vince’s ear

What would the paintings look like after a fire in a museum, or if a gallery were allowed to be overrun by wildlife, and otherwise left uncared for so that it begins to rot and the canvasses warp? What if we could witness the decomposition of objects like artworks right before our eyes?

It would look like the surreal sculptures of Valerie Hegarty, an American artist living and working in New York. Sometimes bordering on the abstract, her mixed media work shows everything from fine art to everyday objects, such as furniture, in varying stages of decay and destruction.

Some highly creative exhibits include Seascape, which displays articles which could have recently been recovered from some maritime disaster, showing all the signs of waterlogged damage, rust, and ocean-floor gunk which spills here and there from the pedestals. A painting called George Washington Shipwrecked gives an example of the real fine art lost or destroyed over the centuries, stolen by the unforgiving sea.

A giant crack splits up a gallery wall straight through a painting of a canyon. Shards of pottery, bits of frame, and chunks of an antique bureau lay scattered where they landed under a shot-up wall. Other works are burnt, morphed, rotting, and otherwise transformed from what was once useful or beautiful.

What better time than December to reflect on artwork showing  the transforming nature of all things animal, vegetable, and mineral. The leaves are now compost, the crop is long since harvested and eaten, and dead wood lines my shed ready to burn. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. The glaciers which moved mountains are melted. The mountains will someday be sand in an hour glass. We’re all just clay; from clay we come, to clay we go. Life goes full circle.

Spring will come, a rebirth will ensue, but not until winter’s icy breath freezes the ground, shortens days, and reminds us of the darker, colder, yet necessary part of the circle.

Making a cast of an object such as a sculpture is easy as long as you have the right materials. It took some product testing and trial and error but I do believe I’ve found some decent mold making and casting supplies.

Hobbies, Crafts, or Small Business

There are any number of reasons you may want to make a mold of something: you may simply want a copy of a keepsake; a duplicate of a tool or other useful object; some molds for soap, candle, or candy making, or you may have another crafty purpose such as making chess sets, as was the reason for my pursuit. Many people sell their handmade crafts on sites such as Etsy.com.

I started sculpting as well as turning chess pieces a little while back when I got my mini lathe (Turning Chess Pieces 101). As an amateur turner I can turn a decent piece and even duplicate one fairly close to the original, but chess pieces can’t be close; they need to be exact. So I needed to find a way to cast the original many times over for accurate copies. This would also make it easier in the long run- I’d only need to make 6 pieces on the lathe.

Finding The Perfect Material

Like an engineer, I needed to find the best and least expensive material for the project. Other factors are considered such as time and effort, re-usability, and difficulty. As you can see in the pic above I went through a fair amount of products to find the right stuff, and it was by no means cheap. But you have to crack a few eggs…

I rated the materials from 1 to 5 stars for several categories: 1 being the worst, as in a “1″ for time means it takes a long time, a “5″ for difficulty level means it’s easy, etc.

The Casts

1. Permastone- By and large this is the material I was most pleased with. This is a stone-like plaster which mixes with water 3:1 and dries quickly to give you a smooth, heavy cast which retains minute detail.

Quality: *****

Re-usability: ****; nice and durable finished product

Difficulty level: *****

Time: ***; 1-2 minutes mix, about 15-20 minutes for a solid cast

Price: ****; About $5 for 28 oz. box

2. Castin’ Craft Casting Resin- Ack! Don’t get any on your hands, this stuff is beyond sticky. You have to mix a catalyst just right or the resin won’t cure properly. It took three days before it even began hardening. In the end, the clear plastic finished product has potential- a good substitute for glass chess pieces, but using this resin doesn’t seem practical.

Quality: ***; the piece doesn’t look too bad

Re-usability: ***; solid and durable, but a week later the bottom is still sticky

Difficulty level: **; the stickiness and the mixing make it difficult to work with

Time: *

Price: **; Something like $12 to $15 for 16 oz., catalyst sold separately for some reason (?)

The Molds

1. Castin’ Craft Mold Builder- Very nice liquid latex mold builder, good for making molds of small, detailed objects, preferably flat, but not suited for my purposes here. The liquid is brushed on (no mixing reguired), and captures the finest detail. Depending on the size of the original, many layers may need to be applied. I made a cast of penny with the Permastone- every detail was preserved and the cast popped right out.

Quality: ****

Re-usability: ***; if only a few layers were applied, the latex is fairly flimsy and warps a little

Difficulty: *****; only setback is the washing of the brush in between each coat

Time: ***; each layer must dry completely before applying another. This may take some time if it’s a large object and needs 10 + coats

Price: ****; About $7, enough latex for many small molds.

