7.10.21 - Paper and Wire Sculptures + drawings and scans

Throughout the week I have been building up lots of paper and wire sculptures based on the foliage that was brought into the studio, I think that by adding lots of different forms I can recreate the unruly ways that wild plants grow, but maintaining an artificially fabricated appearance.

 

I like the combination of soft and sharp forms against a neutral black background. The wire reminds me of urban fences which can look very hostile, as well as over-head wires where birds like to perch, and I think the paper and tape allude to office life which is a reality for thousands of people in the city. So I think these sculptural works successfully embody the binary of the natural vs the artificial.

I thought that these paper and tape leaves looked good against the black background because of the contrast between the opposite monotone shades, so I did some 2D work based off it and created more leaf rubbings but using a white crayon on black paper this time. I like their ghostly appearance and the rough incidental marks surrounding the shapes, however there is much less detail visible compared to the earlier graphite versions. I also did some tonal charcoal sketches on parcel paper but I didn't really enjoy doing them much, I think I prefer drawing on a smaller scale with more precise materials like how I drew my mushrooms.

Finally I made some photocopies of the white leaves with different colour settings on the printer, and you can clearly see all the creases and lines in each leaf so the three-dimensionality and texture was captured really well. Adding colour allowed me to see how the leaves would look if I painted them or put them on different backgrounds, but overall I think they looked best as white forms on black paper.

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