Skin bags, amirite?

Hey so I couldn't figure out how to rotate the picture so just turn your entire computer on it's side and then you'll get a sense of what I'm dealing with right now. I'm going to try to tie this piece into the painting I'm currently working on and explore just how gross and uncomfortable I can really get. I want to create movement with this piece that just makes people uncomfortable with putting things in it. 

 

I feel like I'm channeling my inner Jason Briggs but I'm kind of using this piece also as a study to hone my carving and my understanding of how the body works and how I can make it work to my taste.

Choices, Choices, Choices...

My idea is a simple box, but with buttonns/buzzers on top on some of the sides. I am inspired by the containment aspect of concepts. One of the most common themes I have been seeing lately in shows, video games, and other media is a focus on Mind Games or emotional blackmail. Jail/Prison is also a prominent theme in News and Fiction television right now as well.
So I took the "Prisoner's Dilemma" game/experiment and came up with this idea. This could be a device model where you press the buttons depending on the choice you wish to make. The bottom will come off to show you the rules of the game and the consequences and rewards of what combination of choices could mean.

 These boxes by Betsy Williams were also an inspiration because they are not very lavish or ornate, but still beautiful and meaningful, which I want to be with my piece.

 This Japanese piece gave me the inspriation to make a Buzzer/Button box system. It has a similar shape, but with the opposite concept and visual meanings. (Artist: Workshop of Nonomura Ninsei (Japanese, active ca. 1646–94)

 

My biggest draw and where my idea stems from is the Zero Escape Game Series by Kotaro Uchikoshi. These games use Prisoner's Dilemma, Schrodinger's cat (my original plan, but did not know how to not make it cheesy), Time Shifting, and other such ideals to try and show the dark side of human morality.  

seed pod:by Ying-Yueh Chaung 

Although this is not a box, I really like the way the floral form interacts with the spherical one.

Michelle Tobia uses multiple objects to create on piece and I really enjoy that element of the Drift1


Through thought and creative processes I came up with the idea of making a box with a flower on top (isn't everyone super surprised?!) and then making individual leaves that can be arraigned around said box. My reasoning for this project: YOLO

Centerpiece stuff

I am doing a piece based on my German last name Mohn, meaning poppy. I looked at German vases for inspiration for the form of my object. They tend to be cylindrical, sometimes possesing slight curves.
West German Vase
I like the silhouette of this vase as well as the surface treatment.
Rosenthal, Germany
This vase also has a nice silhouette that lends to the sense of fragility the piece has.

This is my original sketch of my idea, though it has evolved over the process of actually making the piece.

Center Piece-Negative Space

After looking at several images on the internet I knew that I wanted to experiment with different ways to incorporate negative space into bowl shapes while still having the same function as a bowl container. Unfortunately, this experimentation is quite time consuming and not reliable for having an end result. However, for my center piece I was inspired by the following images:


My original plan for my center piece did not work out due to broken pieces and time constraints, but I am still hoping to create a center piece that includes a play on negative space and organic/art nuveau designs.

Sex: What is was and what it's become

The idea for this piece stems from the initial analysis of the way that sex has been viewed by the masses over a progression of time. There have been such important benchmarks over the years that have dictated the public's presumption of what sex means, what its purpose is, and the actions taken in response.

This piece will include narrative sections that visually explain some of those benchmarks such as the implementation of the scarlet letter during Puritan days, the shock "therapy" performed on gay folks before it was no longer deemed a mental illness, the first marks of sex in classic literature, and more. Aside from these elements added to the vase, the form itself will be very simplified, a smooth vertical form that briefly alludes to an abstracted phallic form, without being like "hey here's a vase that looks like a penis!" The pieces that will be added to the vase with the imagery atop will be representative of isomers, thus they will be crafted hexagons. There will be other abstracted imagery on the vase that alludes to the cellular structure of a flower -- this connects to that idea of flowers and sex being intertwined...clearly there are a lot of connections happening with this vase, between different ideas, but it makes a great amount of sense to include those several ideas in this one vase.

The piece above is likely the form that I will be drawing inspiration from. I think that this would be the most dynamic once the hexagonal pieces are added to it -- they'll be right below the halfway point. This piece also references the shape of a tulip, which is a great way to tie in those cellular details that will be added later.I also really appreciate the form to the left and enjoy the way that is so simple and yet has so much character all at the same time.

Something crucial to keep in mind, is that on this piece, there will be hardly any detail on the surface of the vase, other than the hexagonal forms because so much attention will be paid to the painterly work that is executed in order to bring more life to the piece. 

These sketches (to the right) are representative of the basic ideas that I hope to execute on my vase...on the far page, there are some of the imagery that will be shown on the hexagonal forms, what represents the different views about sex over time. 



-- O.D.

Love without sex Center Peice

With my center piece, I am focusing on human sexuality and romance specifically the interesting roles they have upon each other.  In our society, it is common for people to engage in sex without love but when there is romance without sex people react with utter confusion. My centerpiece will be split into two pieces the heart vase and the vagina stand, the two can be separated to show loves independence from sex. Romance can exist without intercourse and passion without penetration.

I found inspiration from Cynthia Consentino’s Madonna series where she breaks down gender roles and the idolization of sex. She incorporates the virgin Mary with many different items in pop culture including the vagina. I was also inspired by Jemma Millen’s work with hyper-realistic heart forms in porcelain.