PROCESS
Assumption of Divinity:
This piece is inspired by Tilman Riemanshneider's "Assumption of the Virgin" and Veit Stoss' "Death and the Assumption of the Virgin" taking on a different perspective portraying a range of different monotheistic and polytheistic religions. The center of the tryptic features the symbols of many religions under gothic inspired patterns along with a variety of people in worship underneath. The left panel represents practices centered around the earth and nature and the right panel displays different holy animals and creatures represented in religions.
The sketch page lays out my notes on the different religions I researched to display on my artwork and the practice I did on gothic architecture. It also features my general ideas on the layout and orientation of both the tryptic shape itself and all the elements within it.
I wanted to explore the importance of different faiths within cultures and individuals. Faith comes in many different forms and I included multiple different facets that it may be seen within.
Adaptions
This piece is my view and commentary on the societal pressures on women. The African spotted hyena is known for it's evolutionary adaption of having a pseudo-phallis that prevents them from unwanted intercourse. As a juxtaposition of this, is the woman. Women do not have a biological defense and therefore resort to other methods.
The heart is a visible gash to symbolize how women do not just wear their heart on their sleeve, but feel like their whole identity is poignantly visible. She has multiple arms juggling multiple things at once. Her fist is bloodied from menstruation and she holds scissors in one hand to show how she takes the approach of making herself appear less desirable according to euro-centric beauty standards.
The thorns are interpretive, as when I painted them I had a lot of things in mind on what they could represent. Additionally, many other people who saw this piece had different interpretations on each detail I added and what it represented for womanhood in themselves.
The sketches display my thought process both symbolically and technically when I created this piece.
Man of Power
Approaching the topic of power, I veered to more of the negative effects of power. Taxidermy is often a symbol of power to men. It is a trophy for a successful hunt that they display in their homes with pride. But why are they so proud? That is the question I wanted to make people ask when they looked at my piece. I wanted to capture a sense of softness and beauty within this replica with guts visibly splayed out of the deer that hangs on the wall in a statement that it was a thing that once had life, but somehow ended up to just be a thing on the wall.
During the process I fortunately did not come across any major roadblocks for construction, however I did make a lot of visible changes to change the interpretation for the outcome. At first, I planned to make the deer stark and uncanny with details that were more graphic. In the end I decided that I liked the more delicate look, as I did not think that the deer looked as realistic as I initially intended, and it was slightly lopsided which gave it more character. Additionally, through construction and handling all the soft materials, I grew very fond of the deer and how cute and nice it was to hold, so I decided to run with this idea and make the implied gore more delicate and a juxtaposition on the violent undertones.
Overall, I’m quite pleased with how the final product looked almost exactly as I imagined and sketched it. It was nice to do a project that I could vividly imagine and execute, however for the next project I want to try and get out of my comfort zone a lot more, as for with the deer I had worked with all the mediums before and knew how they would behave (which is good and made me happy, just want to switch it up for next time). Like I said, the head ended up turning a little lopsided which made the deer not look as powerful and stark as an actual buck and I think for me that took me out of the presentation a little. Other than that, I’m very pleased with the little guy and I plan to keep him on my wall.
Reification:
With faith, gratitude is generally a generalized delivery directed towards an abstract source or higher power. Thanking a god for a processed meal on paper plates while many tangible hands held the elements that compose this beautiful scene many times before. In light of the world's climate landscape battling consumerism and social dissonance, it was important for me to honor what possessions have passed through me and a deity representing the people who have brought these goods to me.
I chose to tie in all my thoughts through the creation of an altar. This altar is composed of many elements: Paper mache skeleton, trash pile, candles, and wooden base. The altar reinforces the religious themes in a spectrum of interpretation, from being an altar of consumed goods to being seen as a grave of now meaningless possessions.
It was important to me not only to consider the importance of outer appearance and aesthetic conception, but also the thoughts on materials and process behind it. I gathered trash going about my everyday life, both from my own use but largely from found objects outside. These items are used coming from underneath the paper mache skeleton. The skeleton was made of paper mache from scraps I have saved the past three years for a project like this. Additionally, this piece was for my sculpture class based on the idea of "fate", with my professor giving us tasks to do, some on paper slips. These paper slips can be found visible on the sculpture. Additionally, the materials such as glue and tape that were used to construct the sculpture may also be found within the mound of trash.
Job be a Lamb:
I always found it interesting how sacrifice and purity are handled in religion. It is not the most wicked who is brought to the center and slain for the god(s), but the most pure. The lamb is the strongest representation of that.
This piece was made as an assignment where I was given the constraints of "vessel" and the concept that I would make this project three times. Originally this was supposed to be a peace focusing on the animal's role in abrahamic religions specifically, however as I progressed the final theme revealed itself. There was a mishap when firing resulting in the lamb's torsoe to crumble. I was not the one to load the lamb in the kiln and the idea of putting my trust in another to carry out a deed that went wrong was something that resoonated with me both in this artistic event and also personally. The ideas of the purest always being the one's to crack fit with this lamb, looking up to a higher being than itself. The title is a reference to the story of Job (9:22-24).
In the end this is not Job, and this was no god. Although I was devastated, I picked myself up and thought of solutions. I think filling the empty gaps with resin and the bits of remaining broken fragments painted gold really transformed this piece. In the end it ended up being a sort of self portrait of my relationship with religion, specifically christianity. I cherish this piece within my heart and I hope that in any aspect it may provide a sense of visibility and solidarity for others.