yesseanm

[yesseanm]

Curatorial Research C:

Neutral

sheet music

changes how we associate the objects conceptually i.e The Music boi

window

places the objects in a semiotic world

[yesseanm]

Curatorial Research

Milk X The North Face X Hot Mess 

(tattoo tents)

French Pavilion, Venice Bienalle 2019

(dug out the basement, used alternate entrances

Tom Sachs X Nike, Mars Yard 2.0 Space Camp

(space)

[yesseanm]

Reading List

Reading List

https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2018/04/24/author-discusses-new-book-how-americans-respond-discussions-race

12 Years A Slave

Avengers

https://www.osms.org/ye/white-privilege/article.html

https://philpapers.org/rec/HEADTN

https://www.pdcnet.org/gfpj/content/gfpj_2014_0035_41641_0007_0022

https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/e/9780203499719/chapters/10.4324/9780203499719-16

Tyler Perry’s Madea

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00131857.2014.991499

https://philpapers.org/rec/TOBTBF

https://s3.amazonaws.com/academia.edu.documents/684265/Westmoreland42.pdf?response-content-disposition=inline%3B%20filename%3DBlack_Bodies_White_Gazes_The_Continuing.pdf&X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Credential=AKIAIWOWYYGZ2Y53UL3A%2F20191007%2Fus-east-1%2Fs3%2Faws4_request&X-Amz-Date=20191007T092722Z&X-Amz-Expires=3600&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&X-Amz-Signature=efd0a6f2ea40c6e60978bb7407a72c059a04a11fe5d53fad12fafa8f52bef371

https://www.pdcnet.org/philafricana/content/philafricana_2013_0015_0002_0089_0097

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00131857.2013.861195?journalCode=rept20

Boyz In THe Hood

All Eyes On Me

Fox News

https://www.pdcnet.org/philtoday/content/philtoday_2018_0062_0004_1219_1241

Leonj Schouster

https://books.google.co.za/books?hl=en&lr=&id=ZBKMDwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=George+Yancy&ots=ldCCCgdNmC&sig=lD5JixHFc4gUqP0BY5uCm_vJBYA&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=George%20Yancy&f=false

Dear White People

[yesseanm]

Video ideas ?

Smoke

Milk

Mike Sherman

Tense Cats

RED

Toothpaste management

[yesseanm]

Collage

High Contrast

Monochromatic

Saturation Desaturation

Low Contrast

Analogous

Contrast of values

Experimental

Split Complemetaries

Warm and Cool

Triadic Colours

[yesseanm]

[yesseanm]

Achromatic colour palette -

Wilhem Sasnal

Untitled 2004-07

*unknown*

Monochromatic colour palette -

Jean Dubuffet

L’enfle-chique IV

Lithograph

Primary triad colour palette -

Scott Bergey

Three Good Thoughts

Mixed media collage on paper

Secondary triad colour palette -

Persian Manuscript painting

Paint

Predominantly cool colour palette -

Karine Leger

*Unknown* 2008

Gouache

Predominantly warm colour palette -

Norbert Schwontkowski

Labor

2009

Oil on canvas

Predominantly desaturated colour palette -

Helen Frankenthaler

Milkwood Arcade

Acrylic on canvas

Predominantly saturated colour palette -

Hans Holbein

A Lady with a Squirrel

Oil on oak

The contrast of saturated and desaturated -

Georges Lacombe

Forêt au sol rouge

Oil

CCPOCWWCG 1 -

Charlie Billingham

Wigged Bum 5

Oil on canvas

CCPOCWWCG 2 -

Walter Richard Sickert

A French Kitchen

Oil on Canvas

CCPOCWWCG 3 -

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner

Erich Heckel and Model in Studio

Oil on board

High contrast values -

Félix Vallotton

Misia à son bureau

1897

Gouache and pastel varnished on board

Low contrast values -

Peter Doig

Gasthof

Oil on paper

[yesseanm]

Process drawings

[yesseanm]

[yesseanm]

Wire Armeture pre-cladding

[yesseanm]

Future Organisms - Research

The conceptualisation of my “future organism” began with the narrative construction of a post-apocalyptic world. 

