“History is a child building a sand-castle by the sea, and that child is the whole majesty of man's power in the world”.
Heraclitus
TOWERS is a multidisciplinary project about the individual’s quest to find a sense of meaning in the complexity of modern life.
I find solace in the act of collecting objects in the city. These washed up fragments offer a particular insight into everyday life and the lives of others, and become material for artistic expression and the articulation of ideas. In an attempt to recycle many years worth of these found and collected objects, I have constructed tower-like plastic molds made to evoke children’s sand buckets. These “towers” have been used to cast a series of sculptures made from ephemeral materials, including sand and foodstuffs. The symbolic, structural, historical and metaphorical ideas surrounding a tower are explored and animated through the methodologies by which the towers have been produced. My thesis exhibition juxtaposes both process and product in my act of “tower-building”, revealing, on the one hand, my own artistic approach, and on the other, a critique of contemporary life and art.
MFA Gallery / Galerie MFA
8-14 mai 2013, 12h à 17h / May 8-14th, 2013, 12-5pm
Vernissage: 9 mai, 18h-21h / Opening: May 9th, 6-9pm
Here is some documentation of the opening/vernissage night:
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| "Pedestal sculpture" that includes two different sculptures (or what remains of them...) that were vacuum-formed (you will see the results of this in a few photos). This piece's role in the show is to send the viewer into the process of making the sculptures, and so that the dialogue between all the pieces in the show is further emphasized. On the top of the pedestal is the silicone mold that was produced from the blue bucket (which is one of the two halves) that was subsequently used to produce food versions of the tower (for this show: one bread, one banana bread -which we ate- and one salt dough). |
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| Cutting
the delicious cake that Judy Garfin, my thesis advisor, brought for the
opening. We were also serving a banana bread version of the tower that
was baked in a food-safe silicone mold in the oven. Next show featuring
this work will have even more edible art! It was important for me to
give the viewers a chance to interact with the work through eating, so
that they were able to "consume" and "digest" the work in the show in
more ways than just visually; the physical and social nature of the work
was enhanced by this. |
Here is the documentation of the show:
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| View of TOWERS |
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| Quote from Michel Serres' Genesis, a book that inspired some of the work and ideas in the show |
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| Large blueprint made from various drawings during different stages of the planning process (some were used to figure out the dimensions of the sculpture that needed to be produced in order to execute the vacuum-forming, which you will see below) |
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| Top half of the giant "children's sand bucket" that was used to cast the giant sand tower, made from painted vacuum-formed plastic (this one was produced in a subtractive process) |
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| Lower half of the giant "children's sand bucket" that was used to cast the giant sand tower, made from painted vacuum-formed plastic |
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| Close-up of the vacuum-formed plastic, showing all the found objects that were used during the forming process (the first photo in this series from the opening night shows the original sculpture that was vacuum-formed to get this shape) |
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| Giant sand tower, built from using the vacuum-formed molds to transfer a mixture of sand and bentonite to a shaped mound (made from 12 bags of sand=360kg!) There is also a spiral of light inside the structure, evoking the notion that there is activity inside of this structure. |
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| Giant sand tower seen with giant sand bucket and other elements from the show |
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| Table with a hand-made box-book (contains elements relating to the processes undergone to execute the work, as well as other playful elements), vacuum-formed component (on the left) and a slideshow that featured photographs of stages of the artistic process, as well as inspirations and humorous images |
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| Table with hand-made box-book (unfolded in this shot): contains printed photographs featuring images of the process of building the sculptures, that fold into the shape of different-sized towers; a string of postcards that feature excerpts from the large blueprint; a large print that acts as a "board" or surface on which to play; and a deck of cards that features found photographs from the street. All the elements have been designed to fit into the box-book. |
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| View of the hand-made box-book when it is closed. Outside has a digital print that has been laminated to cardboard and a leather strip for easy opening and closing; inside has Japanese paper with a leather-like appearance. |
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| Deck of cards with 14 different photographs (one for each number in a deck=13, plus another for the joker). The photographs were found in the city, on the ground, and were used to parallel the found objects used to make the sculptures. This deck of cards is used to build towers of cards... |
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| Food art made from the silicone mold. On the left, bread, and on the right, salt dough that has been tinted with food coloring. |
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| Close-up of salt dough sculpture |
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| View of the many towers in the show, from behind the table with the box-book. |