3. Alumilite Quick Set Silicone- Now here’s where I need to make a managerial decision. Is the excellent quality of the mold worth the 4 hour wait? Silicone is the main material I sought on my shopping quest, I even bought some silicone caulking tubes to try out later as a cheap alternative. A catalyst is needed to mix, but isn’t very difficult, and this one comes with measuring cups which is a major plus (I had to weigh the casting resin earlier). One thing is for sure- the mold itself is probably the most durable, so even if it takes 4 hours at first, I should be able to get many uses out of each mold.

Quality: *****

Re-usability: *****

Difficulty: ***

Time: **

Price: *; $35 for 14 oz., just enough for a couple molds.

4. Webster Group 3D Gel- I certainly found treasure with this one, hidden amongst the little kiddie clays and molds. I think I have a winner: it was $4 for this packet (1 large mold and one small mold, $15 for a larger container), it took about 2 minutes to mix and2 minutes to completely harden (need to work fast), and the quality of the mold seems about the same as the Alumilite silicone- should be able to get many molds out of this. Plus, all I had to do is mix 3/4 cup of water.

[Update: Unfortunately after about a week, the mold dried up, reduced in size about 1/3, and became brittle. Looks like this is a great one time mold, but nothing more.]

Quality: *****

Re-usability: *

Difficulty: *****

Time: *****

Price: ****; $15 container ought to yield a decent amount of molds

5. Amazing Mold Putty- Another treasure found in the kids section. It shows a baby on the front so the store must have thought babies are supposed to play with it. But they didn’t notice the picture actually shows a mold being made from the baby’s hand. Very professional product, and very easy- 2 tubes of A and B, mix equal parts, knead until uniform, then embed an object, sets in 20- 25 minutes. When hardened, it made an excellent and durable mold. The only problem was a crease which came when I wrapped the putty around the chess piece. Instructions didn’t say youcould wrap, but I think I can find a way around this.

Quality: ****; we’ll see if the creases persist

Re-usability: *****

Difficulty: ****; 4 stars only because it is super durable, and for my purposes harder to make the cut line to get the piece out. Depending on how you look at this, the extra good quality makes up for it.

Time: ****

Price: ****

6. Instamold is made by the same people as Permastone. It is mixed with either 1 to 1 powder and water for a strong mold, 1 to 2 for average, and 1 to 3 for a weak mold. It appears that the 1 to 3 may save money, stretching the amount of molds possible from one box. I used the 1 to 2 average mix. I don’t know if it was because of the mix ratio, but this material was extremely bubbly. Luckily, only one minor defect resulted on the piece, which was easily sanded away. The set time for this was very quick- about 10- 15 minutes. However, while easy to cut away the original, it ripped a little.

Quality: ****; made a good piece, a little weary of the bubbles though

Re-usability: *; When I opened it up, it tore, and while I could be a little more careful, I’m doubtful the mold can be used more than a few times. [Update: After about a week, the mold dries up and shrinks.]

Difficulty: *****; easy mix, easy set, easy release

Time: *****

Price: *****

7. Sculpey, and generic modeling clay- Before I went shopping for the real mold supplies, I made a mold of a chess piece with Sculpey clay. This clay never hardens until you bake it, so is ideal for making a cheap one-time mold, which you can demolish and use for any other clay sculpting. The material is very pliable so makes for easy original removal, but difficulty in resealing the mold for the pour. In the end, an interesting duplicate is made, but nothing that can be sellable. A first attempt at chess piece mold making.

I also tried some modeling clay just in case I can make the absolute cheapest option work in any reasonable way. As I imagined the molds did not capture any real detail and crumbled the first time I removed them after the cast was dry. The clay molds of the smallest pawn pieces (about 3/4″ tall) actually turned out better than the Sculpey ones, which utterly failed beyond recognition.

Quality: **

Re-usability: *

Difficulty: *****

Time: *****

Price: *** for Sculpey, ***** for Modeling clay

The Results

 [From left to right: Instamold small queen, 3D Gel rook and pawn, Amazing Mold Putty bishop and pawn, Pawn made from Clear Casting Resin set in Sculpey, 2 small pawns set in modeling clay, 2 small pawns set in Sculpey, 2 large pawns set in Sculpey]

After this trial and error I have no reason to look for a further casting material: Permastone duplicates every detail, makes a heavy chess piece, and can be mixed with paint and other debris for effects. Some of the smaller ones in the picture above have been swirled with magenta watercolor paint for a “marble” look.

The Amazing mold putty is a very good product. However, the nature of the 3 dimensional chess pieces probably requires something which can be poured over the pieces. I will attempt to perfect the wrapping of the putty- aside from the crease it does make a good duplicate, and the mold seems to be infinitely re-usable.

