Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Corpus Clock



Someone recently asked me to re-post this, so here it is. I think i already posted it once, but the embed code died or something?

He'll do a much lovelier job of explaining what it is than I will, so I won't bother.  I was shown this video right around Christmas time 4 years ago, and I think of it frequently.  To me it is an excellent example of a thing done too well, which is what I think all artists should aim for. 

Shark! And surface treatments...


The re-tooled original shark, held together with 2 eyebolts only,

and then hastily painted with 3 colors of house paint, not changing the brush between colors.  One of the things I really appreciate about pinatas is their lack of pristineness, and so I wanted the first coat of paint just to give the idea of shark gradation.  Also, this shark has no eyes, nose, or gills. All it has is a toothless mouth and fins.  I'm not convinced that the sharks need any more detail than the dorsal fin and a mouth. Maybe this will be one of the questions I ask in critique.  Right now, this shark is fairly smooth and under-played, but still got a reaction from my mother this morning, "That shark looked scary."

Which leads me to my next question- At this moment I have created a break away shark.  One of the issues with this first shark to send off is that I want to be able to break it down and put it back together.  The sharks in June that won't be as necessary, but I'm sure repairs would still need to be made.  
Which brings us to the second surface treatment- various tapes. The second face is just a head I made to try out the next tactic for building. Besides changing the graphic of the shark, it also renders the sculpture less recyclable.  But it also makes detail (like gills) a very easy fix.  And, in case of cross country mishap, makes repairs simpler. Any feedback on this is welcome-  Is the tape shark too cartoony?  Too gimmicky? It is my "style" to create a surface treatment like this, but perhaps it is just too distracting? 
ah well, off to make dinner. 



Sand and Stripes



I'm sure you've all been wondering what it looks like when you take an orbital sander to your pinata.  Well, here you go!  Sometimes, when I look at happy circumstances like these I wonder why I try to control my process at all.  But isn't control what "art" is?  
Anyway, the photos are still uploading in stripes. Another happy accident I suppose. 

Monday, November 12, 2012

Pre-bikini musings...

 Over the weekend my friend Joe Carrow came to visit and help shoot images of me wearing the bikinis (images to follow, I'm sure).  He shared this video with me, which got me thinking, again, about how drag informs my work.  And as much as I enjoy the costume aspects of it, it's really the joy that excites me.



I also got to see ADIRA live recently, which, was oso much better than this video implies.  She and her girls are hilarious, tight, and classy.  They were the support show for Kid Koala, a show that used puppets of robots and church choirs and large replicas of records.

As empowering as I find these things to watch, the energy is almost what I want to remove from my costume work.  I want the costume to be static, preserved...

Ah well, all this is a tangent from the cohesive body of work I am meant to be working on. Sigh.