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Inspiration
The artist David Shrigley provided the inspiration for this piece. Shrigley deciphers fragments of text and overheard conversations to find context. His primitive and cartoonish ink sketches, which he typically exhibits in a salon setting, resemble pages from a cheeky adolescent's sketchbook. Taking on serious issues like unemployment and child care, as well as more surreal topics like romantic fantasies about fictional characters. The artist actively transforms found objects or plays with their size in his sculptural pieces, which are made in materials such as bronze and ceramic. Shrigley enlarges things and imbues them with curious dimensions, based on Lewis Carroll's perspective of Wonderland. Shrigley's sketches seem plain and straightforward in style, but they are the product of a long period of experimenting with ideas and discarding them. All of Shrigley's work encouraged me to concentrate on a unique creative piece that will draw the attention of every passer-by. This was the most logical choice for making a piece that would affect audiences emotionally as well as physically. I wanted to evoke thoughts in people that they may not often think and tie it back to the adolescent phrase of not judging a book by its cover.
The second inspiration for me came from my family's record player. I chose this one in particular due to its classic look, but also because it looked so simple that if you passed by it you might not think twice about it. One other thing about this record player is that for a long time it didn’t work at all and my family was thinking about just getting rid of it, but because of my dad, he fixed it up and gave it a second life because he saw the potential in it. This record player has now been used by us day in and day out, and continues to be a part of our family events. It is something that embodies the ideal behind my art that you should always give something a chance.
Planning
Within my first planning page I decided to take an image of my inspirations artwork. I then proceeded to break down the different parts of the inspiration. Mostly I noticed the simple things, such as the lack of color, the cartoonishness, the lack of detail and other things of the sort. One thing that I thought was particularly intriguing was the message that I believed represented the image. This is something that I wanted to include in my project very badly although I found it difficult at first with the design that I was going for. Later on, after doing much more work to the design which can be seen in later images, I managed to find a way to incorporate this best. Next to my breakdown of the image I also wrote out a list of designs that I could go with for the piece as well.
This brings me to my next planning page, where I completed my final top down draft of the sculpture. This draft/mock drawing of the sculpture pulls together the design and shows what I want the final product to look like. Within the image I outlined the colors I wanted to use as well as where each of the pieces should go. I also outlined the scale of the actual product. For the final sculpture and the three dimensional mock up, I want it to be the same size as a normal record player as noted on the page. I also noted smaller details such as the fact that I want the record holder to be as perfectly round as possible similar to that of a bowl.
For the third and final planning page I made this a frontal view of the mock up design. I did similar things as to the last planning page, but this time I added notes for what it should be made of when entirely finished. I once again noted that the colors should be black, brown, or white for the pieces of cardboard that surround it. The bottom piece should follow a shape similar to that of the record player I used in my inspiration. The other thing that I added to this design was the materials that the final product should be made out of. I want this sculpture to be made of stone to really enforce the title that was given to it, and I want it to be made up of different random stone that matches the colors I assigned each of the parts.
This brings me to my next planning page, where I completed my final top down draft of the sculpture. This draft/mock drawing of the sculpture pulls together the design and shows what I want the final product to look like. Within the image I outlined the colors I wanted to use as well as where each of the pieces should go. I also outlined the scale of the actual product. For the final sculpture and the three dimensional mock up, I want it to be the same size as a normal record player as noted on the page. I also noted smaller details such as the fact that I want the record holder to be as perfectly round as possible similar to that of a bowl.
For the third and final planning page I made this a frontal view of the mock up design. I did similar things as to the last planning page, but this time I added notes for what it should be made of when entirely finished. I once again noted that the colors should be black, brown, or white for the pieces of cardboard that surround it. The bottom piece should follow a shape similar to that of the record player I used in my inspiration. The other thing that I added to this design was the materials that the final product should be made out of. I want this sculpture to be made of stone to really enforce the title that was given to it, and I want it to be made up of different random stone that matches the colors I assigned each of the parts.
Experimentation:
This image to the right shows a collage of images of a ruler and myself making marks on where to cut the different pieces . This was one of the biggest things that I experimented with, not only because it can add to the elements of design, but also the structural integrity of the piece as a whole. The lengths for the side pieces as well as the switches and needle are very important so that I can make sure that they all fit with proper proportions and it looks right. I played around with the different lengths and sizes for each of these things in order to find what I found would fit best in terms of the final product’s look as well as overall design and how it flowed together. It was important to me that each piece fit together in the perfect way in order for it to all make sense.
