What latest updates have I produced for my illness sculpture?
I have managed to make a very interesting start with this project as I have managed to get hold of some more materials which crosses off one of my tasks for this week that I have set myself. I needed to have found a way of making a plinth like foundation that will go under the Chinese squatting toilet that will also cover the sides of it. So I thought about the idea of using bricks which are English so that it would act as a narrative of myself of the cracking and erosion of the insides of my body.
How did I get these bricks?
Well… I always thought that if you do not ask for things then you do not get anything and I just had to ask some of the builders who were renovating the building next to the Ipswich college. I explained to the builders what my work was all about and explained to them its for good causes because I believe that my illness narrative within my sculpture would reflect awareness for the viewers who will see it. I also explained how many bricks that I would need to use to make my plinth that will hold and surround my Chinese squatting toilet.
In the end they agreed to let me use about 40 of their used bricks which was quite a relief for me as I knew from this point on that I could continue my progress with my Chinese and English illness sculpture. So to me this was a good result in good hard work in negotiating and trying to carry all of the bricks back to my MA studio and after all of this it payed off really well and was most eager to start my work.
Were there any problems during this process of using the bricks?
umm… yeah… I think there was a slight miscalculation within the number of bricks that I needed and I must have needed at least 8 more of the used red colour bricks to complete the setup of the plinth that surrounds my Chinese squatting toilet. So……. I had to return back to the construction yard to ask them for 8 more but they said no to me :( which was a bit disappointing but I guess that I was asking for too much than I can chew, if that makes any sense?
Anyway…… they did say to me that I could use some other bricks which were 3x the size of the normal red bricks and these bricks that they said I could have were black colour. This made me think very seriously about the way I change my concept and looks of my sculpture and in this way, it had given me another insight into a new meaning for my work.
What new ideas have I gained since having to make do with the black bricks when there were no more red bricks to use?
They let me have the black colour bricks and I got about 7 of them incase I did not have enough and by using these bigger blocks this made me think about in terms of how our body is like the foundation that keeps us standing up strong. The bigger bricks I thought could act as the stronger foundation such as my legs and the smaller red bricks will act as the top half of my body and the cracks will resemble my inner body eroding and breaking down, if that makes sense?
So I thought that this would be an excellent narrative to the intestinal illness that I suffered from and by using this new idyllic concept seems like it makes bigger sense than the original idea that I had in mind and not so obvious towards the viewer .
Does this mean that I will stick to this idea or still try out other methods of presenting this sculpture piece?
Umm… I will still try out other concepts and ways in trying to point out the narrative of my work the best way possible but I do not want it to be too obvious towards the viewer. I want my work to always have a narrative within my work but not in an obvious way and want the viewer to be able to engage with it further. If I did decide to hang some objects about my Chinese squatting toilet it has to be able to work for me but not to be seen as ‘obvious art’ meaning I don’t wish to give away the answer behind my work straight away if this makes sense?
So the answer really is yes, I will try out some different concepts and ideas within this sculpture piece but no idea of mine is for definite until carefully examined to what works best for me as well as the viewer.
What will I do next for this sculpture?
I will certainly experiment more with trying out different concepts within my work, at the same time changing the context of it slightly. By doing this I will start by doing some more drawings in my sketchbook to workout new ideas. I will also keep gathering materials that I will need in order to try out these new ideas from my sketchbook.
Please feel free to watch my short 4 minutes of commentary of putting together my sculpture and the ideas that I have currently in my mind.
