When making this work, I didn’t want to have the restrictions of a gallery space. So, taking my knowledge I had learned over the brief, I took my work outside the walls and onto a virtual (real) site. I was pushed to think outside of the restrictions of a physical space, as gravity, cost and materials weren’t a factor. However, I did have some limitations with the programmes I was using. For example, I really wanted to have my sculpture’s move and be interactive for the viewer.

I think that by building the sculptures on a large scale around the viewer, really takes you into the world, immersing you in it. The boundaries between subject and object’s were blurred as you almost became a part of the world. The audio also helps to increase the verisimilitude of this fantasy environment. From my research on VR, our other senses such as audio and even our breath and heartbeat, are vital to increasing the reality of the artwork and help to blur the lines between what we perceive as real and fake.

https://www.artsteps.com/view/6164de0a006350a25708ac22?currentUser

We Live In An Ocean Of Air is a virtual, multi sensory, immersive installation by collaborators Natan Sinigaglia and Mileece I’Anson. The installation blurs the boundaries between the subject and object, aiming to reveal the invisible relationship between viewer and the forest. The artists utilise not only VR, but a physical site and heart and breath sensors as well.

https://phi.ca/en/events/we-live-in-an-ocean-of-air/

Explore the relationship between the subject and the object in your next body of work through a virtual gallery experience. How much you can blur the lines of separation between the two? Rather than looking at the object, how can the viewer be fully immersed in it?

To achieve this virtual installation use the programmes Meshmixer and Arts Steps. Also think about using Pro tools to create an audio for your exhibition, further combining the viewer and the art. Although, there will be limits to what you can create using these programmes. Try to think outside of the enclosed gallery space!

Present the work through a virtual exhibition made on ArtSteps which can be accessed through a blog post.

Overall, I really enjoyed entering into the world of virtual art making. I think by putting my pieces into a gallery space, you really get a sense of their place and solidity. Being able to walk around my sculptures and view them from multiple angles was very important. Having them all together in a space adds cohesiveness and a sense of story. If you walk around the exhibition anti-clockwise you will see a slow progression of ideas around growth, constraint and organic transformations. I was very inspired by my physical sculptures last week, so a lot of my ideas crossed over into the virtual realm.

https://www.artsteps.com/view/61636d740c4a32960bef2ddd

Digital artist Isaac Cohen’s work really stood out to me when looking through the Museum of Other Realities (MOR). I was immediately drawn in to the organic, cell like creations he had made. However, the more I looked, the more I was drawn in to the layout of his exhibition. He has truly created another reality, exploiting the lack of gravity, and where space and materials have no restrictions. MOR wrote, “IM || MATERIA was born out a desire to tell a story with a simulation, using different organic creatures.” I have always been interested in incorporating organic life and matter into my artworks, and so I was very inspired by Cohen’s work as he combines digital with life.

Kevin Mack

As seen by the difference in the two images above both depicting the same exhibition Devalaya Rupanam, Kevin Mack’s virtual sculptures shape shift and transform. Although I don’t have the skills to make my virtual sculptures animated, his art got me thinking about how my sculpture’s might move and transform if they could. How would the objects move around and interact with each other? Or how would they move in space? I really like the fluidity of Mack’s works.

His sculptures have personalities and individual behaviours, which he has cleverly thought out. They really come to life. Not only has he designed his sculptures but the gallery spaces too, building whole worlds unconstrained by the physics of our earthly reality.

http://www.kevinmackart.com/anandala.html

For this sculpture I just played around with different ways of combining objects. I took inspiration from my sculptures last week, choosing objects of bodily forms (torso), containment (ribcage), nature (tree) and sharp vs soft (swords).

For this sculpture I wanted to create a more effective cohesiveness between objects. This meant using the sculpting tools to create softer shapes and joints between objects. I was once again inspired by my sculptures last week and the idea of containing bodily, organic objects.

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Here is a first practice using Meshmixer. I found it quite difficult to use but I think I am getting the hang of things.

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Once again, I was interested in exploring the idea of containment with my assemblages. For this piece I sewed different bits of stocking together to create a larger area of containment. The lines created between the different fabric edges create an interesting effect once stretched out. It creates a sense of materials coming together to implement restriction.

For this piece I was interested in the way the wax fell against a different surface. Unlike last time, this sculpture sits on the ground.

Because I only had red wax, I took my photos into photoshop to change the drip colour. I think it worked well without explicitly suggesting the idea of bleeding however, I think the colour red was more visually striking.

After putting the skewers in I felt it looked too much like a potato. So I took them out. I like how you can subtly see the bumps and lumpiness of the piece through the stretching of the fishnet stocking.

From my previous assemblages I decided to explore further ideas around bodies, containment and hard vs soft.

Body

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For this piece I was very interested in suggesting a body or figure in a non-figurative way, instead through materials.

I started out using clay from my garden to create this organic shape on topi of a rock I found. I then added the stocking’s over the top. I think this immediately adds an exciting element to the clay. The stocking makes it look extremely fleshy and skin-like. It also means you can no longer see the division between the clay and the rock, bringing them together and containing them. The net over top makes it look like whatever is inside is being restricted and cannot move or grow.

I then added the skewers. They help make the sculpture look even more squishy and skin like as they pierce the fleshy surface. Their sharp, straight edges create an interesting contrast to the softness of the sculpture. I added the pearls and silver chain to even further suggest the idea of figure and body wearing jewellery, except in a much more peculiar way.

I felt like the sculpture was missing something so I added the red fabric underneath making the sculpture appear to wear clothes. However, I think it distracts from the bodily, squishy appearance of the sculpture which is why I prefer it without.

Hard vs Soft

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For this sculpture I was interested in the relationship between hard and soft materials. I started by filling two stockings with rocks and fabric to add weight and plumpness to the piece. I then stabbed the skewers inside. I wanted to further suggest the idea of softness and the affect the skewers have on this delicate surface by adding red wax to the pierced spots. This creates this oozing effect, almost as if the wax is seeping through the holes made by the skewers.

Below is the final result.

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I think it worked really well. My only criticism is that the stocking is very clear and especially wear the ladders in the stocking are you can clearly see the fabric inside. I think it would have been better to use something less distinguishable so you are left questioning what is inside. I might try to remake this one using clay inside instead.

Containing

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For this piece I focused on the idea of containing, restricting and the collecting of materials and objects. I found this netted bag and began filling it. I then randomly pulled out bits of fabric through the netting to suggest the fabric is trying to escape its restraint. At the bottom you can kind of make out the perfume bottle as it’s hard, sharp corner manipulates the netting. I am really enjoying using netting as clearly shows how it is being manipulated just by how wide or narrow its gaps are. The closer to the bottom, the wider the gaps get, showing the weight of the sculpture.