In the end, the Alumilite 2-part silicone is the winner. The 3D Gel would have been great if only the mold lasted. If you only need to make a single duplicate, I’d recommend the 3D Gel, but if you need a mold which will last, the silicone is the best bet.

Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland

“Now, I give you fair warning, either you or your head must be off, and that in about half no time! Take your choice! ”

-The Queen

I probably became interested in Alice when I played the P.C. game American Mcgee’s Alice by Rogue Entertainment. I’m definitely no gamer and I usually stick to a select few games: Marathon (Bungie’s precursor to Halo), Grand Theft Auto 3, Stronghold. Alice instantly became one of those classics.

The game contains characters from Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland, and Through The Looking Glass, and the storyline is loosely based on the plots of the books, but takes some liberties. The main thing about the game is its atmosphere. The story of Alice is a little darker (she carries around a 12 inch knife), which is complemented by Chris Vrenna’s (the drummer of Nine Inch Nails) eerie background music.

I read the books online, which can be found at Project Gutenberg, Questria, and numerous other places for free. As literary nonsense, they are filled with imaginative characters and dialogues. I recommend the classics to anyone.

Homemade Chess Sets

I’ve been tinkering with the idea of sculpting my own chess sets for some time now. I knew my first set would be made of clay for its ease. Eventually I’d love to carve some pieces out of wood.

This site is a good base for knowledge of how to turn your own pieces out of wood. I particularly like the idea of getting a mini lathe to create the pieces. I lost the link, but I stumbled across one site where a guy made his own mini lathe from scratch and even hooked it up to his computer so he could program it. I think that’s a little out of my league for now, but maybe someday.

The pieces I made today were sculpted out of Sculpey with an X-Acto precision knife. All of them started out with a base about 3/4″ diameter with 4 pennies in the center for weight. I don’t mind using a sharp knife to carve because I am never concerned with smooth surfaces. I like it rough- it’s just my style.

The caterpillar makes a fine king, sitting on his mushroom, smoking his hooka, and generally sitting back for most of the opening and mid game.

The queen needs no introduction. She stands tall in her blue and white dress, with hands folded behind her back. She has the confidence of the most formidable piece on the board.

Next we have the Cheshire Cat as the bishop. His sly smile is barely visible in this picture. Nonetheless, it makes him a fine “visier,” or adviser, as the bishops were originally intended. In the game Alice, the Cheshire Cat, for better or worse, guides Alice with his enigmatic advise. I have him sitting on a tree stump.

My favorite piece is the White Rabbit, as the Knight. The knight is the only piece that can hop over others, like a rabbit. Here he frantically looks at his pocket watch.

The Mad Hatter plays the Rook, the second most powerful piece. Interestingly, the current version of Chess came from a variant called the “Mad Queen,” giving the queen her current powers. This Mad Hatter can make mad dashes across the board, on either color, giving him an advantage over the bishops. I don’t know if you can see it, but he holds a tea cup in his left hand. The rook is usually the last of the pieces to be played (hence “rookie”), so he can sip his tea for a while.

Last and least is the Dormouse as the pawn, sitting on the base. The Dormouse suffers abuse from his tea party mates and constantly falls asleep. In the game of chess, one must not be sleepy when using pawns- they should not be underestimated. If Dormy reaches the 8th rank, he can be promoted to any piece.

It’s a matter of perspective which side these Alice pieces would be. On one hand, white is the attacker and black is defender, so Alice being the protagonist should probably be black.

Of course the other side will be the Red King and Queen, the Duchess as the bishops, the Knave as the knight, and the Jabberwock as the Rook (the only piece exclusively from Through The Looking Glass [which has chess references in it]). The card guards will be the pawns.

When all are carved and cooked I will paint them. This will be a first, as I prefer to leave my sculptures un-colored.

I’ll keep you informed.

“If I had a world of my own, everything would be nonsense. Nothing would be what it is, because everything would be what it isn’t. And contrary wise, what is, it wouldn’t be. And what it wouldn’t be, it would. You see?”

-Alice

The artist known as Donatello was one of the most important sculptors in Italy in the fifteenth century. He is considered one of the founding fathers of the Renaissance. His innovative styles, including making shadow relief sculptures, involved the newly discovered developments in perspectival illusion. Like many budding artists of the time, Donatello had his artistic beginnings in goldsmith. Soon, however, he moved to Rome where he met and studied with the architect Filippo Brunelleschi. The two men together laid the foundation for the emerging Italian Renaissance, while Brunelleschi was taking measurements of the Pantheon Dome and Donatello was developing his style. Their work was characteristic of the spirit of the Renaissance and both the architecture of one and the sculpture of the other would have a profound effect of the painters of the era.