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The second thing that I played around with and experimented with a lot was with the circles and their sizes in relation to everything else. This was once again a very important thing due to the need of a sound knob and a place to actually put the records in order to make this accurate. The actual experimentation that came from this was within the testing of bowls to create perfect circles in order to get the right dimensions for the knob and spinner. I had to test out multiple different bowls from around my house in order to find the right size proportionally for the spinner. I then had to do the same for the knob. I ended up using a white container, specifically the one in the center image, for the spinner; and I found that the top of the paint bottle would work perfectly for the volume knob.
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Process:
For this project I decided that it would be smart and helpful to myself to organize the steps in order, this is shown within these images. My first step was to cut everything out, then glue together any pieces that go together such as the stacks for the knobs and switches, then I painted everything that needed to be painted, and then finally I put everything together fully to complete the design. Within the first 10 images I show the process of my cutting and measuring out the pieces I need to use for each of the different parts. Within the tenth image I have everything laid out. Nothing has been glued yet and I am preparing to glue. Within the first image I show the four side pieces that make up the panels on the sides. In images 2 and 3 I made the circle that the record would typically sit on. Images four, five, and six are the pieces that make up the needle and its swinging arm. Images seven through nine also make up the knobs and switches that are seen at the bottom of the design. Within images eleven through 18 I glued all of the pieces that needed to be together. I worked to try and shave off any bits of glue that were sticking out to better prep it for paint, but this was difficult to do on certain pieces such as the circular ones. In image 19 it shows the disk that the record sits on, I added a small piece to represent the pin in the middle that locks the record in place. Afterwards I painted each of the pieces, this is shown in image 20. I laid out all of the pieces in this image after they had been painted in order to picture them as well as to allow them to dry. Afterwards I glued everything together. I did this in the order of the last photos.
Critique:
Similarities:
- One similarity between the two pieces is their subject matter. On the surface level they are both about music, but when looked into further they both have hidden more subtle messages and meanings.
- Another similarity is there cartoonish nature, both pieces are incomplete in ways and seem rushed together, although this is the way that the artists have designed them.
- One very obvious difference is within the mediums of the pieces. Shrigley uses a print for his artwork which is two-dimensional, where as mine is a mock up for a sculpture.
- Another big difference is the stage of completion that the two pieces are in. Mine is in the early stages since it is just a mock up, whereas Shrigley's is completely finished.
Reflection:
This was a fun and interesting piece to create, but definitely not necessarily my favorite. I loved the mixing of art styles as well as the piece overall. David Shrigley was my inspiration for this piece. I think I did a really great job of connecting to him, or at least this one artwork of his.
The biggest challenge to me was finding a way to incorporate his style of cartoonishness without ruining or drastically changing the message or actual piece. I feel that this piece ties together with my photography, my painting based on photography, and my hybrid heroes projects. I feel that it tied into these because I created it out of cardboard and made something 3D based off of something 2D.
My favorite part of the piece was the mixing of art styles and seeing them come together in a way that worked. Although my least favorite part was coming up with a way to share my message, I feel that I could have added more to it or even taken some things away to make it feel more complete. In the end, I hope that others see it as a well thought out and strong and intriguing work of art, I hope for it to make them question the way that they look at the things around them as well as themselves, not just physically but mentally as well.
The biggest challenge to me was finding a way to incorporate his style of cartoonishness without ruining or drastically changing the message or actual piece. I feel that this piece ties together with my photography, my painting based on photography, and my hybrid heroes projects. I feel that it tied into these because I created it out of cardboard and made something 3D based off of something 2D.
My favorite part of the piece was the mixing of art styles and seeing them come together in a way that worked. Although my least favorite part was coming up with a way to share my message, I feel that I could have added more to it or even taken some things away to make it feel more complete. In the end, I hope that others see it as a well thought out and strong and intriguing work of art, I hope for it to make them question the way that they look at the things around them as well as themselves, not just physically but mentally as well.
ACT Connection:
1.) Clearly explain how you are able to identify the cause-effect relationships between your inspiration and its effect upon your artwork:
- You can see a clear cause and effect relationship between my artwork and that of the inspirations through the use of cartoonish designs to convey deeper meanings. Both artworks use a cartoonish approach to convey the deeper meanings within them.
- My inspiration approaches their artwork differently, he approaches everything by thinking about it intertwines with past experiences, as well as how he should convey it in a more simple and broken down way.
- When doing my research, I found that things often turn out differently than how you might want or think them too. For example with my sculpture I had a completely different idea in my head as to how it would turn out, I will be honest I thought it would be much more intricate it actually was, and thats because we tend to have this idea in our minds of something but it's not until the execution of it that you find out wether or not you did it how you wanted it.
- The central idea around my research was that art is up to how you interpret it, and there are many different ways of executing it. Art is an expression, and you should do with it how you please.
- While reading my research I found that you shouldn't just take things for what is shown, everything can be broken down, rearranged and looked at from a new angle.
Citations:
“David Shrigley.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 2 Apr. 2021, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Shrigley.