heart / brain
acrylic on papier-mâché, 1m64
assignment
Art class assigment: “Traces of presence“
We were asked to create a life-sized figure that represents a trace of our presence, with the goal of eventually bringing all the figures together into a collective installation, similar to the Terracotta Army. The idea was to reflect on how we leave traces behind, both physical, such as objects or waste, and immaterial, such as memories or digital data.
We could choose our own materials, for example plaster, wood or recycled materials, and think about how these materials express ideas like permanence, decay or relevance to current issues. Our figure also needed to connect to themes of today, such as identity, climate or technology.
process
My first idea was to build a metal frame around an existing mannequin and use cloth to dress her up, but I soon realised I didn’t like the metal chicken wire as a material to work with, especially on this scale. I went back to the drawing board and reflected on what defines me, both as a person and an aspiring artist. I landed on two things: the personal struggle I have between my heart and my brain, and the materials I love to use being cardboard and papier-mâché. I did what I do best, which is overthink and overprepare, and used my best middle school math skills to calculate the dimensions and design of the model I made.
The prototype itself ended up in a separate piece, a diorama depicting the assignment. Ironically, this diorama is already finished, while the sculpture itself is not.
Satisfied with this design, I took my preparation to class, where I would have the much needed space to put together the life-size copy.
The initial goal had always been to have her holding a heart and a brain, though at this point in the process, we liked the silhouette she had going on, and I debated changing the plan to a more simple, abstract sculpture. Eventually, I figured that, while that would be a nice sculpture on its own, it wouldn’t be the answer to this assignment, so I started working on her arms and hands.
The next phase was papier-mâchéing the whole thing, which I severely underestimated both in materials and time.
After that, it took about a week and a half for her to dry. Unfortunately, because it is a shared space, my sculpture was moved during this drying process and insufficiently supported afterwards, resulting in her bending over under the weight of the paper and glue. Lessons learned in terms of an inner support system for hollow sculptures.
I considered rectifying the issue, but liked the idea of this unexpected change just being part of the process, symbolic of not always being in control of everything, and it being okay if everything weighs you down sometimes. I rolled with it and covered her in white gesso – again, an unholy amount of paint that I severely underestimated.
The above is the current state of the sculpture. She isn’t finished yet, I just haven’t had the time to continue working on her due to both real life and other art assignments – again, a great analogy for how life goes sometimes. The attributes below have been created but not yet finalised and attached.
For the brain, I used a plastic Halloween decoration skull (his name is Bob) and made a papier-maché mold of him. Cut off the top half of his skull, and used it to shape a brain made of papier-maché-covered rope. Mostly an experiment, and a very pleasant sensory experience, but not the greatest result, especially after trying to fit it back into the skull and painting it. It came out more cartoonish and silly, and didn’t fit the aesthetic I was going for with this sculpture, so eventually I opted for just a full skull mold and stay true to the Hamlet reference it stemmed from.
For the heart, I acquired an anatomical 3D model as a reference and tried sculpting a papier-mâché copy of it. That was a challenge, and it came out well enough, although I wouldn’t put it in a cardiologist’s office just yet.
Just to have options and experiment some more, I repeated the same process as with the skull, and made a papier-mâché mold of the heart model. While anatomically more accurate, I felt it definitely missed the “soul” of the (now very obviously misshapen) handcrafted heart. I decided to use that one, again to acknowledge the acceptance of random happenstance as well as the symbolism in having a big heart.
Work in progress, to be continued.
materials
- Papier-mâché (newspaper + glue)
- Cardboard, various sources.
- Masking tape
- Duct tape
- Rope
- Acrylic paint
- Gesso