Sentinel

Hugh G. · #1 12-17-2002, 10:48 AM

MY IMAGE(S):

GENERAL INFORMATION:
Title: Sentinel
Year Created: 2002
Medium: Sculpture
Surface: Stone
Dimension: 14 x 11 x 10
Allow digital alterations?: Yes!

MY COMMENTS:
I am experimenting with the use of metal leaf on alabaster. Here, an abstract head, more funky than grotestque (is it an alien? what isn't?), has gold leafed eyes and mouth. The eyes and mouth go through to the "back" of the piece and are also leafed. The effect in person is very strong, very very bold.

MY QUESTIONS FOR THE GROUP:
Too artificial? Too self-conscious? Too corny?

Helen Zapata · #2 12-17-2002, 11:55 AM

I really like the gold with the alabaster. Beautiful.

The face is kinda scary though.

Helen

laniers · #3 12-17-2002, 12:15 PM

I like the work and the use of the gold leaf is beautiful. But I don't think I would define it as a face for people. Let them pour there own thoughts into the piece and see where it takes them. Don't force their vision into a tiny little package for them.

anthony mauve · #4 12-17-2002, 01:54 PM

To answer your question:

"Too artificial? Too self-conscious? Too corny?" My response is a resounding Yes! It seems that sometime in every artist's life they feel that gold leaf is going to save a weak construction by somehow elevating it to the height of gold leaf on the frames of the masters. and no, gold leaf is quite different than casting a sculpture in gold--more akin to gold paint.

As for your design--well, it cerntainly isn't modeled from life, nor does it appear to be an attempt to create a simulacrum of a head since the proportion are inaccurate. My suggestion is either to work from the model if you wish to create a portrait bust, or get a good anatomy book and start there.

Sorry not to be able encouragement with this one.

regards,
anthony

Helen Zapata · #5 12-17-2002, 05:00 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by anthony mauve
My suggestion is either to work from the model if you wish to create a portrait bust, or get a good anatomy book and start there.

Yabbut... it's an abstract.

I still like it. I'd probably like it better without the gold. But you said you are experimenting, and what the heck... looks like fun experimentation to me.

How well will the gold leaf stay adhering to the marble?

Helen

**Lorijo** · #6 12-17-2002, 07:03 PM

I like it. I would not call it a head either though, let the viewer decide what it is or is not. I would name it something else as well. I would like to see a scan from a different angle and a scan that shows the alabaster better. Alabaster is lovely and this scan makes it look like cement, hardly flattering to the piece. I like the gold with the alabaster I think the two go together very well. Lorijo

anthony mauve · #7 12-18-2002, 07:16 AM

Helen--only inept artists make a mess and defend it by calling it "abstract". Are you in that group? If not, then only when an artist studies a form thoroughly--whether a figure, landscape, whatever and understands its components thoroughly can he or she determine what elements can be modified to enhance the *sense* of the form to reveal an original element that others may not have been aware of until they've seen this artist's interpretation.

regards,
anthony

Hugh G. · #8 12-18-2002, 08:11 AM

"Only an inept artist makes a mess and calls it abstract."

Hmm. Seems like I've stepped into some kind of ideological dispute that I was unaware of. Of course the piece is abstract. Of course it has little anatomical relationship to a human head. Of course it never set out to represent a human head--then somehow went ineptly abstract when I realized that eyes don't really go all the way through to the back of the head!

It strikes me as unlikely that any medium, most importantly something as visually compelling as metal leaf, is, ipso facto, artistically irrelevant. I forget who it was who said the same thing about soup cans.

LarrySeiler · #9 12-18-2002, 11:20 AM

Hugh, you set your proposal of the work to be critiqued as an "experiment"...and in mentioning it to be a head did not go so far as to infer you were looking for any kind of anatomical correctness.

Certainly it is within every creative spirit initiative in such "experimentation" to see how various materials will work together. Some will like such "experimentation" and respond favorably, and some will not. However...it is not fair to read more into your proposal than what you have stated. You are appealing to imagination...not a biology text.

Now...when you say alien, we have all certainly seen enough Sci Fi's in our modern age to know that relative form common to man can be exploited way beyond the norm of human likeness. You did after all ask if such a head might not be "alien"...so, personally I do not think what you've done in experimentation nor in proposing it for critique is off base...thus, no you have not stepped innocently into an "idealogical dispute," rather...someone has taken up an issue that is irrelevant here.

I will say this about your piece though relating to my own aesthetic.

I for one would almost have preferred the gold not to have been included for only one reason. I find the carving into the alabaster's form as you have intriguing, but my interest in investigating such form seems to find competition with the contrast of the gold against the value of the white alabaster form.

Not sure the holes are a bad thing...as looking thru the form might be nice, however the negative space alone might have been an element that would invite investigation yet allow for the form's outter edges to hold their interest as well. Unfortunately, whereas a painting might be an easier thing to change, sculpture is not. My suggestions then are perhaps something to consider, muse over...and perhaps store for future works.

Larry

Helen Zapata · #10 12-18-2002, 11:33 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by lseiler

I for one would almost have preferred the gold not to have been included for only one reason. I find the carving into the alabaster's form as you have intriguing

On pondering my reactions to this sculpture, I too find that I would prefer it without the gold. The carving is interesting, and I long to touch it. But the gold stops me. I feel as if I should keep my hands off for fear of leaving smudges.

I do like your carving. I would enjoy seeing more of your work.

Helen

artbabe21 · #11 12-19-2002, 02:27 PM

Hi Hugh & welcome...not all people at WC critique in a rude manner... mostly it's done constructively...

While I enjoy the interesting way the alabaster is carved, I think the gold might be a little too bold...but that's my opinion. Perhaps in person it looks just right...
Hope to see more of your work...

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