My Thoughts; Reliant Objects + Ready Player 2

              “Reliant Objects,” is an exhibition about the objects in lives acting like a mirror for us to view ourselves in the exhibitions work, this is paraphrased from the write up on the wall displayed within the gallery. (Refer to the photographed below).

              As I walked around the gallery, I found myself drawn to specific items. The chair seemed to hold some secrets of the past and whom sat there. It is in a way a mashup looking piece taking three chairs to make one.

The piece which resonated the most with me was a delicate looking piece of cloth. I found myself lost in its intricacy. The floral accents throughout the piece remind me of an odd shapped window or perhaps a flower bed.

The five vases in a row looked as though they could have been printed and modeled from a computer. It looks as though the far right one is an unrefined image, and the transition the pieces go through to get to their final refined process.

The vase with exploding something out of the top of it, or perhaps it is growth. I find it intriguing and I want to know more about this piece
and the artists thought process.

I do enjoy wandering through galleries before I read any other information as I like to form questions within my mind to later be answered by write ups I find. I didn’t however find many if any answers to the questions I have. 

              “Ready Player 2,” is an exhibit that took me back to the old days, playing on Nintendo with my brother. The arcade machines made me want to play on them, but I don’t generally touch anything in galleries so I admired it from a distance.

The set up of the table top game, old board games, reminded me of a simpler time. A time before tech took over our lives. Granted D&D is still a big thing in todays world and table top gaming is still going strong.

The video game like clouds within the gallery were a nice touch to the ambience of the room. The controllers on poster like paper reminded me of posters of games I play now and used to play. I found that this exhibition spoke to my inner child and brought me back to a simplistic head space. 

It was an overall enjoyable experience. I enjoyed how it felt for few moments I had the whole gallery to myself, I absorbed much imagery into my spongey artist brain. 

Mesh Mashup: Selection and Refinement

The object I decided to refine was something I heard was a neat idea, but didn’t seem to be the most popular among those I spoke with. I decided this design should be more realistic. I didn't go with the ideas that others were interested in, I was more interested in perfecting and honing my technique. The cup and the liquid for this piece were infuriating, and I honestly enjoyed pushing myself to get outside of my comfort level again.

People seemed interested in my creature, but as I am not going into character design and personally am not interested in working on something I lack passion in. Lack of passion for me translates to unrefined, and lazy work for myself. I found the shark monster, and the couch to be the easiest pieces for me to create so far.

I am a realist. Someone who believes in bringing the truth of reality to life. I refuse to stay quiet. I have been incorporating, corporate corrupting into my practice for some time. Instead of using the humpback whale I did previously I choose a dead and rotting Orca. This piece shows the disparity of a creature that is majestic, but has become a source of entertainment and profit for a company that says they are doing what they do in order to help sea life. Life isn't cut and dry, it’s not all fluffy clouds puppies and kitties. Life is raw, and thus my art is raw.

I changed the liquid spilling from the cup to make it representational of the lives taken by captive orcas like the trainers at SeaWorld. In addition to the lives of Orca's taken by living in a human made habitat. Don't get me wrong I know we are destroying our oceans, but logically why is keeping a large mammal in a tiny bath tub ok? How is it even ethical at this point? Animals of this size should be protected and live free. The people around the edge of the splash are the customers, those who go to these parks in hopes of glimpsing an Orca. Yes, they get to see a majestic creature up close that has been trained to jump through hoops. The consumer is at time not educated about what truly happens to these creatures. The size of the tanks alone is terrible, this is why the cup is floating. The only time these whales are truly free from captivity is when they die.

“The fact of two things being seen or placed close together with contrasting effect.” – Oxford Dictionary. My concept ties into the juxtaposition category since it takes four things that don't go together. You would never see a whale in a cup of blood, nor people celebrating around whale carcasses.

"Remix culture is a society that allows and encourages derivative works by combining or editing existing materials to produce a new product. A remix culture would be, by default, permissive of efforts to improve upon, change, integrate, or otherwise remix the work of copyright holders. In his book Remix, Harvard law professor Lawrence Lessig presents this as a desirable idea."  https://www.definitions.net/definition/Remix%20culture . For the purpose of this assignment I have taken images from https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:668841/  with the use of the images from this site I was able to create the work of art in mesh mixer. I edited and combined different images to make a new image. Thus, fitting within the definition of Remix Culture.

Is this piece one that fits into the read and write culture "Read and Write Culture, not just consuming is important but to create and to share that creativity is important." http://us.aving.net/news/view.php?articleId=17613 I believe my piece fits within the quote mentioned above. As I have said previously, I believe in creating art work that speaks to people when I am not around. Using this piece can help others to see a reality not always spoken of. The hard topics, the disruptive topics need to be documented and expressed through creativity.

