Space + Materiality: Culture – Project 2: Abstract Artifact
Cultural object (that used as reference):
Shape Archive and development of ideas:
Prototype:
Final Piece:
Reflection:
(1) Describe your piece objectively, including the size, materials, and form. Be as accurate and specific as you can without explaining its meaning. Make sure to list your planar material, linear materials, and how you used (ply)wood.
As I look at my final piece, I notice that there is a combination of organic and geometric shapes that are made from cut pieces of MDF and Balsa, as well as foam core, colored paper, recycled sheet metal, and other found objects. The piece predominantly consists of circular forms that are either fully developed, such as the complete disk of recycled sheet metal, or partially formed, such as the foam core components that were cut into the shape of a ring. There are relatively thick and thin strips of pink paper that have been tucked, on both sides, into the tightly enclosed space between the two wooden borders of the circular embroidery frame. These pink paper strips are greater in length than the diameter of the frame, therefore they naturally curve over to create implied volume. Placed directly below this is another circular embroidery frame that instead has a pink embroidery string running through its center. Suspended on this cord are two rings that vary in thickness, material, and size. One is made from Balsa wood and is placed at the core of the arrangement. While the other is made from foam core and is larger than its balsa counterpart, and is thus able to maneuver around without making any contact.
(2) How is your piece an artifact of your cultural identity? Discuss your inspiration for the piece: what objects did you work from and how do they inform your cultural identity? Which formal qualities of your object(s) did you combine to create an abstract sculptural artifact? (your images from your archive pages should illustrate these points*).
The object I chose to reference for this project is my portable hairbrush, which was a gift from my mom when I was around eight or nine years old. Besides having convenient design features, such as a compact mirror and a foldable brush head, the hairbrush is reflective of both Western and Asian cultures. When I was given the object, my mom meant for it to facilitate my transition from toddler to tween and to serve as a reminder of my first ever visit to the original Sephora store in Manhattan. The sentimentality of the gesture is something I consider to be typically western, whereas the practicality of the purchase would be more pertinent to my Filipino heritage. Having portable amenities on hand can be perceived as being a typically Asian tradition, especially since cleanliness is considered to be a direct reflection of a person’s values and priorities. My Lola or grandmother, for example, has had the same hairbrush, clips and styling tools since the fifties, and therefore passing down the tradition of giving a hairbrush is evidence of a generational connection as well.
(3) Explain how you chose the materials to make your sculpture, and what information they give the viewer about your culture.
After taking some time examining my chosen object, I knew that I wanted to use a wide range of materials in order to allude to the multiplicity of the object. Originally, I was thinking of mostly using acrylic to show how the hairbrush is mostly made of plastic. However, I ended up opting for a more economic approach and let subtle details, like the hint of color, connect the hairbrush to its new abstract form. In all honesty, I chose to use MDF simply because it is usually more cost-effective than plywood. It also made for a stable ‘base’ as it was able to withhold the weight of the attached components. As for the found objects, each object I did chose to refurbish has some connection to either femininity, beauty, artistry, intricacy, or utility – all of which are also exhibited in the hairbrush to some capacity. These are qualities that are typically valued or publicly explored by both Asian and western cultures, and therefore insinuate the strong but often overlooked connections between my two main ethnicities.
(4) Describe the processes, skills, techniques, tools, and correctly list the joints/connections you used to make your project.
For this process, I had to get very creative with my methods of joining! Especially as tape and glue were strictly prohibited. To connect the recycled sheet metal to the balsa wood ring cut-out, I surrounded the metal disk with nails to hold it in place. I chose not to puncture holes into the metal as I was unsure of its thickness, composition, and overall limitations. Moreover, I used flat Phillips head wood screws to join either MDF with MDF or MDF with balsa wood. This meant having to use a hand drill to pre-drill a hole smaller than the screw, then replace the drill bit with a screwdriver end that is best suited for the screw I bought. Unfortunately, mostly relying on this joining method meant that certain wood pieces cracked under the pressure. Due to the time constraints, my teacher suggested that, instead of having to replace the whole wood unit, I could use embroidery thread and tightly would it around the cracked area. I did just that, and it both reinforced the structure and added an additional element of color.