It goes like this, “It's 2050, Spider Silk protein-rich milk has found its way into the water table. As a result, a war between scarecrows living off of the protein-rich earth and the violent but cute Eurasian Wrens that plague not only crops but nuclear power plants and occasionally Trump's head ( although that mess may be unrelated) (and yes somehow mans is still prezzo of the USA).  As protection from the Eurasian Wrens deathly diamond tipped beak the scarecrows have evolved and adapted as somewhat humanoid beings.” 

I chose to run with this idea, experimenting with shape and proportion. Because I chose to create my own narrative rather than base my concept on pre-existing conceptions of the relationship between the earth and industrialism while examining the way in which mother nature adapts in order to protect herself. 

I chose to read children's stories about life on farms, stories in which children would dress up their scarecrows. I also searched for forms that I could incorporate into my work, elements such as Venus Fly Traps, shrunken heads and the idea of tapping into an underground resource for personal consumption.

Spending many years living in and around farms in Zimbabwe I don't remember ever seeing a scarecrow, which led to the question, “Do the birds just not like the corn here?”

[yesseanm]

Sculpture Glossary

Registration Keys - Allow mould sections to lock together.

Slip Casting - Pouring a substance into a mould.

Slip - Clay mixed with water.

Dividing Walls - Separates sections of the plaster mould.

Release Agent - A substance used to help release a sculpture, usually sunlight soap or vaseline.

Modelling - Creating three-dimensional forms.

Gypsum Plaster - That good good (hydrated Calcium Sulfate) 

Pigment - Used for colouring.

Flicking - A technique for applying plaster to detailed areas in order to avoid air bubbles.

[yesseanm]

Sculpture tools

[yesseanm]

Joshua Tut Homework

1) Churches 

2) Statue of Nelson Mandela outside the Union Buildings

3) Soccer City

The Union Buildings

Steeped in a powerful combination of many facets of South African history, built from light sandstone, construction beginning in 1910 and finishing in 1913, designed by architect Herbert Baker whose designs can still be found across South Africa. This structure has been a constant presence in tumult of SA history. Herbert Baker wanted to express the whole idea of British Imperialism in South Africa through his buildings, however this lasted up to the 40s when the Union Buildings became a symbol of apartheid and oppression under the nationalists space co-opted between the 50s and 80s and finally became a symbol of freedom from the 90s onwards. It is this historical omnipresence of the site that I believe links to its roots in national identity, be it as it may a complex past in the sense that it is greatly multifaceted.

[yesseanm]

Plaster of Paris Carving Task

“Linking Holes, 2019”

As a part of our brief we were tasked with finding a pair or two things that relate to each other. While I chose to keep my work fairly conceptual I did not want to pass up the chance to learn new technical skills that I had never even dreamt of attempting. This was where I began.

Prior to this task being assigned I had been on a Skype chat with my father and, as random as it was I decided to bring up the topic of slavery as I had been researching slave miners earlier on.

With this conversation still somewhat fresh in my mind, the concept of chains and cotton came out of my pencil as soon as Rowan had finished giving us the details on the project. As a class we discussed our ideas, however I had already settled on the idea of carving a chain, regardless of what the second sculpture would actually be. I began practicing techniques for carving chains on blocks of plaster my classmates had weirdly chosen to dispose of, I later attempted to carve a “practice” chain out of soap, in the hope that it would act the same way as plaster of Paris, oh boy was I wrong, the soap was a flop. It was at this point that I decided I would simply give it my all and hope for the best, I began meticulously measuring and chipping away at the plaster until about 6 hours later it was done. Now I had to figure out what I wanted to do with the second, after bouncing ideas around with Rowan we decided on a cotton spool with thorns sticking out at inconveniencing angles. As I thought more about the concept of slavery new ideas began to flourish.

