Man of Shadows Thinks in Clay
The theme I chose to explore for my Final Major was ‘Music as a form of Immortality’- essentially the idea that musicians will live on vicariously through the music that they put into the world, accompanied with the idea that someone can have a faith in music that is the same as faith in religion or faith in a political leader. I chose to do this by focusing on Rock music (specifically on Post-Punk and the band Bauhaus as I hold this genre and this band the closest to my heart) as the lyrics, the nature of the music and the androgynous fashion of the time is in juxtaposition to the religious conotations of ‘imortality’-it is through this juxtaposition that I want to generate questions surrounding peoples’ belief systems. In the religious teachings followed by my parents, who are Jehovah’s Witnesses, they believe that God will end the world, and that only the ‘true believers’ and God’s select few will be chosen to live forever in paradise. In me even just listening to the gothic music that I do, I have hypothetically ‘forfeited’ that chance to live forever, which may be why I’m so keen on having a take on immortality. ‘God can give you immortality and so can art and music’ is an idea I am excited to explore in my work.
In my A5 sketchbook I have provided portraits of the members of Bauhaus (and also Japan, through looking into the side projects of the members of Bauhaus I found out about Dali’s Car, which is a collaboration between Peter Murphy of Bauhaus and Mick Karn of Japan.) As I include more musicians into my Final Major work, I will introduce them in this sketchbook. I didn’t mention David J and Kevin Haskin’s work with the Jazz Butcher, so I’ll mention that here too; they, along with what I have already written about them, guest-featured on the second album The Jazz Butcher produced called ‘A scandal in Bohemia’ in 1984.
I knew I wanted to focus on sculpting for my final major, so I titled my final major ‘Man of Shadows Thinks in Clay’ because it’s a lyric from a Bauhaus song (Mask, from their 1981 album, Mask) because I like the relation to music and my own creative practise. From posting my progress work on my bauhaus sculptures on instagram, I received a message from someone saying that I had inspired them to sculpt their own masks! That’s when I realised that I was making masks, inspired by Mask, the song from the album, ‘Mask.’
The medium I want to explore is sculpture predominantly, using clay to sculpt ‘realistic’ heads and then casting them in different materials, modroc and latex rubber to create a mold. With this mold I can replicate the clay sculpture in different materials, the big one I want to try using being silicone. Silicone is notoriously difficult to work with, however, from what I’ve seen of sculpture and SFX artists who use it, such as Ron Mueck, it is able to replicate realism extremely effectively. As a substitute I may also use latex, as I can gradually build up layers and use a foam core so that it keeps its shape after demoulding. The reason I might be keen on substituting for Latex if I can make it work, is that the material is cheaper and easier to work with-silicone is an extremely demanding medium from my experience. However I do want to try to experiment with more 2D mediums, and manipulate them to work in a way that I can best express my ideas, i.e trying to make acrylic paint blend like oil etc.
Through the course of the isolation period, I have considered ways in which my art has been affected by it. While I have struggled with demotivation in the written aspect of things, I have had the energy to embark on longer creative processes than I would have before. The process of sculpting and casting 4 sculptures has taken me weeks, when before I could only entertain the idea of a task taking me a couple of days. So I’m learning new disciplines and taking more pride in my work to an extent because I’m making it for me only. Obviously being quarantined with my religious parents has meant that I’m being careful with how I present that aspect of my work, so as not to cause offence, but that’s hardly a huge sacrifice in the current state of affairs. Even if the topic of the work is not a direct response to the social climate, I think the work of most artists and musicians will be affected in some way by the quarantine and that once we are on the other side of this situation, it could be a very exciting time in the art world.
- Joseph Hull
Links to social media :
https://www.instagram.com/erazerheadd/
https://erazerheadd.blogspot.com
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