Month: October 2024

The sculpture I chose is based on a rhino. It depicts a rhino standing on a piece of rock. I believe the rhino’s posture shows that it is trying to show power and strength. In the past, sculptures of people in power can depict them standing upright and tall similar to this rhino. I also noticed how the rhino’s skin looked almost like armor plating and even had selections in its skin that looked like it had different armor plates. I will distort the rhino so that its skin becomes armor to show the connection between it and the sculptures in the past. I will do this in MeshMixer and I will distort it by directly sculpting over it using the sculpt tool to create the armor.

The sculpture I picked is Le Transi de Rene de Chalon, which depicts a skeletal figure grasping a heart. I think this represents both mortality and life. The skeleton is meant to remind viewers about the inevitability of death and decay, and the heart symbolizes the remnants of vitality even in death. When I look at this sculpture, I think about rebirth, the cycle of life, and decay. The heart suggests grasping onto life and how quickly it passes. 

In my distortion, I’m going to pull at those themes of rebirth and emergence. I was thinking about making the figure rise from dirt in the ground as if breaking through the constraints of death. I am also going to try to enlarge the heart and make it appear as if it is melting – indicating the fragile nature of life.

Step 1: Choose Sculpture
Mary Magdalen from the Mourning over the dead Christ

Step 2: Writing Assignment
For Project 4, I have chosen the sculpture, Mary Magdalen from the Mourning over the dead Christ. It is a free standing terracotta statue of Mary Magdalene in the mid-run, with her clothing and fabrics flowing behind her. Her exaggerated facial expression and sprawled pose portrays immense grief and mourning as she is wailing and running towards the dead Jesus Christ. This sculpture belongs in the context of 6 other figures lamenting around the dead Jesus Christ. This sculpture is associated with traditional greek sculpture with dramatic draped fabric and clothing which adds to the intense motion of the scene. The story of the scene is a powerful and memorable moment in Christianity as Mary Magdalene was mourning over the assumption that Jesus’ body had been stolen, but instead it became a moment of faith that Jesus will rise again and the importance of having faith.
I plan to distort this sculpture by exaggerating the already expressive motions of Mary Magdalene by creating more waves and movement in the fabric of her clothing. Similar to how Wim Delvoye twisted and spun the characters in his sculpture to exaggerate their circular movements, I hope to emulate a similar effect of warping and moving the fabric to amplify the exaggerated and intense movement and grief of Mary. Moreover, I am planning to explore and illustrate the context of the statue and Mary’s realization that Christ has risen by morphing the current statue from looking down at the body, to looking up with faith, as she believes that Christ has risen. This would extend the statue’s context from displaying one moment in time to illustrating Mary’s realization and faith over time.

Step 3: Sketches

My sculpture is of a woman sitting on stones and thinking about something. She is slightly crouched over with her legs crossed. Her arm is in the air and is almost touching her face, and her face almost has a concerned look to it. It represents the human mind and how it is always curious and wondering. The woman is deep in thought and is contemplating or reflecting on something. Her gaze is focused downwards, suggesting she might also be sad or mourning. The sculpture is reminiscent of ancient Greek or Roman art, with soft garments draped over her head and body. My sketches of distortion all relate to her hand, and face. This is what impacts the sculpture the most, and changing her arms/hand shifts the feeling of the sculpture.

I chose to work with the 3D scan of the sculpture “Silenus with the Infant Bacchus.” It is believed to be a Roman copy of a bronze Greek original by Lysippos (A Greek sculptor of the 4th century) or one of his followers. It depicts Silenus holding the baby Bacchus, who he was a father figure, tutor, and companion to in Roman and Greek mythology. The sculpture denotes love and companionship, especially the connection within the power dynamic of a tutor and student. Silenus has a relaxed and comforting pose, compared to the fussy baby Bacchus who is pawing at his face. There are mainly undertones of care and fatherhood; the sculpture has positive connotations. Because of this, I want to create contrast in my distortion and make it into something more negative or freakish. Since Bacchus is the God of wine, fertility, partying, theater, etc., I could weave some of the negative aspects of these themes into the distortion: My most prominent thought is to distort the expression of Selenus to be sad and desperate as the form of Bacchus is distorted into a liquid that is melting through his arms. This would give the sculpture a negative connotation: loss and despair. The liquid aspect also ties to Bacchus being the God of Wine, which can be reminiscent of excitement, fun, and prosperity, but can also be tied to sin, sickness, and bad decisions.

Step 1

Selected Sculpture: Aphrodite

Artist: Roman copy of Greek Sculpture by Praxiteles

Step 2

The sculpture depicts the bust of a woman who appears to be wearing a headband and loose top, with curly hair and an indifferent facial expression. Upon further examination, this is not just any woman, it is the Greek goddess of beauty, love, and desire, Aphrodite. In Greek mythology, Aphrodite is a strong, powerful, well-known goddess and just her bust alone represents the passion and longing that accompanies love in relationships. Anyone who knows Greek mythology would recognize this head, and associate her with the idealization of beauty, motherhood, desire, and femininity, and her indifferent expression shows how powerful of a symbol she is, that she could even be understood with a straight face. Through distorting this sculpture, I aim to explore the theme that beauty lies in the eyes of its beholder. There is no one definition of what beauty is, but it is a concept that can be interpreted in many ways. What one may see as garbage, another may view as a masterpiece, and vice versa. I plan on warping the face through twisting and stretching it, then adding components to the bust that others may view as ‘gross’, to create a juxtaposition between beauty and disgust. I may line up three versions of Aphrodite’s bust alongside each other, the first one being the original, ‘classically beautiful’ sculpture, the second being slightly morphed, and the third being completely distorted, to show how beauty can take many forms. 

Step 3

I have chosen to work with a sculpture that depicts Hermes seated on a rock. Hermes is a messenger of the gods who traditionally symbolizes freedom and travel. The statue reminds me of Greek mythology; more specifically, “herma” in Greek stands for a heap of stones. This association, along with the physical nature of the sculpture, reminds me of classic stone sculptures. I want to resist the idea that Hermes represents freedom and movement while simultaneously exploring the idea of “herma” representing stone. My approach will transform Hermes’ lower half into the stone he is sitting on. To achieve this, I plan to primarily use the sculpt tool to shape parts of the sculpture into rock-like texture. In addition, I may need to change the fill type to get a more flat geometric look for parts of the sculpture.

The sculpture I chose depicts the Graeco-Egyptian god Hermanubis standing upright and holding a caduceus. I think the very obvious thing this sculpture is trying to depict is death since Hermanubis is the god of death. But there is also the caduceus he is holding which represents peace, commerce, and medicine (in a modern sense). Compared to Egyptian mythology and modern depictions of Anubis, this one feels a lot more tame. Normally Anubis is depicted as very intimidating; something you’d want to avoid, like death itself. But this Graeco-Egyptian depiction seems more inviting and less fear-inducing. And it fits in perfectly with Hermanubis’ role in Greek mythology which is to help guide souls to the underworld. I want to distort the figure in a way that represents both sides of death. There is the sad and ugly nature of what death is and then there is the side that deals with closure and accepting loss. To best represent this, I want one half of the sculpture to look a little grotesque. I want to distort limbs to have them bend in unnatural ways and possibly replace other features with signs of decay (example: exposed bones).