Author: Maia

Treats no child wants. The brief I stated required that I create sculptures that provoke the opposing emotions, Interested and disgusted. I’ve made lollipops of all materials, using cardboard, clay, melted lollipops, and of course lollipops. I’ve made a treat that no one wants, at first glance, it looks like a Tasty treat, a second closer look, you realize half of them are non-digestible.

Using these materials I created fake or faulty lollipops, This was a really enjoyable process, thinking about texture, what the possible mixtures I could create and what possible materials I can use. The melted lollipops came out with a beautiful clump of mess, when you bite into it it was ‘soft’ and crunchy at the same time, I loved the outcome! I wish I could have made more! Faulty lollipops were a basic idea that I enjoyed, using the combinations of broken pieces, lollipops that’s already been bitten in or simply just having no wrapper, I created lollipops that no one wants to eat in its most simplest form. Cardboard lollipops the material was the first idea that came to mind due to the natural texture it gives, I’m happy, its nothing revolutionary, it does the job. Clay lollipops is my favourite material to work with, the amount of textures I could create with it was exciting, it was easy material to manipulate, I just wish I could make more with time. If I could continue this idea further i would have painted it colours to make it look moldy, (Sadly all my paints are in class) an inspiration taken directly from Kathleen Ryan, it would be a fun challenge to create mold on something that can’t.

Potential materials I could have used, edible foods like a slice of a banana, possibly moldy for texture, frozen liquid, basically foods. The endless possibilities of using foods. If I had more time I would done that, sadly most of my time was dedicated to catching up to meet the brief. (yes I realized my mistake)

Presentation:

I decided to record myself and focus on the sound these lollipops create after I bite down on them, I feel that this was great way of presenting my work as it generated the emotions of disgust and interest and it fulfills the purpose of the objects. I like how you have a good sense of which lollipop I’m biting down on, even if I don’t show it, The sounds the different materials generate are interesting as they all sound completely different, some are soft, crunchy or thin. I would love to see the potential in more materials like (as I have stated before) Ice, banana (not moldy) etc.

I was relating heavily on the Material Assemblage brief, as I started the idea of using lollipops/ food in that brief. I Learnt the importance of textures and how given a different context the original purpose of an object can alter, from the digital brief and deciding to present it in a way that’s linked to the ‘one minute sculpture‘ brief, by using my body, (something I didn’t consider until I revised the work I generated). I feel I’ve connected all the lessons that we were taught to get to this point. I’ve learnt a lot from trial and error, generating ideas outside of the box and looking at objects in a new perspective, the idea of ‘what is art?’ and ‘what is a sculpture?’ now has depth to the questions, as I have had to try and answer that question nearly everyday for a month. My ‘Treat no child wants’ is a good ending to what I’ve learnt, I do feel I could have developed more from this idea, but regardless, I’m happy with what I created.

Over the past few weeks we have been exploring the full potential of materials, how to manipulate objects to fulfill a new purpose, It has opened my mind to the possibilities of what art is and can be.

Introduction: I want you to create sculptures that give the opposing emotional reaction, interested and disgusted, whether the emotion is brought out by simply looking at the sculpture or interacting with it, I want you to give the audience confusing contradicting emotions. Kathleen Ryan brings these two emotions out using texture, color and the range of materials she uses. Highlighting the natural process of rotting fruits, she turns something people tend to try and avoid into an art piece they cant look away from.

Question: In the art world we are too comfortable, artists are recreating pieces prioritizing only a positive emotion, therefore only recreating artworks that make people happy. We tend to repeat the same version of ‘beauty, Is there more to art then what looks nice? I want to push the boundary of ‘what is worthy of your attention?’.

Process: Use everything and anything, Materials of all kinds are welcome, solid, liquid, gas, Digital, etc. but make sure that it is cheap or scrap, do not break or do irreversible change to an object of value, The focus is about using a range of materials of all kinds to provoke opposing emotional reactions.

Erwin Wurm

Erwin Wurm has been creating one minute sculptures since 1988 ( According to tate.org link bellow) He had created and documented hundreds of sculptures using willing participants, objects such as sticks, chair, table, clothing , food etc. His one minute sculptures consist of balance, weight, teamwork, restrictions, basically interacting with an objects in a way that contradicts its original purpose. We as an audience look at his work and ask, ‘what is the full potential of an object?’ ‘can ordinary objects be considered art?’ and ‘what is art, what is a sculpture?’

https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/wurm-one-minute-sculptures-p82013

Sandy Skoglund

Sandy Skoglund is an American artist and photographer who has been creating colourful work since the late 1970’s, using animals, set designs, food and people. The creativity stemming from all of her art pieces are out of this world, often swapping the narrative, for example ‘Revenge of the Goldfish’ fishes retaliating from their restricted bowl, you have a real sense of protest against humans and what they have built. I love the childhood perspective, contrasting colours and overall narrative, the worlds that she continues to create are images of long forgotten dreams, she captures the mind of an a imaginative child perfectly, her creations generate the question ‘how far can I go to manipulate a room?’

Judy Darragh

Don Driver

Studson Studio

I was inspired by Studson studio, an artist on YouTube who creates miniature sculptures out of scrap pieces of all kinds, he is inspired by video games, movies and TV shows that he enjoys. In the Howl’s Moving Castle video he used a toy which he broke up in specific pieces, it gave me the idea to use the scraps of board game and think outside of the box. In the Spirited Away video we watch him create the iconic building with a tissue box, this cost saving thinking gave me the ability to look at all the objects I had and see what bigger potential they had.

