Whilst in University on a training course on how to make prosthetic resin eyeballs I was able to collect my latest 3D printed head.
This is the best yet due to a couple of factors, the first being that the 3D scan worked really well and the second being that it was printed on a finer setting.
Some of the detailing is a lot clearer on this head compared to yesterday’s but still it has that ghost of a memory feel to it.
What is also starting to interest me is the concept of translation.

1. The translation of my idea to a solid form, the carving of the head in stone.
2. The translation of scanning the stone head and digital rendering of it.
3. The translation of how the software reads the original information and 3D prints the head, rounding and smoothing areas.
4. The translation of the chalk, charcoal and ink drawings that I do of the set up sculptures.
   In all these cases something of the original has been lost yet it’s essence is still there.
   The next part of this journey will start next week, when I am going to vas a one piece silicone mould of today’s printed head, I can then start a batch production of heads in different materials that can then be used as components for other sculptures.

I am also as they say chomping at the bit to find some time to 3D scan each component that goes in to making one of my bigger sculptures. This would include the stone, the shards of brick, the concrete block and the wooden blocks. for one of the sculptures I would like to create peg and holes so that it all clicks together like leggo but I would also like to make two sculptures out of one by mixing the 3D printed elements with the original components.

There is so much scope for this and directions that it is going in that my head is starting to spin. In some ways I can see comparisons with the sculptures of Constantine Brancusi, his use of different materials / components, carved wood and stone. The other comparison is how Brancusi stacked and balanced his objects.

TO be honest this is where the comparisons end as Brancusi’s sculptures are thought out and have an air of refinement where as mine have a brutality and roughness to them. But what is really interesting is the question what if Brancusi had access to the technology we have now ? How would this technology impact on his practice? Would he have embraced it as a way to realize his sculptural dreams quicker? or would he have shunned it?

For many years Technology in art has baffled me, Like Brancusi I come from the school of ” I want to carve something in stone, so I will teach myself how to do it” the human element in this process is important part. So I shunned technology, I really could not see how it would be of use to me until now. I expect this is why I am getting so excited My work / sculptures have jumped a level with the 3D printing. My real worry now is will I be able to continue with this research? or will Covid 19 get in the way again, with more lockdowns and restrictions after the Christmas period? If this were to happen I would be rather upset and slightly annoyed, as the whole point of doing my MA was to learn and research new skills and directions for my art process, and to use these new skills to create a new way of thinking what I can and am able to achieve with my art.

art #artistsoninstagram #artist #sculpture #sculptureart #sculptor #contemporaryart #contemporaryartist #contemporaysculture #contemporarysculptor #modernist #brutalist #wip #cottononmcr #3dprinting #wip #wipart #fineart #fineartsculpture