Artist Statement Draft

The first edit of my artist statement for the sculpture project started off very well, but ended very rough. I used my previous Artist Statement as a guide of how to write this one, as I liked how I expressed my thoughts and ideas for the painting.

This was a rough plan because I was unsure as to who my main influences are at that certain point in time. So when I developed my piece further, I was able to choose who my main influences are, and further develop my artist statement.

Draft 1:

The main concepts behind my sculpture are impossibility and childhood. As we grow older, we often forget about the small things, and possibly regress back to childhood when such objects are presented in adulthood. In a world where we are forced to grow up, why should we not be able to play with giant Jenga? My sculpture is a part of this question, between childhood and impossibility, and encapsulating these moments.

My work presents a three foot tall wooden Jenga tower, partially played, and surrounded by a large crowd of miniature clay figures. I was initially inspired by the work of Nic Joly, and his (Name piece of work). These are highly detailed pieced depicting a story between the giant and the miniature, through the use of miniature clay figures. From this work, I began to experiment with clay, wire, paper and plastic, in order to create miniature figures. This led me to the work of (rough artist) and the pieces of (name) and (name). Gulliver’s Travels, a 1726 book, and a 2010 film, further informed me of the positions… that I wish to recreate.

In my own work, I wanted to have… (mention the link between the size of the sculpture and the impossibility – mention the influence of Claes Oldenburg).

In addition, I was inspired by…

My piece presents ideas about the (talk about childhood,

• Kurt moses
• Vincent bousserez
• Slinkachu
• Matthew Albanese
• Christopher Boffoli
• William Kass
• Nic Joly
• Mini models (lego and train models)
• Small people films – The Borrowers, The Secret world of Arrietty, The Hobbit (I, II, III), Gullivers Travels, Night at the museum
• Books – The Hobbit, Gulliver’s Travels
• Michael Borroemans
• Chapman’s hell
• Maurice Saprio
• Wu Ching Ju
• Simon Gudgeon
• Lorenzo Quinn
• Richard Blunt (?)
• Paul Kenton (?)
• Michael Challenger (?)
• Naomi Blake (?)
• Diana Armfield
• Andrew Ingamells
• Donald Hamilton Fraser
• Henry Walsh
• Anita Mandl
• Antony Gormely
• Heather Cassils (Becoming an Image)

(PS I don’t know who my main influences are)

• Made by cutting and sanding down wood and modelling fine clay into different shapes and designs
• Wood, clay
• Processes of cutting, sanding, modelling
• Intricacy and detail, but also how something inanimate and ‘plain’ has such personality and character
• Themes of impossibility and childhood
• No direct intention, but aiming to get people to look at the smaller things
• Materials, processes and main idea = raw, nature, natural, childhood
• No particular theories/artists schools of thought

FEEDBACK:

Looks great so far, it is really clear what your main ideas are and you’ve clearly done like a ton of research so you’ll have loads to talk about when it comes to artists, so that’s all good J

Try to work out which ones are the most important influences and why. Is there an intention/message behind your work? What (if anything in particular) drew

As the sculpture began to grow and I further gained idea of what I wanted to achieve, I further improved and typed over the artist statement bullet points that I first had (as seen above). I came up with this statement, however I am going to get people to read over this to ensure that it is coherent, and also gets my viewpoint across of what the sculpture is trying to achieve.

Artist statement – sculpture

The main concepts behind my sculpture are impossibility and childhood. As we grow older, we often forget about the small things, and possibly regress back to childhood when such objects are presented in adulthood. In a world where we are forced to grow up, why should we not be able to play with giant Jenga? My sculpture is a part of this question, between childhood and impossibility, and encapsulating these moments.

My work presents a three foot tall wooden Jenga tower, partially played, and surrounded by a large crowd of miniature clay figures. The processes used to create these included cutting, moulding and sanding. I was initially inspired by the work of Nic Joly, and his pieces Why Not? (Joly, 2015)and London Calling (Joly, 2017). These are highly detailed pieced depicting a story between the giant and the miniature, through the use of miniature clay figures. From this work, I began to experiment with clay, wire, paper and plastic, in order to create miniature figures. This led me to the work of Antony Gormley and the piece Field (Gormley, 1991), a room filled with small terracotta handmade figures, to inspire me of the number of clay figures that needed to be created for the sculpture. Gulliver’s Travels, a 1726 book (Swift, 1726), and a 2010 film (Gulliver’s Travels, 2010), and The Borrowers (The Borrowers, 1997), further informed me of ways in which miniature figures interact with their larger environment, and connected me back to my childhood, when these films would be watched.

In my own work, I wanted to have a significant size difference between the miniature figures and the Jenga tower. This surrounds the theme of impossibility as I intended the sculpture to be a 1:50 replica of a real life, playable Jenga tower. This would be impossible to play at this size, as the pieces would be unable to move, and would become a hazard if played too high. This came from the inspiration of Claes Oldenburg, and his vision to create impossible sculptures, including bowling balls rolling down Fifth Avenue (Oldenburg, n.d.).  Through the use of the giant versus the tiny, I want the viewer to interact with the piece, to bend down and to view it closely, and for them to think about the smaller things in life.

