Final work:
Inserted in the above is my final work presented for critique. I will begin by explaining the concept behind my work, followed by the methodology.
Before I actually came up with the concept of the final product, I actually did experiment with various unique methods that can be found in my previous post:
https://oss.adm.ntu.edu.sg/engj0007/project-1-mark-making-process/
Also, the artist that I referenced can be found in this post:
https://oss.adm.ntu.edu.sg/engj0007/franz-kline/#more-8
Before I begin, these are the 6 emotions that were presented in my work.
Primary Emotions |
Interpreted Emotions |
| Love | Longing |
| Joy | Eagerness |
| Surprise | Unpleasant Surprise |
| Anger | Grouchiness/Annoyance/Grumpiness |
| Sadness | Suffering |
| Fear | Worry |
concept:
Simply put, the concept behind my work is my morning routine to school. It spans across the moment I open my eyes to the moment I set foot in class.
Love to me, is the longing to sleep in.
Buzz buzz, there goes my alarm. The moment I open my eyes, I was hit by the realisation that I have to be up for class. The thought of having to leave my bed has left me longing to be engulfed in the softness of the mattress whilst being embraced by the coziness of my comforter.
Joy to me, is the eagerness to have my breakfast.
After longing to be in bed, the sudden thought of being able to have my breakfast got me feeling really motivated. The eagerness to savour a cup of iced coffee while munching on my toast came through like a sudden rush of adrenaline.
Surprise to me, is being caught off guard where I will be late for my class.
When the adrenaline rush hits me, I finally got out of bed and swiftly grabbed my phone to check how much time I have to get myself dressed. Thump thump, it shows 08:10 on my clock. The only thought that crossed my mind was, ‘I am going to be late for class, real late’. This surprise came to me as an unpleasant one and it got me really panicky where I couldn’t help but to pace around with my heart palpitating.
Anger to me, is being annoyed at the fact that I have to rush in order to be on time for class.
While trying to keep my cool and get myself dressed as fast as possible, I was filled with annoyance at how absurd the entire situation was. Strings of rambles started pouring out of my mouth:
“Just, why didn’t I sleep much earlier last night?”
“Why didn’t I pack my bag before I went to bed?”
“Why do I have to bathe and all before I leave for school?”
“Why am I always rushing, urgh!”
and the many endless complaints.
Sadness to me, is suffering from the burn in my thighs when walking up the slope.
After all that struggle, I finally made it out of my room. Walking at the fastest speed, I was faced with the biggest struggle of having to walk up an uphill slope. Keeping in mind that I am close to being late for class, I gritted my teeth and walked up the slope tirelessly whilst feeling the burn from within my thighs. The burn left my thighs feeling sore and stinging pain when finally on flat ground.
Fear to me, is worrying that even after all that struggle, I am still not able to make it in time for class.
I gathered myself together and quicken my pace. From afar, I could see the building and I was bubbling with hope that I could make it in time. Yet another glance at my clock, left me worrying as I was 2 minutes away from the reporting time.
In the very end, I made it in time after all that struggle. What a crazy morning routine it is.
Methodology:
All the methodology explained in the below are my own recreation using materials parallel to my story.
(1) Love (Longing)
Love, is the longing to sleep in. As I wanted to re-create the softness of a bed, I decided to use a material that is of the same texture to the insides of a bed – cotton. I managed to get a bag of expired cotton wools from my friend, hence there wasn’t any wastage of materials!
- So, I went ahead to thin the cotton wools to ensure that the light from the scanner would be able to capture the thin cotton lines that forms the softness of a bed.
- After thinning close to 10 cotton wools, I laid them on a scanner, and did the settings and had it scanned!
The results were pretty satisfactory where the scanner managed to capture the softness of the cotton wool.
(2) Joy (Eagerness)
As I wanted to incorporate the materials parallel to my story, I decided to get creative with the materials used. Mentioned in the above, Joy to me, is the eagerness to have my breakfast. In this case, my all-time favourite breakfast would be an egg toast with a cup of iced coffee. Hence, I decided to incorporate coffee powder and an egg to the piece.
- First, I cut out an A4 sized aluminium foil as the base of the piece.
- I then created droplets of water around the aluminium foil and sprinkled the coffee powder as though I am sprinkling confetti around to express my excitement.
- I started blowing into a straw directed at the water droplets, creating the effect of a firework.
- Using a lighter, I lightly burned the bottom of the aluminium foil, allowing the water infused with coffee powder to burn and form a mark.
- Taking a step further, I applied a layer of egg white over the lightly burnt mark and leave it to cool.
