Although I was rather happy with the outcome of the Shroud of Turin lamp, I really wanted my observer (or in this case the staff marking my work) to be able to see the full effects of the lamp without having to fill the studio with darkness. This got me thinking about possible containers for the lamp to be put in. I first...
As well as the prints I did with exaggerated repetition, I wanted to finalize the display of the sculptures themselves. I decided to frame them literally within an old frame, attaching them with wood glue.In accordance with my Kris Kuksi research, I wanted to create a narrative of sorts, but on various levels. I encorporate do the bronze leaf onto the background in...
I decided to create another sculpture out of polymer clay, this time focusing on 'Saint Trump'. Whilst looking at the former lives of Saint Thomas, Catherine and Christ, I wanted to create a topical Saint; one that can be applied to modern society. With Trumps hate campaign against Muslims in full throttle, I am simply going to 'predict the future' of Trump and...
After much research into the shroud of Turin, there was no final explanation as to how the image of Christ was transferred onto the piece of cloth; yet the shroud is still worthy of veneration. Ray Downing and his research team hoped to 3-dimentionalize the image of Christ, which is essentially what I am trying to convey. As I found from my researcher,...
For my next Phenakistascope I chose to portray Saint Catherine of Siena. As her mummified head is on display and still worshiped today, I wanted to try and physically re-materialize her back to her living form; bringing her back into the 21st century. I think it is quite disrespectful to have beheaded a woman and encased them in a box, to be glared...
Saint Catherine's story is a fairly magical one. She spent her life completely devoted to God, to her parents dismay. When her parents tried to convince her to marry, she cut off all of her hair, scalded herself and joined a nunnery. 'Shortly after she joined the nunnery she had a vision of Jesus placing a ring on her finger in marriage. This ring, for...
In accordance with my Saint Thomas research, I really wanted to go further with this idea of repetition and replication. After replicating my photographs of the relics and reliquary, I decided to almost wallpaper the wall with the images. The ostentatiousness of Catholic decoration is present in this piece as I have made the fingers appear as if emerging out from the corner...
If I am going to make Donald Trump into a relic, then I need to have records of his time as a 'saint', in the most ironic way possible. I thought that mixing topical events in the news with the ancient art of stain glass windows; kind of like a news report through art. I chose to depict the recent story of Donald...
Loving Vincent is the first feature length painted animation with every single shot painted on a canvas just as if Vincent had painted them himself. After watching the trailer I am blown away with the time and intricacy that must be involved in this process. In the same way that I'm trying to materialise the Saints, these 30 painters who worked on this film...
As my Donald Trump phenakistoscope animation worked so well, I thought about trying something a bit more complex. And after seeing the trailer for the film Loving Vincent I thought that painting each frame of the animation on a small scale, would make a rather beautiful animation. I first looked for images of Christ so that I could guess the facial reconstruction from...
Using some hooks attached to the top of my studio space, I began trying to hang my little sculptures from fishing wire in the hopes of making them appear as if floating. This idea is mostly inspired by the impressively intricate works by Kris Kuksi. The plan is to have ethereal looking relics floating with transcendence.I attached a black piece of card to...
Dead Dad is a shocking yet beautiful piece of sculpture. The details are faultless, however the scale just dehumanises the whole piece. The figure is half the size of a human. This scale really emanates a sense of pathos; you feel so sorry for the figure that you want to cradle it in your arms. In my piece I'd like to play with...
Is there a return of religion in contemporary art?The article explores how controversial debates about the Catholic Church and Islam are becoming more important in our cultural identity.Anselm Franke says that there is not a wave of religious works in contemporary art, however artists are engaging and citing religion more in their work. He refers to Bruno Latour’s hypothesis. He says that “faith,” as...
Juxtaposing humour with religion is one of the riskiest combinations. This piece by Cattelan is certainly one of the more controversial sculptures I have seen. It depicts Pope John Paul II being struck by a meteor. This is quite a statement; perhaps it is being suggested that even the pope isn't indestructible OR that the meteor was an act of God. Although the...
"Every two years, the members of the religious industry and representatives of the clergy meet in the North East of Italy for the World Fair for Church supplies, liturgical and ecclesiastical art. According to the BBC, this market is worth an estimated $5.2 billion a year only in Italy.In the grey area between sacred and profane, Besides Faith invites the viewer to take a look...
Lorraine Loots has created a rather cute project called 365 postcards for ants in which she draws a miniture study everyday for a year. The detail that is packed into a piece so small is quite remarkable. The name of the project states that her audience is for ants (clearly a joke) but quite an interesting concept. Making art exclusively for one type...
"I grew up in a Christian Western society. My perspective on life has been a result of my environment and background.The playful interaction of society’s many icons, physical transformations, and the resulting improbable combinations, have culminated in my vision of a woman’s role and place in our society.This inner questioning of a woman’s role, has led me to use one of the most...
After having my tutorial I felt a lot happier about how my work translated to my audience. In this tutorial the person presenting their work had to stay silent whilst the group had to voice their thoughts. The first word that someone came up with was RELIGIOUS. This made me so happy as I wasn't sure that there was enough evidence in my...
"Visual information is forwarded to the brain, where it is processed, interpreted and translated into sensory impressions. Generally speaking, visual perception is the product of filtering and reducing data, which enables us to depict our environment distinctly. We envisioned a sculpture that displays an animation in the open physical space." This piece is simply breathtaking, and far more advanced than I could ever hope to...
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I had no idea what these 2D zoetropes were actually called until I did some research; they are actually referred to as phenakistascopes. All of these phenakistascopes have such a comical feel to them; I think they will be perfect for what I am trying to accomplish. I could do studies of various relics and literally bring them to life in a light and...
