineering.

Of course I’ve taken this project on a merry jaunt to the bare extremes of my question ‘Relationships’ but this idea explore the relationship between my art and the engineering and creative processes which go into its production. The underlying problem with all my design ideas is they lacked a personal to me aspect which I was really passionate about but this idea lets me combine my passion for making things I had as a child and the great transition  I’ve made from wanting to invent thing to have a purpose and improve the world to want to make art which improve the world by being interesting and meaningful.

The Short Story

I’m going to create a work of assemblage made of scrap and discarded pieces of machinery and technology. This work will be kinetic and will take object which have a everyday function and give them a single function of being a piece of art. It will look at the relationship between artists and technology and explore my personal transition between making things for a function and making things for art.

The Really Short Really Refined Story

I’m going to make a big-ass sculpture which will move and mean… many things.

Design Idea - Apocalypse Soon

The world didn’t end in 2012, and 2012 (the film) didn’t end the never ending stream of  apocalypse films and TV shows. Theres so many films about the end of the world I think we can all agree we don’t need the world to end to appreciate what it would be like. Theres many things that seem to be probable causes for the end of the world; global warming, freak weather, solar flares, earthquakes… South Koreans. However the one I find most interesting is the possibility of a global or localised EMP attack, an EMP is an electromagnetic pulse which would completely destroy all electrical devices. Now I find the idea of this extremely interesting, because at the moment I’m typing this intro on an Iphone app, and then I’ll post it on a blog to hopefully be read by people on computers and smartphone. It’s hard to imagine life without any electrical devices, this whole project is about technology and engineering and its relationship to humans which is seemingly symbiotic. For this design idea I create a model of a post-apocalyptic artist, I wanted to explore the idea of an artist living in a dystopian future. If the world as we know it came to an end would there still be artists or would they be two busy scavenging for food and running from oppressors?. I didn’t want to answer this question because it would be too extensive so I created an artist free of all technology and living in a harsh post-EMP apocalypse. This work was inspired by Colby Vincent Edwards’ series ‘The 8^th Day’ but also influenced by the bleakness of Wyeth’s paintings and the creation methods of Giles Walker. If I wanted to continue with this design I would look at other artists who have works with themes of post apocalypse or who have looked at the relationship between technology and art and I would research doomsday preppers, people who prepare for the end of the worlds.

I created this work to explore the ideas of apocalypse inspired art and looking at the relationship between artists and technology. I started with an artist’s mannequin, the wooden things people are supposed to use to help them draw but actually just keep round to look decorative and then removed some parts of it. I took out the upper left arm, head and lower left leg, I made clothes, out of loose weave hessian material and hairy string and I replaced the missing parts with everyday objects. I wanted to depict a person who was well worn and tired looking, I liked the idea that the person was rebuilt out of scrap objects, the arm is an old key, the head is a collection of wood and metal and the peg leg comes from fire damaged wood. The model has an intentionally grungy style but is made to look like a realistic stripped back artist might look. The work was inspired by Colby Vincent Edwards’ series ‘The 8th Day’ but also influenced by the bleakness of Wyeth’s paintings and the creation methods of Giles Walker, I took elements from these 3 artists and combined them to create a strong piece.  I think the assemblage sculpture was highly effective it has a really good look to it but I think that as a theme for development it’s stunted. The idea of looking at a post-apocalyptic artist is good but hasn’t go the legs to be a basis for the whole project, what does have a lot of room for development is looking at the relationship between artists, technology and engineering. I think the exploration of this design Idea has prompted me to refine the progression of my project, instead of just looking at the relationship between art and engineering I will look at the relationship between artists and the use of their technology as well as how I use engineering in my sculptures. 

Design Idea - Wasted Skulls

Skulls are powerful symbolism and something I’ve dabbled in before, I like the idea of creating a series of skulls in a variety of mediums. I would like to look at the hidden side of creation, I want to make art from the waste products of production. Everything that is made in a factory comes with a degree of waste, these days it’s recycled and all is well in the grand scheme of thing but theres still waste. My idea is to make a series of skulls out of modroc and plaster all from the same mould and then encrust them with the waste products of manufacture. When I say waste products I mean off cuts and misshapen pieces all the little bits of material that are wasted when making things. The idea came to me when I was thinking about Giles walker's work and how I could interrupt it in my own way, I always wanted to look at the idea of using a skull as an emotive life study similar to the work of Wyeth. I just happened to have two large jars full of glass tile offcuts so I used them as my first waste material, I used a polystyrene head as a mould and built a skull cap cast out of modroc. Once I had a well-shaped skull cap I built in the mask and jaw then painted the whole thing to seal it. From a personal aspect making skulls is something I’ve done a few time before and am determined to improve on. If I continue on with this design idea I’d better research the shapes and construction of skulls and I’d look into an variety of waste products in varying materials like rubber, wood and pottery.