- Once cooled, the mark hardens and only then, I was able to pour the Chinese calligraphic ink onto, and create my piece.
(3) Surprise (Unpleasant)
Surprise, is being caught off guard where I will be late for my class. In this context, I wanted to recreate the shock that got me jolted up from by bed with a heart palpitating.
- To do so, I went ahead to get myself a black textured foam board and ripped it into varying sized pieces.
- Once done, I started scrapping the foam pieces using the hand of the clock as a representation of how the heart is being stabbed as each second of the clock ticks by.
- Then I went on to paste the scrapped foam pieces layer by layer onto the board, piecing it up to form a entire heart.
(4) Anger (Annoyance/Grouchiness/Grumpiness)
Anger, is being annoyed at the fact that I have to rush in order to be on time for class and when I am annoyed, I tend to grumble and feed myself with endless of complains. In this case, I wanted to recreate the shape of my mouth where I replaced the teeth with strings, representing the strings of complains and grumbles.
- Basically, I went to cut out two identical rectangular pieces and using one of the piece, I managed to cut out an opening.
- Then I went ahead to stitch the opening with a white thread from on end to the other end till I am done.
- Also, I intentionally added the background from the ‘Longing’ panel as a linkage that the reason why I am complaining so much is all due to the longing to stay in bed and all that leads onto this state.
(5) Sadness (Struggling)
Sadness is suffering from the burn in the thighs when walking up the slope. This particular piece was one of the more impactful piece amongst the other five. My intention was to re-create the anatomy of the thigh that’s burned from all the climbing.
- To do so, I went to rip a full A4 sized tracing paper into different sizes and shapes.
- Then after, I went to burn the tracing paper, creating the burnt effect with the dried bubbles in it.
- Also, I went to burn an A4 sized paper to create the burnt effect as a replication of the skin that’s being burnt and ripped.
- Using the burnt tracing paper, I went to layer it on the board as a representation of how the flesh in the thighs are being burnt from the inside to the outside, then surrounding it using the burnt A4 paper.
- Lastly, I went to stitch the A4 paper together as a representation of the tendons when the thighs are being ripped open.
(6) Fear (Worrying)
Fear is worrying that even after all that struggle, I am still not able to make it in time for class, and when I worry, I tend to bite my nails out of habit. However, since it is pretty unhygienic of me to bite the paper nor the foam board, I figured that I could use a nail clipper instead.
- Using the nail clipper, I managed to clip out a number of nails on the foam board.
- Using these foam nail clippings, I applied black acrylic paint over it and stamp it over the paper as a representation of the nails that I would have bitten off while worrying.
- Then, I went to paste the foam nail clippings on the paper, together with the foam prints , giving a visual and textured experience.
- Lastly, I sprinkled patches of black ink all over, representing the sweat that came from the worrying.
And that’s how I managed to do all 6 panels of emotions.
Critique session
(1) Instructor’s feedback
So, Joy commented that the overall concept behind my pieces were great. The use of materials were parallel to my concept and the entire flow of the pieces tied really well with my story.
However, I made the most critical mistake of going overboard with the textures. It momentarily slipped out of my mind that it is a 2D project and the work I presented was primarily 3D. She said that my pieces were essentially works that were in progress and if I was able to go a step further and turn it to a 2D (flat) piece, it would have been great.
Sorry Joy, I will take greater note when working on further pieces!
(2) Classmates’ feedback
I was honestly really thankful and humbled by the kind words from my classmates. Most of them commented on the use of interesting material accompanied by the scientific methodology, in especially, the second panel where I used the coffee powder & egg white and the fifth panel showcasing the anatomy of the thigh! Really fills my heart to know that my work is appreciated by the classmates and it definitely encouraged me to push my creativity to yet another level and produce even more outstanding pieces for further projects.
(3) Reflection
I would say, this project was rather interesting and I really enjoyed doing it. However, it also made me realise many shortcomings of mine. Due to my background, I do not have any experience working on art projects. There were many areas where I failed to take note of, such as reading the specifications and requirements. This particular project was meant to be done traditionally where any form of digitalisation is not allowed, but I failed take note of that point and went ahead to use scanner for one of my pieces. Also, this is a 2D project where the pieces are focused on what’s imprinted onto the paper and not the texture that comes with it. However, as I was too into my own concept, it completely slipped off my mind and I went ahead to create my pieces with varying textures. That was such a huge mistake on my part. Nevertheless, I am still proud of my work and will learn from this experience. Still, I am excited for the coming projects!