Thursday, January 30, 2014

"Untitled" Plastic Sculpture

The Theme for this project was: "Time, Material and the Everyday"
We were allowed to choose materials that could be: Found objects, hardware, mass-priduced objects or any other media as needed (film, video, sound, photography, any we could think of that would be necessary to complete this project).
The assignment was how "Modernity is defined by the rationalization and standardization of the manufacturing process. As products of modernity we have become a society of consumers. Go into any "big-box store" and you will find large cases of bargain goods to purchase at a reduced rate. Rarely do we walk into a store and realize that the way aisles are planned out and displayed are done deliberately to please the eye and seduce us into purchasing these items we originally didn't intend to buy. As artists we can use the strategy of accumulation and repetition to investigate formal experience and/ or to investigate consumer ideology."
The assignment was quite simple. We had to use at least 1,000 of the same item. 
Questions we had to keep in mind:
-How does this piece touch the world? does it sit on the floor? hang from the ceiling? Hover in mid air?
-Where does this work belong? in a gallery? prison? Grandma's Backyard? Outer space?
-What kind of materials are available to you? what do those material mean?
How do you best connnect the material you have chosen? Adhesives or mechanical connection? Do your objects balance on one another?
-Is the connection between your 1,000+ objects formal or conceptual? Do all objects look the same? Are they all the same color? Do they all start with the letter Z?
-How does your viewer experience the work? is your work confrontational or passive?
-Does your work last forever or only for a brief moment?
I haven't named this piece, yet. I believe it should be well thought of and something clever; rather than title it without any true significance or meaning behind it. The feedback I received on this piece was very positive and interesting. 
Some of my fellow classmates knew immediately the ocean was involved. They also like the idea that a political aspect of this sculpture was noticeable. Most didn't see it as political at all, but rather as a true piece of art. Some mentioned the movement of the piece was alive, and could feel the ocean moving through the piece. The exposed chicken wire wasn't bothersome to most, and to those it did said it was because it resembled a "net"
My Professor, Ms. Elliott thought this piece was successful in the fact that it was clever enough to be broad in its meaning. "The more you look at it, the more you can realize the impact and our use of plastic has on the ocean."
She also mentioned that because it is a "pretty" piece, maybe people wouldn't be able to "feel bad" about the plastic that consumed and has become a sea fan. 
I was truly pleased with the feedback and critiques. I was able to see what worked and what needs improvement. This piece took me well over 20 hours. I can honestly say, that with the time period I was given the piece turned out great! I am very happy with the results....and luckily IT STANDS ON ITS OWN! Which was something I feared, while creating the piece. I'm also glad no one viewed this as "activist art" because my goal isn't to PREACH about change, its to spread awareness, in a positive manner, and let people know that this occurring phenomenon is NOT a DOOMED one, and we CAN change it by simply viewing plastic with value rather than useless. 

Plastic is an amazing creating, we just need a solution to control and modify the amount and our use of it....
That's it in a nutshell. 

Voila!
Hope you enjoy!
:) 
"Untitled"
Jan. 2014
36x32


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