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Cindy Sherman

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The Naked Shadow

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Test images before filming

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Sketchbook 

---I will be adding to this post as I make progress---

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Acting On Body Adornment Sketches

Materials= cardboard, masking tape (nice’n’simple!) 

To not overwhelm myself, I decided to take the deer head piece literally and cut a simple silhouette, as at this time I was struggling to be proactive with my brief... Bit of ‘artist block’. I now think I will just take the antlers as part of my final body adornment as that’s the part I want to focus on due to it being the main part of protection. 

Although I didn’t like this finished result I’m glad I trailed it. Now to focus on making a 3D form and making it detachable from the body. I have also decided to not me too literal with my adornments to make them more personable to me.  

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Body Adornment Ideas

Sketchbook update.

03/04/20

Starting to think of how I am going to make my body adornments. These will most likely be made from a variety of recycled material- so they won’t look so pleasing on the eye but the main focus is the shadows they will create and how they can detach and reattach.

I am trying to think of how the form will evoke proposed feelings of power and sense of self (which will be the shadow of former self.) I decided to look into animals that have defensive mechanisms, such as talons/ antlers and wings.

For now, I will play with these ideas and expand them with 3D wearable sculptures. I am also going to try a more focused approach to my sketchbook and make more of an effort to understand “a shadow of your former self” outside of a photography/film approach.      

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Rebecca Horn

Einhorn/Unicorn - Performance (1970), Finger gloves (1972)

02/04/20

Rebecca Horn is a German artist whose work was thought of and sketched while in hospital, she created over 20 wearable sculptures. In 1964 Horn was studying art in Barcelona, working with fiber glass without a protective mask which resulted in lung poisoning. She spent a year in hospital, within this time her parents had passed away.’ they were the result of a period of convalescence for Horn when she said '[t]he only work I could do while confined to bed was to design and sew these body-sculptures from material' (Celant & Horn, 1994, pp. 15-16)’ Her work has a strong emphasis on extending the body, these sculptures were made from a wide range of material: Metal, wood, feathers and man-made material.  

I find Horns work liberating- knowing the circumstance's she had begun creating these works- she had made what was an extremely isolating and lonely time into the makings of works of art. Responding to her position, then making extensions of herself and the human body. I believe she was pushing the boundaries of the human form, a statement of “I am here” in a large gesture, such as her finger gloves (1972) which extended the reach of her hands further than we as humans would be unable to reach.  

Unicorn (1970) was a performance in which the subject walked through woodland wearing a horn sculpture on her head for 12 hours, Horn had a love for fantasy creatures which inspired this piece. Horn’s performances often lacked an audience other than Horn and those supporting the performance and filming, meaning that the subsequent films were the primary means by which the performance moments were intended to be seen. 

She used a range of processes in her work, from sketching her ideas to making them 3D form, then using photography and film to show her work in the way she intended. I like this idea of using other mediums to show work as you would want the viewer to see it as I work like to work in a similar way. 

Especially now, I think her work is important- as we are all in isolation, we should look to our creative outlets to push our voices and work, within limiting and lonely times. Just as she did.  

Reference: Finbow, A. (2018) ‘Multiplicity in the documentation of performance-based artworks: Displaying multi-media documentation in Rebecca Horn’s Body Sculptures at Tate’, Journal of New Music Research, 47(4), pp. 291–299. doi: 10.1080/09298215.2018.1486432. 

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Shadows in motion

31/03/2020

Test video for shows in motion, worked out better than expected- with an extra light it really helped in making a dark and crisp shadow. 

The torches I bought have a flashing function and SOS function which I will be utilising in more of my future work. 

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Making sculptures from recycled materials 

31/03/20

Using recycled materials I made sculptures to create extensions of the body, attempting to create interesting shadows. 

I still need to figure out how to make them attach and reattach as that’s a important part to my proposed brief. For now I will continue to make sculptures from recycled material, thinking more about how these will become extensions of the body.  

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Silhouette in motion  

27/03/20

Test video from basement with one LED torch. The video is too dark- more light source is required, also I should have increased the ISO to allow more light recognition in camera.  

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Testing lighting in basement

27/03/20

Due to studio cancellations, I will have to figure out how I can replicate the images I want to achieve without it. I brought an LED torch for the lighting- I have decided I will need another for desired effect.  

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Short Poem

People are leaving our physical world

We seemed to all have been cursed

By something we cannot see, hear or touch

The fear of the unknown is getting too much

Being reduced to shadow people

Not to be seen by family, friend or foe

How do I expect to grow?

When the pain I can see, hear and hold, is making me feel so low

26/03/20

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Sketchbook progress so far...

25/03/2020

Ink/charcoal/pencil

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Layering to create distortion and turmoil

23/03/2020

As we are all becoming shadow people - due to self isolation -there will be people beginning an internal battle by themselves.  

Through playing with layers and opacity it has given me more ideas for my performance piece, overlapping film could create an interesting disposition, honing into my research of becoming a shadow of your former self. As it usually happens during negative life changing events.