Mixed Media
Exhibition Text:
This piece focuses on the dualism Life vs. Death. My mother and father smoke heavily and cigarette butts are always available. I decided to make something out of cigarette butts, but I didn't know what. I saw what smoking does to people over an extended period of time and wanted to encompass that. The piece is a found object piece, since I found the materials. The topic is life vs. death and can double on the affects of smoking on babies in the womb.
Meaning:
The meaning I chose was the dualism Life vs. Death. I used cigarettes to demonstrate death and the form of the baby to demonstrate life. I thought that the dualism of life vs. death was very popular, and it is. I wanted to do something that was personal to me and something many people can relate to. I wanted the piece to completely demonstrate the dualism. Cigarette smoking whilst pregnant with a child can also hold many problems that can negatively affect the unborn child. The child could be born small, prematurely, and some not even born. This issue is important to me and I wanted to focus on it.
Artist Inspiration:
The artist I chose to emulate is Tony Cragg. Tony Cragg is a British artist from Liverpool, United Kingdom. Cragg emerged in the 1970's with art that questioned typical sculptural techniques and materials. Cragg considered the materials an important part of the piece and that the materials hold a lot of meaning. Cragg merges industrial materials with ordinary, everyday objects to suggest new meaning and use. The piece I chose to emulate Britain Seen from the North. Britain Seen from the North was created in 1981. It is a found object piece, created with vinyl records and pieces of broken plastic. Whilst creating this piece, Cragg focused on the social and economic difficulties Britain was facing. I chose this artist because I thought his work looked very one-sided, but was actually quite deep and centered around issues personal to him and many others. I chose this piece because I liked the "found object" concept and the personal reason behind making this piece.
Journaling, Planning and Process:
My ideas focused mainly on health and childhood. The first idea I had and the one I decided to go with was the affects of smoking on infants/fetus and the dualism live vs. death. I really liked this idea because I grew up with smokers and I have seen what it can do to a child's lungs and the person smoking lungs. The second idea I had was to create a flower out of cigarettes. I thought this would be fun to create and a nice topic, but it proved to be very cliche. It stayed as an idea. The last idea I had was to create a diploma out of childhood items. I thought this idea would be nice, but a little cliche and a little overdone. I opted not to go through with this idea, solely based on the cliche-ness. Plus, cigarettes are much easier to come by in my home than random toys.
Planning Sketches:
This sketch is the idea I went with. I decided to make a baby out of cigarettes. I wanted the baby to be clearly defined so there was no question what the shape was. I decided to go with a fetus, since I focusing on the babies inside the mother.
|
This second sketch is of a diploma made of children's toys. I decided not to do this because it was overdone and cliche.
|
This last sketch is a flower made out of cigarette butts. I thought that this would be fun to make as well as an important subject to talk about. I decided not to do this since this had already been done multiple times.
|
Experimentation:
Tools:
Actual Process:
Comparison:
Cragg, Tony . "Britain Seen from the North: 1981." Tate, n.d. Web. 7 Feb. 2017. <http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/cragg-britain-seen-from-the-north-t03347>. |
My piece and Cragg's piece are very similar in many ways. One way they are similar is that we both did found object. His piece was random found objects while mine was cigarette butts. We both also stuck our pieces onto a solid surface using some sort of adhesive. Both our pieces also focused on a "controversial" subject that was personal and important to us. One way our pieces contrasted is that he focused on two figures while mine was one. Also, his piece was colorful while mine was black and white.
