Saturday, 25 February 2017

Contrast

Using Found Objects 


Using examples from my previous years work, I created, purely out of habit, this piece which is comprised of found objects and plaster.
It is simply a stone encased in plaster and decorated with some fake flower and a nail.

I had found the stone when looking for materials to use and really liked that while it was a manmade object, it had moss and small plants growing on it. At first, I was skeptical to use it because I didn't want to ruin it, but throughout this year I have been aiming to break out of that mindset and to be less precious with materials such as the stone when experimenting and developing my work.
After some deliberation, I chose to encase it in plaster to fully demonstrate the contrast between manmade objects and naturally occurring materials.

I liked that the stone was damp and weathered and had things growing onto it, and chose to use fine casting plaster because it is a polar opposite to what the stone is. Together, the brilliant white of the plaster and rough, weathered texture of the stone effectively showed what I hoped to achieve.

While the plaster was setting, I realised it looked lacking as it was. I chose to use fake flowers because they are a manmade representation of a natural object, ad applied them to the piece in the particular area I had because on the other side, there was clear marks on the stone where the plaster had been accidentally rubbed on the stone. I wanted to showcase this because it showcased how the plaster and the stone were blended together, and there wasn't a clean line between the materials.

I added an old nail later on because I liked the contrast between the natural elements and the rawer  more industrial elements. The flowers and the stone represented the natural elements, and the nail and plaster represented the industrial elements.

I chose to use fine casting not only because it contrasted with the stone, but because I really enjoy working with plaster, and because it introduced the industrial element that I like to explore with within my work. The nail is an extension of this exploration.







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