When beginning to brainstorm ideas of what I wanted to do for this project, I found myself researching and looking up artists that have done mixed media sculptures or any mixed media art. Upon researching I came across this artist, Niki Lopez. At first glance, I knew when looking at one her artworks, I knew I wanted to incorporate this concept into my artwork: the concept of having a multitude of faces with different expressions. This connects to the central theme I had when developing what I wanted to create for this project almost exactly. Within my piece, I want to show the many personalities or in this case, the many faces I take when I am around certain people.
Niki Lopez is primarily a multimedia artist who works within acrylic paint. Her work focuses on her ideas and ideologies, "“My representational work allows me to share and explore stories, symbols and concepts from ancient cultures and ideologies, as well as provoke thought as to the probability of life in other dimensions, multiple universes and galaxies, how they are all inter-connected with us here on planet earth”. When reading and researching what she has to say about her artwork, I knew that I wanted to incorporate a similar concept which is to involve the idea that there is a reason for everything and why things are done. |
Another artist I was inspired by was the artist/studio "99 heads". Again I was researching artists to connect my mixed media piece to. 99 heads is an art studio that primarily works in ceramics and was founded by a couple, Sophie and her wife Amy. I was really inspired by the artwork 99 heads creates, for example most of their work are distorted images of faces with exaggerated features and from the beginning I knew I wanted to involve that into my mixed media artwork. I want to create faces that are exaggerated and depict how much my emotions tend to take control over how I act towards people.
|
-Meant to represent the tension many families face when they are at the dinner table.
- dysfunctional family - The arms coming from the table or legs symbolize the idea of tip-toeing over a stressful situation and ignoring it until it becomes to much to handle - the spikes coming out from the table signify the tension within a family |
ProcessTo begin, I started with getting an old stuffed animal I had, more specifically a stuff teddy bear. Once getting the teddy bear, I grabbed a pair of scissors and began to cut open the stomach area of the bear up until the seams of that the connects the head to the body. After cutting open the bear, I took out all the stuffing from the inside of it's arms, legs, head and stomach. Once I cut open the stomach of the teddy bear, I cut out the eyes as well. I took out all of the stuffing to replace it with old newspaper articles and paper ads. The reason behind this is to convey the idea that since I can remember I have always advertised myself as someone I am not. Placing all of the old newspaper within the inside of the teddy bear, I began to form the faces from wire. The wire I obtained from an old wire sculpture I did in sophomore year of art.
Once forming the basic outline of the faces (the head shape), I then began to wrap the wire around the newspaper that is stuffed within the teddy bear to hold it the newspaper together. |
Instead of just drawing on the faces, I attempted using a needle and thread to make the faces appear a bit bolder.
|
I used hot glue to try to replicate the idea that the stomach of the teddy bear is being opened.
|
I tried using many different shapes and sizes with the wire to try and get the faces become distorted.
|