CONTUMACY (3)
Year: 2023 Material: Steel Plate, Steel Metal Rods, Rotisserie Motor, Power Regulator & Sand
Slade Degree Show - Final Project
Within my practise, I am constantly thinking how to create an environment in which the viewer immediately responds to the work or how to compose a narrative that is open to interpretation and communication. I push boundaries within the creative process, the outcome, the interpretation, and the space the work situates in. Recently I have been fascinated by the behavioural mechanism objects and sculptures take on without my intention. The viewer can move around the sculptures or the sculptures can move around the viewer, the decision is undecided - whether the sculpture is trying to gain more insight on the viewer or vice versa. This experience of uncertainty and the unfamiliar is new for both parties, the ambiguity of pace, speed and direction of the moving sculptures is often unpredictable and out of my control. Whether the sound of the sculpture is from the motor pushing the piece around or the sound of the tracks made in the sand, whether the sound is muffled or clear, high or low pitch?
A close up of Discoloured Sand.
As this sculpture made more rotations over time, the steel metal ring dyed the sand each time. I did not expect this result but absolutely love the grey diluted colour of the sand grains.
Alongside this, when I removed the sand, the sculpture had made its own indented marks on the floor, from the grease residue and repetitive rotations!
I love how my sculptures had started its own natural mark-making process and has human-like characteristic and personality compared to its mechanic looking appearance.
I wanted to employ a strong level of uncertainty within the piece as the process of creating the sculptures were incredibly difficult to manipulate and control. I, the artist was working with the piece rather than at it - its stubborn yet playful behaviour sparked a human like trait. The sculptures, I see as a family rather than a group, communicating with another. Whether this active conversation is an aggressive row or a calm breathing meditation is open to interpretation. Each viewer can either resonate or acknowledges a different experience depending on the timing and sound. Like a family, the three sculptures take on different traits and personalities, complimenting each other without overshadowing.