I was inspired by Sarah Sze, a mixed medium artist based in America. Her work ‘Afterimage’, 2018, was a particular inspiration. It explores how “Images function as tools to make sense of the world”. The work discusses the collision of images we as humans process daily and how we remember them.
“Circling the circumference of the gallery, the constellations of images shift in scale, fade, disappear, re-emerge, creating a storyboard of how an image is burned into memory and persists over time.”
Her earlier sculpture works, such as ‘Seamless’, 1999, are a wonder of intricacy.
“Seamless 1999 incorporates functional, human-scale items, for example a ladder. Other handmade elements, such as tiny bridges made from matchsticks, use a scale that relates to fictional miniature worlds.”
When researching Sarah Sze, I came across a couple of other artists I liked the style of.
Robert H. Hudson
“After Wood” was found scrap steel. The metal had some feeling of wood grain or whatever. Just in painting it popped it out and made it look more like that. Every time it changes, or you look at it from a different perspective, so it’s something that you can look at over and over and over again and probably never see it in that same view. I was always working with balance point. I had to keep track of that and then put it together and paint it.” -https://americanart.si.edu/artist/robert-hudson-2341
Robert Hudson was initially inspired by ceramic arts, and used that to jump into making works that ‘blur the line’ between painting and sculpture. I really like his work because they are so visually striking. They look simple at first glance, but looking closer you discover the intricacies of the work. One thing I would take away from these works is the illusion Hudson uses to make one material look like another. I think disguising the materials is a really interesting technique and creates a cool look.
Jean Tinguely
“Tinguely developed his kinetic sculptures known as “metamatics” to explore the absurd side of humanity’s reliance on technology. ”
Narva, 1961
An assemblage kinetic sculpture made from old car parts. Materials include rubber, axels, and scrap metal.
Tinguely’s sculpture Narva is a beautiful assemblage sculpture that I find really interesting. Because of the nature of the parts I wouldn’t call this a beautiful sculpture, but the detail is stunning. The materials are the important part of this sculpture, along with its movement, and therefore are proudly what they are. Very similar to Sza in the way that the materials don’t hide what they are, and are cluttered but form a clean shape.
La Wilson
There is much to say about La Wilson and her sculptures. She started with painting, transitioning to sculpture early in her career. She collected things like a crow, always hunting.
” “I never set out to say something with a particular piece, I wouldn’t know how,” she once told GĂłmez. “I just take things I’m intrigued by; nothing is planned.” “
La Wilson’s work was playful, witty and meticulous. I am fascinated by her work, and Its a shame not much was written about her process. She seems to group objects, either by colour or material, or feeling. I love the attention to detail and especially in ‘retrospective’ the snapshots of materials used. Her style of assemblage is simple but stunning.
Love the way you allowed your research to spill out and incorporate other artists’ work. Not sure if you are using your own words or cut/paste but try to relate their work more clearly in your mind to assemblage.