Donatello’s work was innovative and creatively unique. The enormous Saint John the Evangelist, with its realistic humanity, marked a change from late Gothic styles to an age where naturalism and the rendering of human feelings was sought. While the head was still idealized like earlier sculpture, the hands, and legs are very realistic. He also created the first known use of central-point perspective with the bas-relief Saint George and the Dragon. The technique known as stiaciatto, a form of bas-relief, was invented by Donatello and has been explained as “drawing in marble.” In his works following these, mostly niche works and other sculpture for cathedrals, his expression became more and more realistic as well as emotionally charged. He freely used classical examples for inspiration and used themes from the Antique.

In the 1420s , partnering with Michelozzo, he produced a funerary monument for the Antipope John XXIII. This would highly influence tomb design, with its use of classical architectural designs, along with the Three Virtues and Madonna and Child. It was considered to be “picturesque classicism.” Donatello created in 1445 to 1450 the first equestrian monument since classic times. The Gattamallata horseback rider was made for the Piazza del Santo and was made around the same time as the High Altar of the Santo.

The altar contained reliefs with highly perspectival scenes with crowded figures which would later influence painters such as Andrea Mantegna and Michael Pacher. His works such as David (seen above) , Judith and Holofernes, and Mary Magdalene possessed an expressive quality never before seen. He was highly influential in all the arts in Italy over the next century and his power of expression remained unmatched, perhaps until Michelangelo came along.

That is one big bee next to that sculpture, isn’t it? Where’d they find such a large bee? Oh wait! That’s a real bee we’re seeing, only that sculpture is actually that small. Is that even possible?

Last post we saw some of Ron Mueck’s amazing people, including the behemoth Boy. The extremely lifelike boy crouches down yet still towers above spectators at thirty feet high. But let’s take a look at the other end of the spectrum here. We’ve practically gone from planetary to atomic when we see these things.

I’m talking about microminiatures. You’ve heard of miniature sculpture but this is ridiculous. Some pieces sit on a pin head. At the museum one needs to actually peer through a telescope to see the details of these tiny artworks.

Nikolai Syadristy

One of the leading microminiature sculptors is the Ukranian artist Nikolai Syadristy. His works are considered to be some of the smallest works of art in the world. One of his works is a book, which is definitely the smallest in the world, being .6 square millimeters small. With 12 pages, it actually contains real poetry you can read- with the help of a magnifying glass, of course.

This amazing artist used to be an engineer and only does the microminiature work part time. He is now an author and most of his time is spent being an underwater athlete, believe it or not. But when he’s not writing or swimming, he’s constructing some of the smallest pieces of art possible.

To make the sculptures, Syadristy must hold his breath to keep his hand steady. He even needs to work in between heart beats, lest he make a mistake from the movement. The miniatures are made from tools you can barely see with the naked eye, by hand with no help from machines. And I complain about having to hold my hand steady when painting.

Heard of travel chess, the portable chess sets you can take anywhere? How about the kind on top of a pin? Syadristy’s Chessmen sits on a pin head and shows a chess board with pieces in the position of a real game played between chess masters. That’s pretty small. One piece called Swallows shows birds in a nest in half a poppy seed. Think about it- that’s a sculpture fitting into roughly the size of the period at the end of this sentence.

You know the expression about playing the world’s tiniest violin. Well here it is- it’s just over 3 mm long.

Syadristy has had a prolific and varied career and continues to receive acclaim from across the world, where his work is shown on all continents. Let’s hope he continues to make these tiny miniatures and he’ll doubtlessly never cease to amaze us. One only wonders what the man can achieve next.

Maybe he’ll carve a bird’s nest out of an atom.

Technorati Tags: miniature, sculpture, art, sculptor, ukranian, nanotechnology

Hyperrealism

Some mannequins and statues seem like they’re about to blink, turn to you, or jump out at you at any moment. They don’t seem like inanimate material or something fake. Rather they are like flesh and blood right before your eyes. There’s nothing ideal about them. What you see is an exact 3 dimensional replication of people. This is true of the sculptures of Ron Mueck. Well, “exact” except for size, in most cases.

A realist is any artist who uses their medium to portray subjects realistically from nature. Ron Mueck is what you call a hyperrealist. Like the photorealists such as Chuck Close, hyperrealist painters and sculptors take realism to the next level with a phenomenal attention to detail, being sure to include every hair, every goosebump.

Mueck was born in Australia and is based in Great Britain presently. He started out with puppetry and model making work in fantasy flicks like the 1986 film Labyrinth. Ten years after Labyrinth, the model maker decided to go solo and made the transition into the fine arts with his first major piece Dead Dad.

