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.