A few months ago I posted the following few paragraphs describing what my final piece would mean and how this concept had been formed from my project up to that point, as my project reaches its conclusion I will reevaluate what the final piece means. Below is the concept behind the work, the work which followed it and lead to the final piece developed the form and refine this idea...
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 objects which have an 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.
Many weeks later and I have a big-ass sculpture which means many things and moves. The sculpture is made from everyday objects which have a function and has allowed them to be reborn into a work of art which has the single function of being a piece of art. Like I had planned the work moved, makes noise and is the great assault on the senses I have ever created. I’m not going to lie the road that started with the question of ‘Relationships’ has been long and winding, its got more tangents than I care to mention and you may think the link is vague. I’ve in the past been told my projects are too linear, this project has reverted to another extreme, it's extremely wavy. However this final piece does look at the relationship between artists and technology and explore my personal transition between making things for a function and making things for art. When I was little I made things that worked but were not normally aesthetically pleasing, in this project I have tried to make a piece of art which functions as a mover of balls but also explores being visually interesting and the beauty within the forms of engineering.
I've explored a lot of different forms my final piece could take through experimentation and the making of other pieces. In the end I decided to make a rube goldberg style ball rolling machine because it was the perfect format for a visually interesting and meaningful piece. I looked at sheds, pinball machines, and several other different kinds forms my final piece could take but in the end I settled on the ball rolling machine because it set me both an aesthetic and technical challenge. One of the underlying themes in this project is me challenging myself, it would be both easy and fun for me to keep making dollhouses and doing the same kind of work however this would not facilitate growth as a person.
The main premises of this project is not dissimilar to works I have created in the past, I take pre existing objects and combine and adjust them into works of art. Because I did this I left myself more than a little open to not creating anything interesting or original. What has made this project more original is my desire to challenge myself, push my skill and the deep personal link this project has had. All of my past projects have had a personal element but for the first time I have created a work that explores my inner turmoil over moving from making things with a function to making art. Art has a function I do not doubt nor argue with this but its is clear to see the difference between a work of art and screwdriver, both have function but the difference is obvious.
That’s it, stop reading, I think I've said enough about what this work means, I believe discussing my own artwork is like dissecting a frog, nobody's that interested and the frog is dead. If you must keep reading then you can read about how this work is about my relationship with my grandad. When I was a small boy I used to watch my grandad work in his shed and I remember now how much I wanted to have my own shed and make things. I also wanted to live a long life and make things so by the time I die i’ll be halfway good at it. This project is a homage to the man who perhaps influenced my work more than any other, the irony is not lost on me that he probably didn't know a Van Gogh from a Rembrandt.I now have my own workshop/studio type thing and I spend most my life out there working on stuff and in the last two years of being an art student I have often thought about how I am doing what I love and getting a grade in it. All my art works are personal to me because I don't make them to get a grade or for the praise I receive, I do it because it's what I want to do and i’m not good at anything else.
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| Me as a small child back when I made proper things |
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| My workshop: Humble and Grubby |
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