Scale: Miniature to Monumental

One of the things that sets this artist apart from contemporary sculptors is his use of manipulating scale. This can have a profound psychological effect on us. His people can be meant to tower over us and make us feel insignificant, like Boy (seen above), or on the other hand give us a glimpse at death by showing us a reduced version of a recently living human (such as Dead Dad).

Indeed most of the sculptures are not exactly life size. Dead Dad is only three feet long, while Boy is over thirty feet tall. Most are in between with some people about 1/2 size like the Angel, and others much larger than life like the woman in bed. One of my favorite works is the small old women. Extremely lifelike, as all of the works are, these women are more than just miniature copies of people. It shows emotion- ladies standing secretively gossiping away. They may as well be talking about one of the museum goers.

How Does He Do It?

Most of what you’re looking at is fiberglass or silicon. Much of the larger scale works are mostly fiberglass, save for certain features such as the face, which is silicon so hair can be made to look like it’s growing right out the skin. Much like the methods used for bronze casting, Mueck’s sculptures involve a process of molding and casting.

• First, small studies are made in either plaster or clay until the artist is satisfied with the “pose.”
• Next, a larger armature is made and wrapped in bandages soaked in plaster. Clay is molded around this armature.
• The clay is sculpted to form the person- clay is scraped, smoothed and detailed until the final look is achieved.
• A varnish is applied to the clay, to prevent cracking from taking the mold in the next step.
• Silicon is brushed directly over the figure to form a mold. This silicon will retain every detail. Fiberglass is added to make a sturdy, yet somewhat flexible mold.
• A wooden frame is built around the mold, and is attached to it. The frame is temporarily set aside.
• The mold is carefully removed- at this point the original clay sculpture is not needed and is discarded, the important thing is the mold itself now.
• The mold is put back in the wooden frame and it is ready for casting.
• Before actual casting, a colored resin is painted on the inside of the mold where needed- fingers, where the blood flows close to the skin, etc.
• Another thicker layer of resin is added called the “gel coat.”
• Then fiberglass is filled in, save for the face, and set overnight.
• The mold is carefully removed and the silicon face attached.
• At this point veins, blemishes, shaved hair follicles, etc. are painted on.
• A matte varnish is painted on the body, hair and eyelashes are attached, final details are painted.

It’s a long process but obviously worth it in the end.

Parallels

It’s hard to find much in depth on the highly unique artist himself and I’m not sure where he gets his inspiration. I do, however, notice some similarities in his work to the British painter Lucien Freud. Mueck’s showing of every little imperfection reminds me of Freud’s unforgiving portraits. I look at Mueck’s Big Man and think of Freud’s Nude. I also see Spooning Couple and think of other Freud sleeping paintings.

There’s more than just visual comparisons. There’s also that mood you get when looking at a sculpture by Ron Mueck, which is akin to the somber feeling of Freud’s neutral-colored and melancholy paintings.

Wherever he gets his inspiration, his work is more than just life-like- it’s human. Most of the work is very somber and emotional- with pregnant women, mothers, dead fathers, insecure boys, and just people being people. I’ve seen some hyperrealist sculpture and paintings where it seems that it’s just trying to copy exactly. That can not be said of Ron Mueck’s sculpture, because a mere copy would not be great art. His portrayal of the human form as well as his insight into the human essence is more real than real- it is perfect.

Major Mueck exhibitions have been at the Royal Scottish Academy Building, the Brooklyn Museum and the Modern Museum of Forth Worth. Currently a show is being held at the Warhol in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and I would really like to go to it if I can. It’s there until March 30th, two weeks from now. I’ll have to let you know how it goes. I know I couldn’t possibly be disappointed.

Larger Than Life Statue By A Larger Than Life Sculptor

When you look at this statue, what do you see? No doubt you are looking at the single most recognized sculpture in all of human history. Show a photo of the Renaissance sculpture to anybody, even a young child, and I’m sure they’ll be able to tell you at least the title, if not the sculptor. Is there another statue that epitomizes the beauty of the human body like this? Is there such a stone, marble, or block of clay which exhibits such precise human anatomy?

This statue is the achievement of a lifetime for Florentine artist Michelangelo Bounarotti and the high point of an enlightened period of history. It is David, the biblical king, who slew the giant Goliath.

A Young Shepherd Who Became King

David, the Israelite, son of Jesse, was a young man of not much consequence who guarded his father’s sheep. By chance he ended up in the service of King Saul to play the harp, because he was very gifted musically, to soothe the king when he was mentally tormented by demons. When the Israelites are in camp, facing the dreadful armies of the Philistines, David simply brings food for his brothers and the king.

