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.