|
Wednesday Critique:
Word Count: 303
While discussing my work, there were many different aspects of my piece that we went over. One aspect was the collection of materials. My piece focuses on cigarette butts and those are quite small. The problem of finding enough cigarette butts became apparent while discussing. Another thing that was discussed was process pictures. I did not have any process pictures on my website. I also did not have experimentation nor pictures of my tools. I also did not have much anything explained thoroughly enough to effectively understand the meaning of my piece nor the process I am currently going through. Another issue we came upon was the size of my piece. I was planning on making my piece about 3 ft wide. This is an issue since cigarette butts are quite small and that size would require a lot of cigarette butts, which then came back to the collection of materials. Another problem that surfaced was if my meaning was a little cliche. Many artists have focused on the dualism life vs. death and have demonstrated that through the depiction of a baby. I decided to add another meaning to this as well so that if could be more original and personal to me. Another thing discussed was my artist inspiration. I want my piece to effectively demonstrate my artist inspiration, Tony Cragg. We discussed painting the butts colorful since Cragg’s piece I am focusing on is colorful. I also was planning to do an installation, but this would not properly emulate Cragg’s piece. Another thing discussed was my message of the effects of smoking on babies in the womb would be appropriately demonstrated by me making a baby out of cigarette butts. I feel that this would be demonstrated, but many might take it another way. Art is about self-interpretation after all.
While discussing my work, there were many different aspects of my piece that we went over. One aspect was the collection of materials. My piece focuses on cigarette butts and those are quite small. The problem of finding enough cigarette butts became apparent while discussing. Another thing that was discussed was process pictures. I did not have any process pictures on my website. I also did not have experimentation nor pictures of my tools. I also did not have much anything explained thoroughly enough to effectively understand the meaning of my piece nor the process I am currently going through. Another issue we came upon was the size of my piece. I was planning on making my piece about 3 ft wide. This is an issue since cigarette butts are quite small and that size would require a lot of cigarette butts, which then came back to the collection of materials. Another problem that surfaced was if my meaning was a little cliche. Many artists have focused on the dualism life vs. death and have demonstrated that through the depiction of a baby. I decided to add another meaning to this as well so that if could be more original and personal to me. Another thing discussed was my artist inspiration. I want my piece to effectively demonstrate my artist inspiration, Tony Cragg. We discussed painting the butts colorful since Cragg’s piece I am focusing on is colorful. I also was planning to do an installation, but this would not properly emulate Cragg’s piece. Another thing discussed was my message of the effects of smoking on babies in the womb would be appropriately demonstrated by me making a baby out of cigarette butts. I feel that this would be demonstrated, but many might take it another way. Art is about self-interpretation after all.
Reflection:
I believe, overall, that my piece was a success. It came out looking like I thought it would when brainstorming about this piece. I wanted it to look like a fetus/baby made out of cigarettes. I thought the finished project reflected what I was trying to say. What I was trying to say is that when a parent smokes while pregnant, their baby is essentially a cigarette. Smoking while pregnant can cause many problems for the child, especially since they are developing. I tried to imagine the impact this would have if I just chucked this into a stroller. I wanted that impact to occur to those looking at my piece. One success that occurred was that it was quite easy to make. The cigarettes stuck easily to the board with the glue. Another success was the paint on the board. The black sort of simulates the womb or perhaps the black smoke from the cigarette. That is open to viewer interpretation. One problem that occurred was actually drawing the fetus. It turns out that drawing a fetus is quite difficult. Either the head or the body was not in proportion to other parts of the fetus. I struggled with the sketching of the fetus greatly. It turns out that the disproportion turned out in my favor since it is the effects of smoking on a baby. Another problem that occurred was not getting paint on the cigarette butts. I decided to paint the board AFTER I put the cigarettes on since I only wanted the surroundings to be black. I had to paint with a small brush and it took quite a long time. Other than this, the project was quite easy to complete and it looked nice when I completed the project. All in all, I am proud of this project.
ACT Questions:
1) Since my inspiration was found object, my piece was found object.
2) The author regards smoking while pregnant heinous, but hasn't really discussed the topic.
3) A generalization I made while researching is that many women are not aware of the dangers of smoking while pregnant.
4) The central theme I had was smoking and its affects on babies while pregnant. I also focused on found object pieces.
5) A conclusion I made was that there should be more focus on informing parents who smoke while pregnant the consequences on their child.
2) The author regards smoking while pregnant heinous, but hasn't really discussed the topic.
3) A generalization I made while researching is that many women are not aware of the dangers of smoking while pregnant.
4) The central theme I had was smoking and its affects on babies while pregnant. I also focused on found object pieces.
5) A conclusion I made was that there should be more focus on informing parents who smoke while pregnant the consequences on their child.