In addition, I wanted each figure to be plain and inanimate, to show that we are all the same in society. However, this lack of detail and the way in which each figure is handmade, gives the sense that they each have personalities, and these personalities gives connection to a whole community, all having the same fear of the impeding fall of the Jenga tower. This sense of a lack of identity, but a large personality comes from Antony Gormely, Field (Gormley, 1991), and Anita Mandl, with her simplified animal forms Young Elephant (Mandl, n.d.) and Little Blue Penguin (Mandl, n.d.). Not only do these miniature figures interact with the Jenga tower, but also of those pieces displayed around, as this allows the viewer to interact closer to these pieces.

My piece presents ideas about the illusion of impossibility and the connection to childhood through the contrast of size and the display on the floor.  The sculpture depicts a giant, half played wooden Jenga tower, surrounded by miniature clay figurines. The contrast between the size of the blocks, tower and figures distinguishes the impossibility of the project in a real size. The display on the floor reverts the piece, and the viewer, back to childhood.

Blog: https://charlotteabrahamart.wordpress.com/

Gormley, A., 1991. Field. [Art] (Tate Liverpool).

Gulliver’s Travels. 2010. [Film] Directed by Rob Letterman. Ireland: Davis Entertainment; RatPac-Dune Entertainment.

Joly, N., 2015. Why Not?. [Art] (Castle Galleries).

Joly, N., 2017. London Calling. [Art] (Castle Galleries).

Mandl, A., n.d. Little Blue Penguin. [Art] (Curwen Gallery).

Mandl, A., n.d. Young Elephant. [Art] (Curwen Gallery).

Oldenburg, C., n.d. Untitled. [Art] (Frieze).

Swift, J., 1726. Gulliver’s Travels. 1 ed. s.l.:s.n.

The Borrowers. 1997. [Film] Directed by Peter Hewitt. United Kingdom: Working Title Films.

I thought this next version would be the final artist statement, until I realised it was around 100 words over the word limit – something I couldn’t just ‘accidentally’ miss, and so the shortened version of this, the final version, can be seen on Artist Statement.

The main concepts behind my sculpture are impossibility and childhood. As we grow older, we often forget about the small things, and possibly regress back to childhood when such objects are presented in adulthood. In a world where we are forced to grow up, why should we not be able to play with giant Jenga? My sculpture is a part of this question, between childhood and impossibility, and encapsulating these moments.

My work presents a three foot tall wooden Jenga tower, partially played, and surrounded by a large crowd of miniature clay figures. The processes used to create both the Jenga tower and figures included cutting, moulding and sanding. I was initially inspired by the work of Nic Joly, and his pieces Why Not? (Joly, 2015) and London Calling (Joly, 2017). These are highly detailed pieces depicting a story between the giant and the miniature, through the use of miniature clay figures. From this work, I began to experiment with clay, wire, paper and plastic, in order to create miniature figures. This led me to the work of Antony Gormley and the piece Field (Gormley, 1991), a room filled with small terracotta handmade figures. This inspired me to create a large number of clay figures that are needed for the sculpture. Gulliver’s Travels, a 1726 book (Swift, 1726), and a 2010 film (Gulliver’s Travels, 2010), and The Borrowers (The Borrowers, 1997), further informed me of ways in which miniature figures interact with their larger environment, and connected me back to my childhood.

In my own work, I wanted to have a significant size difference between the miniature figures and the Jenga tower. This surrounds the theme of impossibility as I intended the sculpture to be a 1:50 replica of a real life, playable Jenga tower. This would be impossible to play at this size, as the pieces would be unable to move, and would become a hazard if played too high. This came from the inspiration of Claes Oldenburg, and his vision to create impossible sculptures, including bowling balls rolling down Fifth Avenue (Oldenburg, n.d.).  Through the use of the giant versus the tiny, I want the viewer to interact with the piece, to bend down and to view it closely, and for them to think about the smaller things in life.

In addition, I wanted each figure to be plain and inanimate with minimal detail, to show that we are all the same in society, and we are part of a wider society. However, the way in which each figure is handmade, gives the sense that they each have personalities, and these personalities gives connection to a whole community, all having the same fear of the impeding fall of the Jenga tower. A lack of identity with a contrast of large personalities comes from the inspiration of Antony Gormely, Field (Gormley, 1991), and Anita Mandl, with her simplified animal forms Young Elephant (Mandl, n.d.) and Little Blue Penguin (Mandl, n.d.). Not only do these miniature figures interact with the Jenga tower, but also of those pieces displayed around, and allows the viewer to interact closer these other pieces.

My piece presents ideas about the illusion of impossibility and the connection to childhood through the contrast of size and the display on the floor.  The sculpture depicts a giant, half played wooden Jenga tower, surrounded by miniature clay figurines. The contrast between the size of the blocks, tower and figures distinguishes the impossibility of the project in a real size. By displaying on the floor, this draws the viewer back towards their childhood.

Blog: https://charlotteabrahamart.wordpress.com/

Gormley, A., 1991. Field. [Art] (Tate Liverpool).

Gulliver’s Travels. 2010. [Film] Directed by Rob Letterman. Ireland: Davis Entertainment; RatPac-Dune Entertainment.

Joly, N., 2015. Why Not?. [Art] (Castle Galleries).

Joly, N., 2017. London Calling. [Art] (Castle Galleries).

Mandl, A., n.d. Little Blue Penguin. [Art] (Curwen Gallery).

Mandl, A., n.d. Young Elephant. [Art] (Curwen Gallery).

Oldenburg, C., n.d. Untitled. [Art] (Frieze).

Swift, J., 1726. Gulliver’s Travels. 1 ed. s.l.:s.n.

The Borrowers. 1997. [Film] Directed by Peter Hewitt. United Kingdom: Working Title Films.