Isaac Cohen

Issac Cohen’s loves to create experimental digital art, The use of contrasting colours, textures and environment he creates is a new look into what is possible with the technology we have. Interested in philosophy, Buddhism and spirituality he’s driven by images out of this world.

Kevin Mack

Kevin Mack is a VR artist, Using  Zen Parade, Blortasia, and ​Anandala he is able to create new worlds, the fluidity of his work is captivating, the colours used is psychedelic. His creations are inspired by gods, churches, saints, ancient temples etc.

I manipulated the goblin into a gross mess, adding textures new body parts I wanted him to be ugly, a complete slobber of a mess, I then mirrored it and stacked it onto each other. I really like the colours that contrast, gives you some sort of idea for what you’re looking at.

Using the manipulated goblin I merged it with a cat that I cut in half. The goblin mess looks like guts which I find so interesting, if I give it a new environment and new context the meaning of the object has completely altered, from goblin to cat guts. I added a body within to show that merging duality through contrasting colours.

This art piece gives me a Halloween look, the colours and what i’m portraying is inspiring to me.

I really love the direction i’m going with! I’ve finally gotten some direction that I’m understanding. The colours I’ve used Is my favourite part. Using a truck, tree and half of a shuttlecock I was able to create this. (edit: the truck sculpture crashed and i’m unable to use it)

I’m not interested in merging a lot of objects, merging two to three objects is the direction that i’m happy to continue with. (I’m really sorry but I am unable to import the sculptures into Artsteps because my file is too big! )

(added to fit the criteria)

Using 5 objects I combined a wrench, lighthouse, rose, table and tree. it was boring so i decided to continue my idea of ugly, I manipulated the objects to make it look acidic.

My second idea was to combine the credit card, couch, ladybug, pillory and rubix cube. definitely my favorite, I manipulated it more this time around letting myself see what sticks. I get a real sense of chaotic lounge, the colours pop, the lady bug towers over everything looking like a lamp, we have the main piece which is the ripped couch with a manipulated rubix cube. I love how nothing makes sense in this!

I’m combining the works so that all of my 15 objects are in the piece, I wanted to see how far I can take this mess.

This reminds me of the 2003 film Cat in the Hat, when everything has gone wrong and the box opened to reveal colours of all kind. I love it so much, I tried to use the full potential of the program once I finally understood how to use it, its so chaotic, If I wanted to change it i would manipulate it to be more acidic, ‘ugly’, ‘clumpy’, regardless Im really happy with the results!

Kathleen Ryan

Based in New York city, Kathleen Ryan is an artist who sculpts ‘grotesque’ works in the most beautiful way. Her art works makes you want to look away and stare at it for hours, her range of materials used to create her art works consist of beads, concrete, cast iron, carved marble, stones, bowling balls, car piece, wheelbarrow etc. the list goes on. I’m captivated by the opposing emotions it effects me with.

Arlene Shechet

Considered a Veteran Sculpture, this New York based artist essentially ‘shape shifts’ her work to defy weight. Using a range of materials like wood, concrete and clay she creates abstract art. To me its very interesting in the way she portrays unpredictability through the texture and shapes she uses, the different types of art work she creates is very inspiring.

Objects I’ve downloaded. Completely random, I don’t want to stick to a theme, I want it to be completely chaos.

Edit: all in pink downloaded to meet the list I will combine if i have time to do so.

Little progress creating, merging, I like the direction I’m going with, I don’t fully understand what I’m doing, I guess that’s apart of the progress.

I have no Idea what I’m creating, but I really like the direction i’m going. I hope to merge the objects and globber of a mess together to create a complete mesh of an art work.

I usually hate digital art, I’m not a fan of creating online only due to lack of practice. Digital sculpture is very interesting to me, although i’m struggling, I only need to familiarize myself with the program with time.

I wanted to create an absolute ugly mesh of a mess, I couldn’t care less the end result, more for understanding the program itself.

The Idea was to create a head from a sphere, couldn’t fully figure it out, gave up and wanted it to be a colorful mess. I wanted this to ‘fit’ together, I would modify the animals, make it bigger, smaller, turn their necks, its interesting the amount of options we are given, good second try, I’m getting more familiar.

Another try after understanding the program more. Stacking objects turning and twisting.

Trying out more textures and patterns. I still have no Idea what I’m doing but having fun. My next step is to add more parts, I really want to incorporate food into future Digital sculptures.

Continuing on the food idea, I saw the amount of lollipops I had, wanted to create a bigger lollipop, If I could continue this idea I would have joined them together, properly, through melting and added more edible materials as it dosent fully fit the criteria.

My materials consisted of :

Plastic, broken Vase, glue (mod podge, double sided tape, ducktape) ribbon, plasic from the game board ‘Who is it?’ cardboard and clay.

I started with the blue house, I notices the ‘who is it’ mini game board looked like doors, I wanted to create a village from that Idea, I created the blue house, the ‘apartment’ and the carboard roof house. using cardboard and plastic as the roof and gates, borken vase as the walls and the teared down ‘who is it’ board game and see through ribbon as the doors while using the clay, modpodge and double sided tape as the glue.

The architectual creativity I allowed myself to rely on to create ‘buildings’ really allowed me to see these materials in a new light. Having no previous idea of how to create a sculpture I came up with the idea to make a miniture village, Im really happy with what ive created, the blue house is my favourite due to the complex artchitecture it came with creating it. If i had to change it, I would add two more buildings to it to fit the criteria.

I was supposed to create 5 -10 scuptures using atleast 5 differet materials. I feel that I couldn’t add more, Ive gain a new perspective to this brief and am happy with what ive created.