Mash-up is “a mixture or fusion of disparate elements.” – Oxford Dictionary. I believe my piece fits into the mash-up category. I have mixed different images to combine them into one piece.

Over all I believe I have an understanding of the terms we have covered from mash-up, remix culture, read and write culture, and juxtaposition. I did my best to cover all of these points in my writing and within the work itself.

Mesh Mashup: Concept Generation

Creating these concepts was, admittedly, a challenge for me. I haven’t ever drawn or worked with things like this on the computer until the first week of this class. The concept of building something for the first project took me admittedly more then a few hours.

The concept of remix automatically made me think of music but also collage type art. I’ve seen digital remix art and have always been fascinated and in awe of the medium itself. Banksy was immediately someone I thought of, as well as much of the electronic music I listen to daily. There is something about remixed songs I enjoy far more then the originals.

For myself the remix/mash-up idea was not an easy few hours thing which only took a couple of hours. It took me around eight hours to come up with concepts. I found the items I wanted to use and drew mini mock-ups of what I thought the concept should be. I initially drew a blank as I scoured through multiple things. Still gapping out I started thinking of things in life that I am passionate about and kept coming up with something silly and then the inspiration started flowing.

Once I had a list of the animals/objects I wanted to use, I set out looking for them to sketch a small sketch to see if any of the ideas I had may work. I admit my sketches are rough and in pen but I tend to gravitate towards unforgiving mediums. I changed my mind I switched around what I wanted to do many times. Some of the files were far to big and I had to rethink what I wanted to use. I did try to use more then two items in some dude to repeating a few things like the shark.

Tinkercad is a program I haven’t ever used and computer stuff in general is a learning curve for me. I do appreciate the art of it and am looking forward to learning more. Thingiverse.com was used for this project for the purpose of mash-up. I hope to perplex people and yet raise questions and awareness with what I am doing here.

Object 1. 

I admit I like sharks a lot. I have painted shark finning pieces in the past as it’s something that drives me. I want to make people look at the crap we are doing to our oceans. I chose all these pieces to convey a specific message. The shark holding a gun to a hand which is placed in a bowl. The shark cuts off humans hands and throws them into the water to drown. Kind of a example of a karma in a humour way. There is a documentary a out shark finning which is eye opening the trailer can be found here but please note this is a disturbing and to the point documentary. The trailer alone does include potentially upsetting images this is your trigger warning animals are harmed in this showing the severity of the situation https://youtu.be/masr9LCaHGw https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:20635/files https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2366073 https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2511612

Object 2.

As a Fibre student sewing is my main source of creation.  Sewing has brought me great joy over the years and thus I gravitated towards the sewing machine. I also know I have a tendency to cage my own potential by putting myself in a proverbial box of restriction. A sewing machine spoke to me as I have been creating and designing costumes for over twelve years. The cage around the sewing machine represents the pure caging of ones potential all too many times as artists do, we put ourselves into a proverbial cage, I don’t want to just be an artist of one media but an artist of many. https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:16903/ https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:858497/

Object 3. 

I chose these two items because I am passionate about not having animals in captivity for the purpose of doing tricks for our enjoyment. This piece was inspired by animals in captivity, specifically whales and marine life. Large creature that are confined to tiny living spaces. When these creatures act out society seems shocked and appalled. Honestly, I’m appalled by the poor living conditions, the small amounts of food and the pressure out on marine life in captivity. Tillicum the whale as an example was one in particular that killed people within captivity, his enclosure was so small. Did you know many people go insane from being kept in a tiny jail cell in prison? No one and no thing should be changed in this way. In my opinion all things should be free. **trigger warning** if you haven’t seen it check it out Blackfish is an intense documentary about the goings on behind the scenes with some marine life. Images and content of this documentary can be frightening. Please keep that in mind. This is the trailer for the documentary https://youtu.be/CNtUK3rW5K4 https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3617536/ https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1675312

Object 4. 

Chairs, there are so many uncomfortable chairs, some are unsteady and feel as though you are sitting on moving water. This is, why I chose the egg chair and out a splash and fountain bottom, The jellyfish is like the terrible shocks you get in your back from sitting to long uncomfortably on horrible posturing chairs. I have seen many impractical chairs designed by designers that look uncomfortable the inspiration behind this chair was mostly thinking of being uncomfortable. You can find a list of the most uncomfortable chairs designed here https://interiordesign4.com/comfortable-chairs-ever-designed/
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3617536/
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:237134
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1715443

Object 5.

Cutting the kingdom, breaking away from the old art forms and cutting my way into a new art form. The castle in a sense my childhood wonder of what I thought art was, and the scissors being the reality of what my art is. My art is far from fluffy, my art tends to focus on sturing the pot or getting people to look at something. Whether what I create sparks joy or fear, are two separate things.
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:22323https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2842788

Object 6.

