Start of my own new project
Summary:
In my last tutorial I was introduced to the work of Charles Avery specifically The Islanders project, In which the artist has devoted himself since 2004 on developing and creating an imaginary island, along with the people, the animals, the towns, the landscapes, and the gods; all of which represent specific ideologies and themes which Avery focuses on. This has inspired me to combine my interest in forms and figures with that of the human capacity for violence, therefore I intend to create a range of creatures that embody aspects of human violence. Therefore I have spent this week researching Charles Avery and other artists who relate to his work, and my own or who influence my own. Furthermore I have spent this week working in my sketchbook using the painting of the road kill badger that I made previous as a starting point for the creation of my menagerie of violent beasts.
I have scanned and attached pages from my sketchbook below, documenting the development of the first two animals.
I started by creating a 3d visual representation (a small model) of the badger, using plastacine and mod roc, two materials that I have grown quite fond of, due to the easy manipulation of plastacine and the rough crossed patch work that solidifies into a unique surface of the mod roc. This small model acted as a basis to start looking at form and considering what animals to use as inspiration for my own creations. This model is shown below:
I settled on four primary sources of inspiration from existing wildlife.
Horses, Grey Wolves, Turkey Vulture, Sun Bear.
I chose Horses as in my research I have highlighted that Horses have driven the human war engine for thousands of years, therefore they are an engine for advanced human conflict.
Grey Wolves are interesting as these are highly social animals like ourselves, yet 65% of wild grey wolf deaths are apparently caused by other grey wolves in conflicts of their own. Therefore this is a self destructive species although nowhere near as destructive as us they do resemble our own self destructive nature.
Turkey Vultures are vicious scavenger that are opportunistic killers and occasionally cannibalistic, therefore their sinister nature resembles sinister natures of our own indirectly the human characteristic of hunting for sport/fun. Killing for fun.
Sun bears are highly protective of their young and are extremely aggressive in their defence like ourselves if a humans child was threatened they would react similarly. Furthermore although the smallest bear species, the sun bear is the most aggressive and violent.
Below are the sketchbook pages documenting the first two animals.
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