A champion of gargantuan proportions came to the front lines to challenge the Israelites in single one on one combat to decide the battle. Of course, the enemy forces were confident in their soon victory and the home camp didn’t know what to do. David, overhearing this rises to the challenge with an idea. The boy, being the youngest son of Jesse, was not thought of as a fierce warrior. So when the king heard David’s claims, he laughed at first, but reluctantly allowed the match, seeing no other choice.

The enemy forces at once erupted in laughter when the saw the young and slender shepherd boy accepting the challenge of the giant. The fight, however, did not take long, after the boy produces a simple sling and stone. With one sure shot he fired the projectile and hit the giant between the eyes, sure and true, killing the warrior instantly. Before the monster could hit the ground the enemies were fleeing in fear, thus securing the Israelite victory. David is hailed as a hero, made a commander of men, and wins many victories as well as the hearts of the people, eventually landing himself in the throne.

Recreating the Biblical David

During the Renaissance we saw a return to classical themes, to include many biblical stories. The story of David and Goliath is a popular one in art history and has been reproduced by painters and sculptors alike. After the Renaissance the painter Caravaggio would repeatedly return to the subject, even painting himself as the severed giant’s head, exposing his own fear of decapitation, as a result of a tortured life on the run from the authorities.

In terms of sculpture, many of the Renaissance’s greatest sculptors attempted the David and Goliath. Let’s first look at two earlier renditions.

Donatello (1430-1440)

• Donatello’s bronze David was the first male nude single standing sculpture since antiquity, so when it was unveiled, it caused quite a sensation.
• What we see is David after the fight, with a small smile on his face, with his foot on the head of the giant.
• David here is overconfident, knowing God is on his side, as he stands nonchalantly with hip out, hand on other hip.
• Decidedly the most effeminate of the Davids.

Andrea del Verrocchio (1476)

• Verrocchio’s bronze statue of David once again shows a very young a frail looking boy with a sword, after the battle.
• Like Donatello’s, the head of the slain giant rests on the ground, but this time next to David’s foot as opposed to under it; some historians have argued that Donatello intended the head to be between the feet.
• This sculpture is very similar to Donatello’s including the posture, and effeminate nature.
• Verrocchio intended the David to symbolize Florence: both were stronger than they seemed, and both were rising powers.

Michelangelo Bounarroti (1504)

• The Michelangelo is the only case where we see David before the battle. He holds the single stone in his right hand and the sling in his left, as he gazes, with a human uncertainty at the giant (close inspection shows intense eyebrows, and a piercing look from very human eyes). There is no sign of Goliath in the statue itself.
• The two notable Davids before this were bronze, Michelangelo carved his out of a giant block of marble.
• Truly larger than life, the statue is 17 feet tall.
• Unlike the others which have at least one article of clothing, Michelangelo’s David is completely nude.
• The artist was only 26 when he received the commission, and completed the sculpture in three years.
• Notice the proportions are somewhat off: the head and upper body are slightly larger than they would normally be. The statue might have originally been meant to be on a roof, where the viewers looking up at the statue would have seen correct proportions.
• Questions have arisen due to the statue’s historical accuracy regarding the genitalia of David. The King David of the bible would have been circumcised, yet this version shows an uncircumcised penis. Some have conjectured that Michelangelo did this purposely, adhering to the ancient Greek ideology that a circumcised penis is considered mutilated. The small size of the genitalia is possibly for effect: a larger member may distract from the statue as a whole.
• Queen Victoria was so shocked by the statue’s unapologetic nudity, that she commissioned a fig leaf to cover the genitalia. This fig leaf was kept on premise for subsequent royal visits.

Many Davids were produced after Michelangelo notably Giovani Lorenzo Bernini in 1624, and Antonin Mercie, much later in 1873, as well as many others. My conclusion is that none of them compare to Michelangelo’s David. Its mastery, its beauty and its glory surpass all other Davids before and after, and arguably all other sculptures in the history of art.

Technorati Tags: michelangelo, florence, renaissance, art, sculpture, sculptor, david

Auguste Rodin

Yesterday you saw how the casting of bronze sculptures is done on the How Is A Sculpture Made? post. Today I want to show you who made them, namely one of the most famous bronze sculptors of the nineteenth century.

The French artist Auguste Rodin was considered one of the most important sculptors in his time for bringing the art back after it had taken a backstage importance to the public. At around that time sculpture was largely for decoration only, but he succeeded in turning the art into a form of expression. His attention to detail to human anatomy and his great skill have given us a mastery of human portrayal in sculpture which to this day has not been surpassed.

Like many of the best artists in history, Rodin was born into the lower class and had a rough and tumble early career, barely making ends meet. For over twenty years he performed menial sculpting tasks just to pay the bills. There is a sculpture of a head at the Philadelphia Rodin Museum with the back of it missing, due to the artist not being able to afford heat, thus causing the clay to break off in the freezing cold. He kept trying to get somewhere but suffered rejection after rejection.