I created a skull out of modroc and encrusted it with glass fragments to create a work which explored the idea of using waste material to create art. My research into Giles walker strongly influenced this piece because like this work this exploration uses scrap material to create art, also I’m trying to explore the relationship between life and art which is well documented in Theo Jansen’s work. I had to do a little research into skulls to make sure I had an accurate form and I got to practise using modroc to create complex shapes. My modroc skull had a few minor collapses and cave ins but by using filling techniques I could overcome this. The uneven and rough surface of modroc along with its strength lend itself to this piece, I considered using other mediums like cardboard as a base but these mediums lacked the rigidity of modroc. Modroc’s texture and rough finish lent itself to adhering the glass fragments and to offering a realistic effect. I think this sculpture was successful, the overall aesthetic is effective and it links well to the ideas I wanted to explore however in future I would want to improve the mould and shape of my skull to make it realistic. My piece lacks details and is far from an accurate scale all things I would want to address If I went further. I have learnt that modroc isn’t the best material for sculpture, it’s expensive, hard to mould smoothly and brittle, although suited to this piece in future I will use other mediums. I have enjoyed using scrap materials to create art, using refuse and recycling it is excellent both aesthetically and ethically so I would want to continue this idea in future work for this project.

Design Idea - The book is Mightier than the Sword

A wise man once said that necessity is the mother of creation, he was only partly right. War is the mother of invention, its well documented that the greatest leaps in technology and medicine come about during wartime. Why is this? War tend to prompt urgency and both sides are trying very hard to either cause or avoid death. Now war is also a hotbed for art, various conflicts have prompted some of the greatest works of art ever. Both things in mind for this design Idea I explore war and invention in my own arty way. Instead of war as a whole I looked at POW escape kits, I’ve seen a lot of documentaries about the creative ways which the British government sent escape equipment to POWs. I was torn with this idea which angle of war to look at, whether to be satirical or serious, pro or anti-war, so I decided to do all at once, just like in popular American sitcom M*A*S*H. I research the sort of things that went into escape kits and came up with some ideas of my own. What to contain my escape kit in was obvious, the whole point was for it to look inconspicuous so I did the classic idea of hiding it in a book. I happened to have a very old compilation of Wordworths poems hanging around and decided it would be the perfect base for my kit I was planning to hollow out the pages but that far more difficult and laborious than you may think. Instead I replaced the pages with a box frame then painted the edges to look like pages. I won’t mince words I really enjoyed making this model for this design idea however I don’t really feel it relates well to my themes or question. This work link to my research into Da Vinci because it a piece of art where the elements as a collection are greater than the sum of the parts, much like his sketchbooks, and it links to the inventiveness and wit of Theo Jansen. I’d hoped to look at the relationship between warfare and invention however I think there are more fruitful avenues to take. That being said if I do continue with this design idea I would further research war artists, POW camps and military gadgetry.

Prison Of War Kit Inventory

Sterilised Surgical Needles for first aid

Microfiche of travel documents, permits and maps

Orders Envelope

Cork for making a compass with a magnetised need or for containing beverages

Magnifying lens for starting fires, enlarging microfiche and looking at small things

Needles for sewing, making compass

Roll of cotton for surgical or textile sewing

Paper String for strangulation, restraint and parcels

Pills assortment, aspirin (white), cyanide (red), penicillin (blue), anti-depressants (green) – Colours may vary

Dice for gambling with German/fellow inmates

Gold star for bartering with peasant girls, impersonating an officer

Lead Pencil for writing notes, planning escapes, collating memoirs

Trip/Garrotting wire, for tying between trees

Liquid Solvent for adhering or inhaling

Key (to open cell door)

Small Camouflage Material  for deception

Small Leather Change purse, prevents change rattling when running away from Germans

