Organic Vs. Industrial
"It perfectly reflects the duality of our bodies – the ability to express the intangible self through physical form."
-Nikki Taylor
-Nikki Taylor
Your Body is a Landscape.
91.44cm x 60.96cm
Mesh Form Wire
February 2017
This piece was made to show the beauty of the human body, focusing on the female body. In this piece the female body was made into a landscape. It was inspired by the works of Paul Topen and Nikki Taylor. Taylor and Topen specialize in creating wire art of the human body. Topen shines light through the pieces, revealing more detail. This was used in my piece to reveal a landscape. This combines the industrialized human with the land it lives in. In a sense, the body is the land.
91.44cm x 60.96cm
Mesh Form Wire
February 2017
This piece was made to show the beauty of the human body, focusing on the female body. In this piece the female body was made into a landscape. It was inspired by the works of Paul Topen and Nikki Taylor. Taylor and Topen specialize in creating wire art of the human body. Topen shines light through the pieces, revealing more detail. This was used in my piece to reveal a landscape. This combines the industrialized human with the land it lives in. In a sense, the body is the land.
Historical Inspiration
Topen, Paul. "wire mesh female nude sculpture-Altogether Female." 2017. Accessed February 07, 2017. http://steelthreads.co.uk/shadow_sculptures/wire_mesh_figure_sculpture_altogether_female_nude.htm
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Taylor, Nikki. "Wire Mesh Sculpture - Catalogue." Nikki Taylor Sculpture: Wire Mesh. LW Design, 2017. Web. 07 Feb. 2017. <http://www.nikkitaylorsculpture.co.uk/wire_mesh.asp>.
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Paul Topen is a Scottish artist who creates work through a variety of mediums. He creates mesh form nude sculptures which show a large appreciation for the human body. Topen creates these pieces to represent a body, for more than something physical. By casting light on/through his pieces he is able to reveal more detail than just a sculpture. You can see the human figure in great detail,
Nikki Taylor is another mesh form wire sculptor. Her pieces can range anywhere from life size, to smaller models.Her pieces are either full sculptures or able to mounted to a wall. Taylor's works are made in appreciation of the human body, and she aims to capture the human energy through a different medium. With the appreciation for the human body, Taylor is able to create works that are able to represent human emotion. She believes that mesh form has the ability to represent the human body's ability of flexibility, much more accurately other than other conventional tools. The ability to see through these pieces shows how people are much more than just a solid presence on earth. People are in-tune with the world around them, and everything around them effects them.
Both artists create their works by hand, forming the human body through imagination. Unlike these artists, I will use mesh form wire and cast my own body. I don't have much prior experience with using wire, so it will be a challenge. I enjoy the idea's of Taylor and Topen combined. Taylor has a very appreciative understanding of the body and the feelings that body language can convey. Just through one sculpture the artists are able to convey the situation through body language (with one or more people). Topen adds another way to view these mesh sculptures by casting light through them. While Topen uses light to add detail to the body, Taylor put these figures into the world. Taylor photographs her own creations in the world, showing how the world around us effects us. The combination of these concepts and processes helped to create this piece.
Nikki Taylor is another mesh form wire sculptor. Her pieces can range anywhere from life size, to smaller models.Her pieces are either full sculptures or able to mounted to a wall. Taylor's works are made in appreciation of the human body, and she aims to capture the human energy through a different medium. With the appreciation for the human body, Taylor is able to create works that are able to represent human emotion. She believes that mesh form has the ability to represent the human body's ability of flexibility, much more accurately other than other conventional tools. The ability to see through these pieces shows how people are much more than just a solid presence on earth. People are in-tune with the world around them, and everything around them effects them.
Both artists create their works by hand, forming the human body through imagination. Unlike these artists, I will use mesh form wire and cast my own body. I don't have much prior experience with using wire, so it will be a challenge. I enjoy the idea's of Taylor and Topen combined. Taylor has a very appreciative understanding of the body and the feelings that body language can convey. Just through one sculpture the artists are able to convey the situation through body language (with one or more people). Topen adds another way to view these mesh sculptures by casting light through them. While Topen uses light to add detail to the body, Taylor put these figures into the world. Taylor photographs her own creations in the world, showing how the world around us effects us. The combination of these concepts and processes helped to create this piece.
Gathering Tools
Tools Used:
1.) Mesh Form Wire
2.) Scissors
3.)iPhone Flashlight
4.) DSLR Camera
1.) Mesh Form Wire
2.) Scissors
3.)iPhone Flashlight
4.) DSLR Camera
Sketching & Planning
When originally brainstorming ideas for my piece, I greatly considered how I could combine both organic industrial, rather than contrasting them. I thought about the idea of a heart as a clock, potentially symbolizing how limited our time is. My second idea was to find a way to create a flower out of tools, and a wire hand holding it. I also considered planting a tree in a "pot" made out of tools/metal objects. I was thinking about the industrialized world that everyone lives in. I scrapped all of these ideas after realizing how organic and pure the human body is. The human body is simple and directly derived from natural processes. The idea of a wire body makes one consider the uniqueness and how genuine a body is.
