procrastination

5 weeks till exams, and i really should be studying! it's like when you've got to do something but you know you've got a lot of time all you do is procrastinate ! it's either "oh i'll get started once i finish baking this cake" or "i rather paint my desk a different colour today than study" ! i wish i wasn't so easily distracted -_-

smoker's lung | final presentation

final presentation of the smoker's lung series.
sorry about the bad quality, it's a scan of a print out :(

photos by asha

his humble abode

Unit 4 Art
His humble abode, 2010

Bird: Acknowledgment - Ricky Swallow's 'Flying on the ground is wrong', it is an appropriation of his art work. It took me 3 weeks to complete this 5th final for Unit 4.
-Wire, Paper Mache

Nest: Created from approximately 140 unused cigarettes. It took me a week to complete this work, and yes, my room and folio smell disgusting.
-Wire, Cigarettes

Evaluation: With the Smoker's Lung series, i wanted to accentuate to the viewer the effect of what smoking does to you - it's somewhat a visual representation of what's going on in their bodies. 'His humble abode' however depicts a more subtle, less confronting message. Exploring a loss of innocence in society, i wanted to depict purity and how this is so easily lost and consumed through corruption in our modern world. This happens to such an extent that most people are unaware of the deprivation they've put themselves in, thus existence in such a state has become their only comfort and reality.

photos by asha

smoker's lung | part 3

Unit 4 Art
Smoker's Lung part 3, 2010
Ink on Canvas
photos by asha

smoker's lung | part 2

Unit 4 Art
Smoker's Lung part 2, 2010
Ink on Canvas
photos by asha

inspiration: art created from discarded cigarette butts

source

miniscule

i was introduced to the miniscule series by my design teacher a few months ago and i've been hooked on to them since. they're fantastic and i highly recommend you watch them, they're short animations that really do crack you up !  

minuscule is a growing collection of short animations that follow the day-to-day existence of anthropomorphic insects. The characters are modelled on computer in 3D and are then set against real scenery. Each animation has a short, self-contained and often humorous storyline. The audio is a combination of genuine insect and ambient recordings, and sound effects such as car or helicopter or aircraft engines, synthesized buzzings etc. Throughout each episode, no (human) words are ever spoken; nevertheless, anthropogenic 'insect-like words' are often trumpeted by the various protagonist insects. The background settings are mostly of rural France, and include farm houses, fences, cars, road surfaces, drains, gutters and garbage bins (source)

it was created by Thomas Szabo and Helene Giraud.

smoker's lung | part 1

Unit 4 Art
Smoker's Lung part 1, 2010
Oil on Canvas
photos by asha

cameron

Unit 4 Visual Communication and Design
Cameron, 2010
Stoneware Clay

Part one of my design brief asked me to design a character for an animated short "World Beyond the Classroom Window". The film is set in the 1990s and hence I had to make sure my character reflected this context.The character of Cameron is a 9 - 11 year old boy who is generally awkward and doesn't associate with any of his classmates, instead spends all his time out in the gardens - like he was a part of his surroundings rather than ever being overwhelmed by it. In this particular scene, Cameron sits out on the grass staring out at the sun, his camera in his hand and thoughts somewhere distant; contemplating the big mystery that is life.

Part two of presentation one was to create a sculpture of the newly designed character. This sculpture took me a week to mold. I have to now leave him out to dry for a week before I chuck him in the Kiln and then paint him. I will upload photos of the final presentation later :)
photos by asha

lomo love

 

photos by asha

anyone else but you

exhibition: julia deVille

i visited the Julia deVille exhibition at the Sophie Gannon Gallery in East Richmond yesterday. i've posted about her before so it was interesting to actually go have a look at her work. Also, i am currently writing up an art essay on Animal Rights for an assessment and she's one of the main artists i'll be discussing so you can guess how excited i was ! When i walked in, the first thing i noticed was how peaceful and beautiful all the animals looked. Half of them had been still born and the others dead from natural cause - the artist only uses animals FOUND dead by natural cause, "I won't kill anything for my work".. This is important to understand about the artist personally when looking at her work because she is a vegetarian and is a strong believer in animal rights. Other artists however such as Nathalia Edenmont or Damien Hirst, have the animals deliberately killed to be presented in their art work.

Before heading out to the exhibition I read up one of her interviews where she discussed,
"I really want to make my audience contemplate their own mortality, so they can in turn appreciate life and this is why i choose the subject matter of death. I think the best way to make people realise how important life is, is by confronting them with the fact that they will die some day. Philosophy is: you never know how long you will be here, so you may as well make the most of it! "
i had this in mind the whole time when i was looking at her work - the idea of death and life, and how quickly they both can come and go. Everything is so unexpected with life, so why not treasure it? Because by preserving the bodies of such innocent creatures and some who did not even get to live (such as the still born) she gives them the chance to live on in a way. The diamonds and accessories placed on most of the animals made their bodies look so precious, and i couldn't help but notice how peaceful they all looked - like they were sleeping. Some of them looked so delicate that i couldn't grasp the idea that they were real - i found myself stroking the kitten at one point just to prove it was real.

Another part of me was a bit scared when looking at her work...(not just because i thought the raven would wake up and attack me) but, what right does she have in manipulating the bodies of such creatures even if they did die of natural cause? Just because everyone is going to die, natural, or not, they are aware of it..animals too. But that doesn't mean that they want a taxidermist stuffing them up and putting them up for display in an art gallery? Wouldn't they rather be buried and decompose naturally? i was in two minds when leaving the gallery. Yes her work was incredible and different. But what else?

the fowl whose fiery eyes now burned into my bosom's core 2010


ghastly grim and ancient raven 2010

charon 2010


psalm 74:19 2010


orcus 2010


kitten drawn hearse 2010


lenore 2010


nevermore 2010
photos by asha