Coins for tossing or spending

Small Portable Window for seeing out of buildings

Penknife, for stabbing, cutting and trimming of facial hair#

Postcard to send to loved ones post-escape

Of all the pieces I’ve created so far for this project this is one of my favourites, I had the idea to create POW escape kit rattling round my brain but it only came to flourishion when I saw a little book of Wordsworth poems to use as a receptacle. I’ve seen the great escape enough times on boxing day to know about escaping a POW camp, based on my limited historical knowledge I collected and made objects to put in the book box, a list of which is above. My research into Da Vinci influenced this as well as looking into the creativeness of The Jansen, to actually make the book box I employed techniques I learned in making my own Da Vinci Style Sketchbook. I feel this study was one of my most successful so far because it is visually interesting, meaningful and as well as being well thought out and powerful it’s got a little bit of wit and humour too it. the problem is that I feel some people will question to what extent it shows artistic skill. One of the best elements of the piece is the reuse and repurposing of a old book into something more artistic. This piece had very interestingly explored a concept but brought up two things I find intriguing and would like to develop, the elements of satire I employed within the work and the repurposing of an old unloved object. These two elements are the most intriguing and have the most room to develop from this piece, from a media and technique point of view this piece is very much in my style, it’s a collection of object which as individuals are uninteresting and meaningless but are as a whole a piece of powerful art. In this project I am as I have in the past leaning towards an idea of creating a piece of assemblage. 

Design Idea - Inken Cities

I've been doing art a few years now and I've found my niche, but also I think sometimes I need to branch out and try new things. One of my design ideas is to explore city scapes in 2D mediums, I know this is unimaginative based on the fact my whole last project revolved around cities. Looking at the drawings of Da Vinci I appreciated the great skill it must take to draw such detailed images in ink. On a cold drizzly afternoon I did a little experimentation with a small brush and yellow, blue and red ink and did some doodle to explore ink as a drawing medium. I found it hard to get crisp fine lines like the kind in the sketchbooks of Da Vinci so I went off message and started doing abstract flowing lines instead. After a little experimentation I was left with what appeared to be a woman straddling a burning tree with no arms, at this point I immediately abandoned figure drawing. Instead I create a little city scape framed by rolling hills, a flat sea and a sun setting sky. Having travelled all over the world to a lot of cities I always find theres parks and gardens to bring in nature to the urban abyss. It could make a very interesting final piece to explore the relationship between nature and urban environments. This would link well to my question and it would explore my theme of machinery, all be it in a residential format. This work was inspired by Da Vinci at first but embraces a more impressionistic feel as I developed my use of ink, If I carry on with this design idea I would look and skylines and painters. My issues with this design is it moves away from doing what I really love which is sculpture and it might be unwise to use a medium I’m not very skilled in.

I wanted to do at least one piece for this project that is traditional artistic flat mediums, and my idea to look at engineering in cities and how it relates to nature and social relationships was well suited to ink drawings. This work was inspired by Da Vinci in regards to its medium but it’s subject is one I've researched extensively in the past. I wanted to look at the interplay between nature and urbanisation and to explore the most common engineering feats; urban settlements. The work wasn't wonderfully successful, I achieved a good visual effect but didn’t demonstrate a massive amount of skill, I used a variety of brushes to create the image out of ink and then used watercolour markers to pick out detail, high and low lights. To finish off the piece I sprayed it with a UV spray which blended the colours and gave it a shiny finish like a photo graph or acrylic painting. It is not so much what I have learnt but what I have reaffirmed from this piece which will influence the future of my work, I am greater gifted in 3D than artist mediums with one less dimension, for the remained of this project I’ll stick to mainly sculpture and assemblage however I will still do some drawings in various mediums to support my work. Part of this work was to explore urban engineering, buildings and the urbanisation of the world, with this in mind what I’ll take form this idea is to look at how engineering and technology is starting to permeate every facet of modern life. 

Evaluation of Da Hoadley's Sketchbook

I did a large series of technical drawings of various engineering concepts I have knowledge of, after doing this I boud all these images to create a sketchbook like manuscript similar to the sketchbooks of Leonardo Da Vinci I have researched earlier in this project. The intention of this series of work was to explore the methodology of Da Vinci whilst also showing and developing my preexisting knowledge of engineering and mechanical concepts. I also wanted to practise technical drawing a skill I may need to use again at later stage in this project, although i’m not best suited to drawing it is a necessary skill, unfortunately. This work was inspired by the research I did into Da Vinci but the knowledge displayed within the book came from my memory and is based on things I’ve been taught or learned through research in my earlier life. I feel the work work was successful in that it fulfilled its purpose, however I think that my lack of drawing skill drag down the quality of work and meant it didn't look as engaging or authentic as I could have hoped. In the future I plan to continue to use a vintage aged look in my works but I will avoid the more two dimensional mediums. My next step will be more artist studies and evaluation followed by design ideas.