Experimentation
My experimentation largely revolved around the lighting of the piece. I tested with a lamp, and the light used on my iPhone camera. I also rotated around the piece and moved it horizontally, and vertically. I moved the piece around until I discovered the landscape that was revealed once horizontal. This gave the piece more meaning and more beauty. The simplicity of a pure human form was able to be captured in a new aspect, which was the land itself.
Process
To create this form I molded the form from my body. I cut the wire from the roll and defined shape.
Reflection and Analysis
I am very pleased with the outcome of my piece. The idea for it simply began with the need to use mesh form wire. I was in love with the idea of just being able to cast something in nature, with this industrialized tool. People see this piece without the light and the first thing people will see is wire. The wire holds something pure and impermanent, the human form. The shapes and the curves found in the piece are all unique to me, as everyoneś body is unique to them. Itś important to appreciate and understand that this piece shows something more than a body. Paul Topen and Nikki Taylor both had an influence on my own appreciation for the body. Their works of art all use mesh form wire, casting a delicate body. These figures that they made are incredibly realistic and sometimes even life sized. Although mine is just of a torso, it is a life-sized torso. I did not have access to creating an entire body out of the wire. If I were to do a project similar to this one, I would want to create it on a grander scale, maybe even adding another body (or just torso). This could add another element to this piece, or give it an entirely new meaning.
The end result of this piece was largely inspired by Topens use of light in his final products. The use of light by Topen unveils another layer and dimension to the art. More detail is seen, more truth to the piece is reveled. While both Topen and Nikki are professionals with mesh form wire art, I lacked experience. Due to this my piece appears more lumpy rather than the actual human form is. Regardless of the lumps the human form is still seen. Exposed and vulnerable this form takes on an entirely new meaning laying down. By laying down the torso a new meaning and connection to the theme of Organic vs. Industrial is seen. A human body shows a landscape. This adds another layer of meaning to the piece. Its a real human body, turned into metal, and put back in connection to the earth. This demonstrates the idea that although humans are becoming more industrialized, theyŕe ultimately connected to the earth. The land that we chose to change is a part of us, and maybe one day it might even consume the land with us.
The end result of this piece was largely inspired by Topens use of light in his final products. The use of light by Topen unveils another layer and dimension to the art. More detail is seen, more truth to the piece is reveled. While both Topen and Nikki are professionals with mesh form wire art, I lacked experience. Due to this my piece appears more lumpy rather than the actual human form is. Regardless of the lumps the human form is still seen. Exposed and vulnerable this form takes on an entirely new meaning laying down. By laying down the torso a new meaning and connection to the theme of Organic vs. Industrial is seen. A human body shows a landscape. This adds another layer of meaning to the piece. Its a real human body, turned into metal, and put back in connection to the earth. This demonstrates the idea that although humans are becoming more industrialized, theyŕe ultimately connected to the earth. The land that we chose to change is a part of us, and maybe one day it might even consume the land with us.
ACT Connection
1. The relationship between my artwork and my inspirations (Topen and Taylor) is very coherent. Both my inspirations and I used mesh form wire to create a female body. Topen uses light to show a greater detail, as did I.
2. My inspirations have a very strong view of the human form. Both respect the beauty of it, and how it can be made into art with a material as industrial as wire.
3. While researching my inspiration, I determined that there is a large collection of people who admire the beauty of human figures. The culture surrounding this art form is very in touch with the organic and simple body.
4. The theme centering my research was the idea of contrasting something so simple, with something industrialized. Humans are obviously a large part of this world, and the irony of the piece I made is this idea that a body made of metal, is still in touch with the land.
5. My research led me to conclude that something as simple as a naked human figure can be art. The way people view nudes is something more materialistic rather than beautiful.
2. My inspirations have a very strong view of the human form. Both respect the beauty of it, and how it can be made into art with a material as industrial as wire.
3. While researching my inspiration, I determined that there is a large collection of people who admire the beauty of human figures. The culture surrounding this art form is very in touch with the organic and simple body.
4. The theme centering my research was the idea of contrasting something so simple, with something industrialized. Humans are obviously a large part of this world, and the irony of the piece I made is this idea that a body made of metal, is still in touch with the land.
5. My research led me to conclude that something as simple as a naked human figure can be art. The way people view nudes is something more materialistic rather than beautiful.