SCULPTURA was my final thesis during my time in OCAD U’s Illustration program and is about how humans assign sculptural objects with superhuman qualities to compensate for our own inadequacies.
Below is the entire body of work and the respective ethos that accompanies each piece.
Due to Covid-19 the planned 2020 Grad-EX was canceled and the artwork has never been displayed.
~enjoy~
I. PROTECTION:
Truth & Death
8” x 10” & 8” x 10”Truth & Death is about the mythos of the Hebrew Golems. In the 1300s, countless Jews were being slaughtered at the hands of French and German marauders — that’s how the story of the Golem came to be. These stone protectors were said to come to life when inscribed with the Hebrew word Emet (truth). They would save the villages and synagogues from destruction. When a Golem’s work was done, their Aleph was wiped away, leaving Met (death), and the being’s life would come to an end.
II. DIVINATION:
Reading the Ashes
9” x 12”Reading the Ashes details the way we have used sculpture as a tool to decipher the indecipherable. Over the entirety of human history the one thing consistant in all cultures is the pursuit of the future. Unable to defy causality oursleves, we design tools and ceremonies to compensate.
Reading the Ashes is about the most juicy of future knoledge; the end. Two wizards parse the smoke to see the fate of their dear society. True or false, only time will tell...
III. IDOLIZATION:
Sculpted Form
16” x 7”After all, perfection is in the eye is of the beholder.
Sculpted form is based on the notion of the “idealized form” found in most renaissance art such as Michelangelo’s David. Through stone, we are able to craft the human form into somthing greater than it actually is. To perpetuate greatness in a way that can be aspired to from people eons to come.
IV. IMMORTALIZATION:
Rebirth of Laocoön
7” x 16”With the discovery of Laocoön and his sons, the classical era was finally given form and this fascination with the past is what begat a new birth of art and culture — the renaissance.
the Rebirth of Laocoön is about the discovery of Laocoön and his sons in 1508 on an Italian vineyard and how it changed the landscape of culture in a world crawling out of a dark age. Without the intent of preserving the stories in stone forever, like the one of the Trojan priest Laocoön being attacked by sea serpents, the world might not have benfited from the resurgance of classical ideas and iconography.
V. DOMMINATION:
the Crumbling Colossus
11” x 17”The Crumbling Colossus is about the nature of Collosi and their use as a tool of domination and empire from kingdoms past. The purpose of the massive stone works are not unlike that of a big brother figure. Showing glory and domain to those looking upon its gaze, and subjugation to those beneath it. While some Colossi are still present today, many have fallen from their great hights and, like the rulers who created them, are lost to the sands of time.
VI. IMMOLATION:
Lamb
9” x 12”Lamb is about the use of masks in ceremonial practices by ancient cultures across the globe. Masks have been a part of rituals since the dawn of culture itself, and have been used to characterize and impersonate the ethereal. With them, rituals gain a corporeal meaning and myth takes form.
In this scenario, Lamb depicts a ritualistic sacrifice to appease a hungry god. The top three masks depict the sacrifce; with heart, body, and mind being rendered. The beastly diety in the center is aided by the two executioners on its lower sides, each one sharp and harmful. Finally, we are left with nothing more than the leftovers of the sacrifice; the spirit and the bones.
It matters not the person under the mask but the role that they play. Through masks we take on roles greater than our own, and personalities that stand the test of time.
︎︎︎back to reality