I decided on a vintage ashtray with symbols relating to the history of slave trade and the origin of slaves. This to me depicted the the idea of disposing something when it is no longer of use to you, I chose to use cigarette butts to help add to the visual narrative of the piece. What appears to be a bullet wound or puncture now adds to the uselessness of this “ashtray” as the butts simply fall out and onto the floor. This redundancy within its own cycle depicts the way in which ideological systems such as slavery or racism essentially just add an obstacle to our reality and therefore stump world growth.

The chain links visually depict the bondage and shackling of slaves and there overall inhumane treatment, I chose to create contrasting links, a solid more structured and bold link, connecting with a slightly smaller, smoother more delicate link. The contrast not only pertaining to cultural differences but also the physicality of such an environment of that time.

By placing these objects together, my aim was to explore the narrative of slave trade and the disposablity of not only people but cultures and almost any idea

#RowanSmithForTheWin #plaster #TD100

[yesseanm]

Unstructured Structures

[yesseanm]

In conversation with Kyla Kukard

Kukard’s work is often influenced by themes of anxiety and the way in which the human body and mind navigates such feelings. Within this series Kukard uses the medium of soap to highlight the psychological relationship between the idea of cleansing and the act of creation.

Her first piece titled “FUN-SIZE”, which equates to the way in which “cute” and “small” are branded in our modern consumerist society. This artwork was created in response to an article on IVF (In Vitro Fertilization) which is the process of fertilization an egg with a sperm outside of the body. The article looked at specifically celebrity Chrissy Teigen and outlined how she received backlash from the public regarding her decision, despite it being known that she is unable to conceive a child “naturally”.

This artwork, “FUN-SIZE”, through the use of the chosen material (soap) explores the man-made process of creation, in her case Kukard takes the medium and carves by hand the object, the significance of this act is seen in how the human hand and therefore human will power is able to alter the structure of a pre-existing form/life force. The dynamic rough lines and solid shape of the green soap “hand” comes from Kukards aim in allowing the imperfections to contrast the idea of “perfect” and how in the end a parent has little to no control in the final outcome of the child, this speaks through within Kukard’s work. The use of green as a colour palette for this piece pertains to the notion of an ungendered somewhat “alien” colour, showing how the artist feels in relation to the topic and the naturalistic nature of human child birth.

Her second and final artwork of the series titled “Agitated” combats themes of anxiety and the way people deal with it. This piece speaks personally of the artist in both its physicality and figurative meaning. The artwork takes the form of a crumpled up bus ticket, Kukard claims to take the bus frequently and had therefore chosen to take inspiration from these surroundings and incorporate it into her work. Kukard speaks of the anxious feelings that arise when on the bus.

Kukard’s aim with this artwork was to depict the action she associates with the anxiety felt on the bus, this comes in the form of the bus ticket, crumpled and rumpled. It is the act of scrunching the ticket that is then the product of the anxiety felt. Kukard instills a “paperish feel” to this soap sculpture , now playing with a denser soap. She keeps an textured unfinished feel to the work, keeping it rough to tie in with the idea of uncomfortability and agitation. The colour of this artwork contrasts the idea of anxiety being a grey colour as the artist uses a light pastel blue. Blue being a colour that is often associated with strength, stability and confidence.

In displaying her works, Kukard plays on the roles of engagement and interactivity. This is seen in her choice to display her work “FUN-SIZE” with the hand up, palm facing towards the viewer, while her piece “Agitated” goes against what is usually expected of a bus ticket. Kukard chooses to display the work in a way that allows for interpretation from all angles, as this contrasts regular life cycle of a bus ticket, a life that usually ends with the ticket being discarded into a bin or worse, the floor.

As an artist that mainly works with the practice of layering, Kukard expressed slight distaste for the method of reductive sculpture, however was able to overcome issues with it. Kukard finds joy in the natural process in both her art and daily life.