Finally his big break came when he escaped from Paris, thus liberating him from academic art. He moved to Italy, where he got a healthy dose of some of the fine sculptures and statuary there. It was there where he was inspired by the works of Michelangelo Bounarotti, particularly Dying Slave, and created his first major work, The Age of Bronze. This statue had caused controversy because it was so lifelike that critics said he had cast a mold of a live model. This helped his rise to fame. In 1880 the statue was purchased by the State.

Soon after Rodin received other commissions by the State to include the monumental Gates of Hell. This project would obsess the artist for the rest of his life, and it would never be fully completed. Many of the figures on the Gates were reproduced in greater size, including The Kiss, and the famous Thinker.

Another great work by Rodin is the Burghers of Calais. The story goes that when the French city of Calais was besieged by Edward III in the Hundred Years War, the whole town was ordered to be slaughtered. An agreement was made however that the townspeople would be spared if six of the prominent citizens offered their heads instead. So six volunteered to save the population, but were pardon when the Queen convinced Edward to let them live. Rodin was commissioned to commemorate these six heroes. His sculpture shows the men with ropes around their necks, holding the keys to the city, separate from each other and walking in a circle, uneasy about their fates. The statue weighs two tons, and is meant to be placed at ground level so the viewers can walk around it and “penetrate to the heart of the subject.”

These statues, as well as the Gates themselves have been reproduced by the artist himself numerous times and can now be seen in Philadelphia, Paris, and many other places across the globe. There are at least 60 Thinkers known. If you’re ever in Philadelphia and make it to the Philadelphia Museum of Art, don’t forget to stop by the Rodin museum just up the street. It’s the largest and most important Rodin collection outside of Paris, and has all the sculptures I talked about above.

I’m sure I can safely assume you’re not wondering how one carves or molds a sculpture. Although the carving and modeling methods require great skill, the techniques used are fairly simple- you basically use tools and your bare hands to “add” or “subtract” material until you get your desired product. Once you have carved away from a stone or other hard surface, you can sand it and polish it. If you were carving from clay the last step would be to fire it in a kiln or heat it in an oven.

But how are bronze and other cast sculptures made? It’s not like there’s a chunk of metal and the sculptor chisels away at it. Casting is a little more complicated than the other two types of sculpture. It takes a team of several people, a foundry, and a 10 step process that has been around since 3000 B.C. When completed, you will have a work of art that will be around for that same amount of time into the future.

In a nutshell founders reproduce in bronze a sculptor’s plaster original. The process is a back and forth system of molding until the final mold is made to withstand molten bronze. This is how it goes:

1. The sculptor creates a model, usually plaster, to send to the foundry.
2. Using elastic material in a solid container, the founder makes a mold of the model.
3. The mold is used to make a model of fireproof cement that will serve as the core of the bronze during casting. Iron shafts are inserted to make sure it remains stationary within the mold.
4. The surface of the core is worn down, creating a narrow space between it and the mold.
5. Melted wax is poured into the mold, filling the space between it and the cement core. The mold is then removed, revealing the core shape covered with a layer of wax. The artist’s signature, the casting number, and the foundry stamp are imprinted in the wax.
6. A network of conduits is created to allow the melted wax to run out of the mold when it is heated. Later the conduits will also be used to pour in the molten metal.
7. A second mold is created of fireproof clay. When it is sufficiently thick, and throughly dry, it is heated, both to melt the wax and to harden the clay.
8. The fireproof mold is then covered by an exterior mantle of fireproof cement.
9. The mold is fired at high temperature. Molten bronze (2850° F) is poured into the space formerly occupied by the wax. After the bronze cools, the mold is broken to reveal a bronze replica of the model.
10. The conduits and other protuberances are removed from the bronze figure, which is then finished with chisels, polished, and treated with chemical solutions to give its surface the desired patina.

So there you have it. An artist can have their sculptures cast in bronze by sending it to a founder and paying them to do all the hard work. After all, you’ve done the easy part by creating the object in the first place. It must be interesting to see the final result, one of your own sculptures actually made in bronze, to be around forever.

Next we’ll be looking at one of the most famous of the bronze sculptors, Auguste Rodin. That’s his in the picture above, taken at the Rodin Museum in Philadelphia, the largest Rodin collection outside of Paris.

After doing all the posts about How To Paint, I realized not everybody is going to be able to jump right into art with a paint brush. Oil painting can take quite some time to get the hang of, I know I’m still learning. But one method of self expression I can wholeheartedly suggest to any newbie artist is sculpting.

