3D Art

Automatic Sculpture Project

"I have no fear of making changes, destroying the image, etc., because the painting has a life of its own." - Jackson Pollock

"The most creative people are willing to work in the shadow of uncertainty." - Ed Catmull (Pixar)

"The main thing in making art is often letting go of your expectation and your idea." - Agnes Martin

Theory

In 1914, Clive Bell (a British, aesthetics philosopher) wrote about the transcendent beauty and supreme power of "Significant Form" in art. His contemporary, Roger Fry (a British artist and fellow member of the Bloomsbury Group) wrote about the importance of the Formal Elements in Modern Art. Sometime later, the American art critic and theorist, Clement Greenberg (active in the mid-twentieth century) popularized the notion of medium specificity: essentially, the categorization of art-making into narrow, medium-specific regions of activity. Although it's a gross simplification, it appears that Greenberg was familiar with Fry's writing, who in turn was inspired by Bell (click here to learn more about the theory of Medium Specificity).

Allowing ones materials to give direction and momentum to the creative process seems, on its face, to be a formalistic strategy, aimed at eliminating all narrative content beyond reference to the physical properties of the artwork itself (i.e., art for art's sake). There is, however some deeper wisdom going on here, as pointed out by Robert Morris who described the value of allowing other forces (especially those forces that are implicated by means of the artwork's materials and method of creation) to control a part of the art-making process.

One may loosely refer to the mindful collaboration with ones materials and the forces that act upon them as "automation". Automation proves to be a powerful tool for discovering unique imagery and new techniques, which are almost always the ingredients for a creative breakthrough (click here to learn more about the Theory of Automation).

Project Description

OBJECTIVE: Use plaster, balloons, clamps and rope to explore the automating process of "deformation with binding". The resulting non-objective form (i.e., having no discernible connection to subject matter beyond the work itself) MUST AVOID any and all narrative allusions and remain fixed on only the formal elements of shape/volume, mass/space, texture and colour.

MATERIALS: You will need a minimum of two punching balloons (the ones that have an elastic connected to one end) or four 12-inch helium balloons, a nylon ankle stocking, string, rope, clamps, a yoghurt container, a funnel and an empty two-litre pop bottle. To finish the sculpture, you will need shaping tools, sandpaper, acrylic paint, painting tools, a piece of MDF measuring 8" x 8" x 1", a length of 5/16" threaded metal rod, flat washer, lock washer and nut, a drill with a 3/8" bit, metal hack-saw, bottle of Gorilla Glue (the kind with urethane that turns to an expanding foam when it comes into contact with moisture).

PROCEDURE: First, use only water (without the plaster powder) to conduct a trial run of the steps that you will take. When you feel confident that you can distort the balloon mould without breaking it (this is the reason for the extra balloons), you may begin your work with the actual plaster.

Fill the pop bottle 2/3 full with cold water, the colder the better, and then empty it into the mixing pail. Gently sprinkle the plaster powder into the water until you saturate the water with plaster powder (small islands will form just beneath the water's surface). Use your hand to mix the solution thoroughly for about thirty seconds, making sure to break up any un-dissolved lumps of plaster. The liquid plaster should have the consistency of coffee cream, but NO THICKER than that or it will set up too fast.

Examples of Student Work

Use the yoghurt container and funnel to pour the liquid plaster into the pop bottle. Inflate your balloon and then stretch the end of it over the opening of the bottle. (NOTE: If you're using 12-inch helium balloons, use a pencil to slip one balloon inside of the other so you are working with a double-thickness of latex.) Invert the pop bottle so that the balloon is on the bottom and then gently squeeze the plaster solution into the balloon in short, controlled compressions so that the air moves from the balloon to the bottle, thereby pushing the plaster out of the bottle and into the balloon. When the bottle is empty, pinch the opening of the balloon and remove it from the bottle. Carefully open the throat of the balloon and allow the excess air to escape (try to get rid of ALL of the air until the plaster fills the balloon's throat). Use the string or the balloon itself to tie off the end. Slip the balloon into the nylon ankle stocking (this will provide a bit of friction so that the balloon doesn't slide around so easily).

Next, use the rope and clamps to distort the shape of the balloon in a radical and dynamic way. You have to move quickly because after about ten minutes of working, the plaster will begin to set. When this occurs, the work must be left alone for the next thirty minutes after which, the balloon mould can be removed. Clean up and refine the form with conventional sculpturing techniques before connecting it to a base and finishing it with paint.

Process Demonstration:

Demolding an Automatic Ice Sculpture:

PART 1

PART 2

FINISHING: Before you connect the sculpture to the base, set it on a table and look at it from all sides while you turn it around and flip it over a few times. You'll find that the work will appear most dynamic and interesting in only one or two orientations. This is the how you will want to connect your sculpture to the base. Make a pencil mark on the plaster where it touches the table. Carefully drill a hole in the plaster and then in the base. Clean the hole in the plaster with some damp paper towel wrapped around a pencil so that the glue will stick. Cut your threaded rod to the proper length. Coat it with a modest amount of Gorilla Glue (don't overdo it because the glue will expand 3 to 4 times its volume) and then insert it into the sculpture. Allow the glue to dry for an hour before using the nut and washer to secure the sculpture to the base (only hand-tighten the nut for now so you don't put too much stress on the glue until it's had another day or two to completely dry). The plaster can now be painted, but care must be taken to mask the base if it is to have a different finish.

Note

Make certain that your plaster is completely dust-free before you start painting. Use a clean, damp rag to remove any dust. Finishing Demonstration: https://youtu.be/3olwJOKxabw

TECHNICAL: Prepare the balloons and your binding materials before mixing the plaster. Be careful not to pinch or pierce the balloons or your mould will break. The balloons are quite durable and probably won't break, so be courageous in how severely you distort your mould. The more radical you make the distortions, the more dynamic and fascinating will be the form.

AESTHETIC: Your finished work must exhibit a comprehensive understanding of the compositional principles of Emphasis, Variety, Movement, Balance, Unity and Rhythm. As we discussed in class, the more daring your forms, the higher your mark. Your work will also show that you have attended to the details of creating a well-finished cast with a painted surface that's clean and stable. Your cast must also be affixed to the support in such a way that excess glue and mechanical fasteners appear non-existent and all surfaces are clean and free of defects.

Further Research

I would recommend these excellent videos about art:

Do Machines Make Art? (Art Assignment, Season 3 Episode 50 | 9m 31s)
The Case for Jackson Pollock (Art Assignment, Season 4 Episode 2 | 10m 30s)
Cai Guo-Qiang, in "Power"(Art in the Twenty-First Century, Season 3 | 13m 03s).
Flow: Happiness in Super Focus (The Nerdwriter, 2014 | 5m 38s)
Kintsugi: The Art of Embracing Damage (The Nerdwriter, 2014 | 4m 33s)