Alexander Calder has created a mobile sculpture, this is using movement by means of the air flow only, but still counts as a kinetic sculpture. Calder has used junk items which looks like they have been found from the beach to create the fish, this brings in again a connotation of waste and the effect of this on the environment, or in this case the effect on marine life. I like how these items are sourced directly from the beach, i feel this brings greater impact on its concept.
(Right Image)
Alexander Calder, American, b. Lawnton, Pennsylvania, 1898–1976
Painted metal rod, wire, metal, plastic, wood, glass and ceramic fragments, 16 1/4 x 48 1/8 x 4 1/2 in. (41.3 x 122.2 x 11.4 cm)
Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, Gift of Joseph H. Hirshhorn, 1966
Accession Number: 66.785
Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden Collection, American Abstraction (Mid-Century)
Bill Woodrow is an artist who uses Materials found in dumps, used car lots and scrap yards. He puts these items together to create sculptures. He uses inanimate found objects, very similarly to my work and puts them together in such a way to create sculptures with form, some of animals some of compiled objects. This is relevant as he shows what can be done with objects and how they can be put together to create art. In some of his works he has used the same material over and over to create something very large.
Woodrow has also created a bird out of found objects in a similar fashion to my own. Woodrow chose to explore a recurring theme in his work – the destruction of the planet and the insistent strength of nature over man, This subject can be seen in my own works.
Looking back at where i started and where i am now has told me and showed me how my work as evolved from with a form, something built up, tactile and still to something formless and kinetic.
In my earlier work, before i had researched the artists for my dissertation i wouldn’t have considered movement into my own work. Using Tinguely, Landy and Leonardo Da Vinci as research subjects as taught me to be more expressive and think outside the box, By combining the three main artists and taking away what i have learnt i am able to expand on that knowledge and propose my own ideas and have turned them into kinetic sculpture.
I began with form over function using found or obtainable objects, then created a sculpture that was based on movement and working out how random items and wheels could correspond to each other, and i am now beginning to merge both of those concepts together.
I propose to expand on what i am currently doing and create a larger adaption consisting of kinetic sculptures, with something of form, like an animal or people.
As you can see in the video the use of plastic i feel helps represent the physical bird. The problem i am facing is whether to carry on with the rest of the body of the bird or keep it where it is. I am not sure where to draw the line and whether the stage it is at is enough to represent its concept.
There are many different applications for this project, it can be left as it is or added to another larger project and used as a separate station to be part of lots of individual stations.
I am in the thought process contemplating whether to use this and keep this as a human operated machine or change it to motor operated. Although doing this would alter the concept of the sculpture.
I have used plastic bags on the wings to represent the feathers, also using plastic bags helps keep the weight of the structure minimal.
Using semi-transparent material for the stomach helps portray the story of the concept, showing eaten plastic.