(5) Explain how your sculptural artifact uses planes and lines to do each of the following 3 things:
- divide space, define space and engage space.
- Address both substance and negative space in your design.
- Include concepts and vocabulary introduced in class (see project sheet and reading).
I have always been interested in surfaces and the delimitation of shape. After further discussions during class, I discovered that linear contours are most effective at suggesting shapes and forms. So for this latest sculpture, I believe that I was somewhat able to suggest monumental forms by filtering excessive mass out of the equation.
The interplay between contour and surface motivated me to evolve from making solid shapes towards describing the outlines. This resulted in a visually interesting combination of both substance and negative space to suggest large mass in some areas, and minimal in others. I tried to imply volume by using a variety of lines and line densities in particular; thick and thin, long and short, etc. Lines suggest movement as well as that they describe space. By depicting or creating lines, one can suggest the presence of more than one virtual surface. Showing only delineation can result in linear sculpture – but also movement or direction alone.
(6) How did your understanding of 3D space evolve through the planning and making of this project?
- Describe the evolution of your project from prototype to finished sculpture.
- Include concepts and vocabulary introduced in class (see project sheet and reading).
This project began with everyone closely observing and identifying defining shapes that compose our chosen objects. Then, using this information to create a library or archive of both accurate and manipulated shapes. Personally, this process helped me generate or develop the preliminary idea(s), and feel more comfortable transitioning from representational to abstract. One of the best ways to I was able to gain insight about a potential concept or idea was to carry out some form of prototyping. This involved producing an early, inexpensive, and scaled-down version of my abstract sculpture in order to reveal any problems with the current design. Prototyping offered the opportunity to bring my initial sketches and outline of my idea to life, test the practicability of the current design, and to potentially investigate how artists from different disciplines (I.e. my classmates) think and respond to it. The feedback I received from both my peers and my teacher enabled me to build a more robust understanding of the potential problems that could have arisen had I continued using the processes and materials I initially intended to use. Eventually, after several hours spent experimenting and making in the N2 shop and at home (when safe and applicable), I was left with a finished abstract artifact.
(7) Discuss the context of your work: write about how your project relates to the work of 2 of the artists we discussed in class during the reading discussion, critique, or other class conversations. Hint: there is a list of artists on your project sheet that has been mentioned in class.
First artist inspiration:
Russian-American Sculptor, Designer, and Architect, Naum Gabo, created abstract sculptures that integrated principles from engineering and architecture into creative explorations. By incorporating moving parts into his sculptures, or static elements which strongly suggested movement, Gabo’s work stands at the forefront of a whole artistic tradition, Kinetic Art, which uses art to represent time as well as space. Gabo relates to my project because his work is conscious of movement and its relation to space, which are things I tried my best to constantly refer back to during the development of my project.
Second Artist inspiration:
To this day, Pablo Picasso is considered one of the greatest and most influential artists of the 20th century and, to some degree, the creator of cubism. Throughout his career, Picasso experimented with all sorts of materials: clay, metal, bronze, discarded objects, paper, and pieces of wood. Similarly, my project includes a fairly wide variety of unconventional materials that attempts to mimic the eccentricity of Picasso’s work. While Picasso’s paintings are well known to the public, few museums have displayed his sculptures completely independently. Pablo Picasso considered them as an integral part of his work, an active decor of his every-day life, almost in the same way my classmates and I perceive our chosen cultural objects. Many of his sculptures consist of both geometric and organic shapes, which correlates to the overall composition of my abstract sculpture.
(8) Reflect on one area where your craft is particularly strong and one thing that could be improved.
An area I felt was particularly well-crafted was my foam core circle cut-outs; in which I feel that I was able to find an efficient and clean method of cutting rounded shapes out of foam core without leaving as many rough edges as I had previously done in a previous project. In terms of improvements, I think that the final artifact is a little too busy in terms of the significantly large amount of pieces that are attached. I could have simplified the piece by focusing on only one or two main components, and taking the time to fully experiment with proportions, materials, construction and so forth. perhaps then would the relationship between each part of the abstract artifact become clear to the viewer.