Perceptions

In reality our brains constantly gauge distance and depth subconsciously without an effort on our part. We know, through pattern assessments, what effort it will take to walk from point A to point B, that the apple will look similar to the point of view we see it on the other side of it, and that people are full of curves, contours, and depth just by looking at them. We spend our whole waking and non-waking lives in the 3rd dimension. That’s why creating 3 dimensional art can be easier than on paper or canvas.

When we paint, we must give the illusion of depth and distance, thus making the artwork 3 dimensional in our minds. We worry about shadow and light, size and shape of objects, and how the viewer can perceive them to be real. When sculpting, nature takes care of all of this. Looking at a sculpture of a person, even an abstract representation of one, our minds make out what it is by just the basic shapes. All light and shadow exist naturally within the art object based on its curves, crevices, and formations. Instead of working to represent an object, you are actually making the object.

Mediums

We all remember modeling clay when we were in kindergarten and how much fun it was to use. Unfortunately we moved on to sentences and basic math, and as we progress through school our left brain studies we neglected our creativity more and more. That’s just life, I suppose, but it would be a truly liberating feeling to be able to create like in kindergarten.

Of course modeling clay is ideal for school children because it never hardens and can be used again and again, like silly putty or other substances. I guess the next step up would PlayDough, remember that? For the novice artist or professional, one would need a much more stable material. Nowadays I use something called Stonex, a self-hardening clay. This is ideal for me, as I don’t need to heat it for it to dry, and it hardens nicely.

Of course there’s pros and cons to everything. Stonex can be extremely brittle and you must be very careful with it. When it dries sometimes it seems to dry too much. I showed a sculpture of a laying down person with the leg broken off and someone asked if it was a happy accident. I wouldn’t be happy if my leg suddenly broke off.

An alternative to Stonex could be Sculpey, a versatile artist’s clay. This you’ll need to heat in a regular oven at about 250 for about 10 minutes. Not too bad, just an extra step, but when it comes out it hardens nicely, and is nowhere near as brittle as Stonex. The only drawback for me with Sculpey is it’s properties. While Stonex is hard to the touch when working with it, Sculpey can be very soft and rubbery almost, thus it drags a little when you sculpt. But you can get used to it.

Stonex and Sculpey can both be bought at your regular arts and crafts store relatively inexpensive. The more into you get you may consider trying actual red clay or ceramics. These are usually not for novices as you’ll need access to a kiln to heat the clay at extremely high temperatures. With the high temperature comes risks as well, the higher the temperature the more chance of something going wrong. You’ll need the temperature just right, the amount of moisture in the material, and several other factors could lead to cracking and just not coming out right.

Methods and Tools of the Trade

Michelangelo said, “The sculpture is already inside the rock, all you have to do is remove the excess stone.” This was Michelangelo’s trade of choice. He didn’t consider himself a painter (looking at the Sistene ceiling I’d say he was a hell of a painter). His method was “subtracting” from stone with chisels and other materials, sanding out and detailing the finished product. This is extremely advanced and difficult. If you finish the whole thing then chip off the nose, that’s it. No nose for statue.

Carving into wood, or sculpting into terracotta are other subtracting methods. In my amateur methods I spoke of earlier, we kind of use a give and take, add and subtract method, which is why it’s so easy to learn and do. I use sculpting tools you can find at your arts and crafts store. Sometimes it’s best to try to use the bare minimum of tools, that way you just flow with the artwork and not have to worry about unnecessary too changes. One time I sculpted a whole piece with nothing but a steak knife. With a lack of materials, you can always find a way.

Another advanced method of adding would be to make molds and eventually fire the final product in bronze. This is a several step process and complicated and involves going from mold to sculpture back to mold again, and once again involves extremely high temperatures. Auguste Rodin used this method when making his bronze sculptures.

Pottery is another way you can sculpt and fairly easy. I went from Michelangelo to Rodin to clay pots, but I never said this article was linear. But hey, Picasso was also a potter. Pottery can be a very creative art. Once you have your pots and cups you can paint them how you like. It looks easy but I’m sure it’s harder than it looks. I had the opportunity to see someone making little clay teacups with a pottery wheel. I didn’t get to try it, but I almost asked if I could.

It being the first Friday of the month, Im going to head up to Old City, Philadelphia where I saw this demonstration at the Clay Studio. They have a good exhibition each month and usually rotate artists and artwork monthly. My favorite was an exhibition of un-usable pottery. I know I probably butchered the title of the exhibit but basically it showed a whole bunch of bowls with holes in the bottom and half-cups and what-not. Pretty creative.

Well I hope didn’t miss any methods of sculpting, if I did, let me know. Now I’m off to see the galleries of up and coming local artists. Maybe I’ll be able to do a post on some of them tomorrow.

Until then, take care.

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