The antlered heart, represents how hearts don’t heal they grow stronger and tougher. Antlers on an animal grow upwards to protect the head, these antlers grow out of the heart to protect the heart. In a sense they keep out not only the good but also the bad. Some people have walls around their hearts, others have antlers to protect them from those while try to penetrate its depths.
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:852939/  
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:539335/  

Object 7.

Cow Couch it’s on the mooove! I like puns and when I started thinking about ideas of something puny to say. The mooving couch will go anywhere with you, as long as you are in the move your couch will surely follow. Growing up in Calgary I remember when the sculptured cows first went up on displayed around the city https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/udderly-art-pasture I indeed drew much of my inspiration for my cow couch from “Udderly-Art.”https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:141404 https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2931904/

Object 8.

I used spiders and an eye ball to create this piece. I used a spider and eye ball for this piece, but I made the eye ball look more like an egg. Spiders like sharks are misunderstood and misrepresented. Spiders are an important part of the food chain and they help to keep pesky pest populations under control. The next time you think about squishing a spider think of the role it plays on a grander scale. If you are interested in reading up on what roles spiders play you can check it out here: https://www.exterminatornearme.com/spiders/the-role-of-spiders-in-the-ecosystem/ https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:72305/ https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:514863

Object 9.

Squid boom box tub, an ecstatic Vampyroteuthis listening to a boom box is its bathtub. Since this cephalopod isn’t in thingiverse I decided to just use a squid that looked like this squid. This creature is fascinating, it lives in the deep sea and isn’t actually a vampire, but it has a nifty name and it’s colours are glorious. A squid wouldn’t be splashing around with a boom box in a bathtub, but for sure made my heart skip a beat when I first saw one. https://youtu.be/G4U0vG2bxy0 https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2896459 https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3810989/ https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:15257 https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:237134

Object 10.

Shark monster! I am a big fan of the misunderstood king of the sea. Great whites are a gorgeous, fearless creature, with rows of teeth and jaws that steal life. I used the shark as the base and added an octopus and dragon wings to make thing creature able to fly out of the water to snatch its prey. Ideally this beast would be able to live and roam on both land and sea.   https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:182235/ https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2722535/ https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:425437/

 I honestly found this to be a real challenge, as an artist who wants to learn it all. This was a fun project and I spent a lot of time learning the program just for the mashing up process alone. It was overall an enjoyable experience.

Objectified: Response

Objectified reinforced my views of waste within society. Designers must take the time to think about how their designs will impact the world as whole, but also the consumer. Things being thrown out around eleven months after purchase (as mentioned in the film) doesn't sit right with me. 

As I watched the documentary a designer from Rotterdam begun to talk about vases, and I thought they were beautiful but I was still lacking inspiration. As soon as Hella Jongerius talked about a sofa she designed and made with Vitra, I immediately fell in love with it. When she said she sewed buttons onto it not to create imperfections, but because she was adding crafted detail. I felt I could relate to her as a designer. I could be wrong but it almost looked like her prototypes were made out of old ties. Which inspires because I am all for reducing, reusing, upcycling what we can to reduce our carbon footprint. 

My design relates to the film by not only showing a designed piece inspired by a designer who appears to be an out of box type of thinker. Hella Jongerius wants to create pieces that strike emotion in herself and others. The film’s premise as whole is to show the creations created by the designers, but also realize the impact in which creators have on society and on the environment. As creators we must think of the whole picture. Not just the 10% of people that designed items are made for, as stated in the film. 

Waste is not something I want to contribute to. I would prefer to contribute to a solution. Making an item out of already used items would increase the chances of diminishing waste. It is important as a creator to think of the impact we have on the Earth while creating. Designers create beautiful works of art, but the cost should never be the environment. 

Creating the couch, I started with the dice shaped piece, I stretched it, rotated it, rounded the corners to shape it into the desired rectangular shape to begin creating the couch. I put the base rectangle down on the bottom, then I placed the rounded edge and rectangular pieces onto of this for the cushions, I put this shape inside the original rectangle to give it the look and feel of depth. I again took the cube and created another rectangle shape rounded the corners flipped it vertically and copied the shape, these two pieces were used for the arms of the couch. I however decided to make the sides different shapes, I shrunk the left side to give it a more asymmetrical feel. For the back of the couch I again elongated the two cubes and flipped them up vertically at 90-degree angles. After I had the shape of the couch I took the cylinder shape to create buttons. I shrunk them down to 2mm cylinders and lifted them into place along the back of the couch. I then rotated them back there originally vertical setting to create the buttons along the bottom of the couch. I all about asymmetry as nothing in nature is symmetrical, thus why I was truly inspired by Hell Jongerius's couch.