Max's Cow

Im now pretty certain that I want to create a large sculpture of a cow with its mouth sewn shut from a Max Fleisher cartoon. Im largely concerned with what emotions and messages he carries himself and how these can be changed, added to or taken away by his placement within a specific space. Ive started looking into the formal aspects of making him like how big hell be, how people will view him, what materials he should be made from and what colours he should be. As the overall idea behind this project is to make people happy Ive started to look into colour assosciations and colour therapy. Im aware that its a tricky field as different people feel differently about different colours but I was hoping some research would show some general patterns. I found this site about colour theory which gives a brief overview of what psychological effects are assosciated with different colours. Besides that i still need to figure out his shape too. Ive been concerned about the fact that the sculpture, being static, can only interact directly with a viewer when its being viewed directly from the front. From behind his helplessness in being static gives him other connotations. Ive been trying to deal with this by experimenting with things like making his back flat or adding a detail to his back of a long johns flap. This latter of these ideas Im happiest with, as it would continue a narrative as you move around the object, though Im concerned it might call for too much sympathy and not enough comedy.

Mark Leckey

I think Mark Leckey has a very valid set of ideals and understandings of what art should be. I share a lot of his goals I think.

Drop Bears

Relating to my current theme of manipulation I remembered the myth of the Drop Bear that I was told about in Australia. More info by clicking the picture.

Gregory Green

I was directed to Gregory Green because some of his works draw a parallel with what Im planning in terms of subjecting an audience to potential situations.

Horace Wells

Discovered today about Horace Wells who I find particularly fascinating because his pioneering studies into anaesthetic gases and vapours led to a small bout of insanity that led to him taking his own life. Reminds me slightly of James Tilly Matthews.

More Fleisher Cartoons

Max Fleischer is still very relevant to the work that Im making as can be seen by this cartoon:



But his cartoons are still an invaluable source for purely enjoyable imagery that sometimes comes very loaded with meaning. This still from 'Bettys Crazy Inventions' is a good example. Id love to recreate some of the things from these cartoons.

Laughing Gas: Safety

Still investigating the danger of Nitrous Oxide. I plan to find out more by reading some anaesthesia journals soon but in the mean time I found an article which has put me greatly at ease for the time being. Im confident that its not a dangerous gas if its not inhaled in a concentrated way.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2007/mar/10/comment.science

Chris Burden

Found a fantastic little trap today made by Chris Burden in 1985. The work was called 'Samson'. It was a 100ton jack that pushed the load bearing walls of the building out and way activated by a turnstyle that was turned by every visitor who wanted to visit the installation. The eddect of this was moderated through a gear box which made the movement of the jack imperceptible. This way it was unlikely to ever collapse the building, but the potential was still there.

Laughing Gas Experiments

Plan on finding a way of getting the laughing gas out of the canisters, preferably into a balloon. If I can get some coloured smoke into a ballon and then inflate it till it pops on camera I should get some idea of how the laughing gas would react in the same situation. At the moment this is my best idea for how to distribute the gas. Had a short discussion about the ethics of this idea. Its clearly an issue here but Im quite comfortable with the idea of it.

Cai Guo Qiang

Like the simplicity of the tigers ignorance/defiance of the arows and the pain. Could be stoicism could be a lack of awareness. Very powerful imagery though.

Agnes Denes

Found an interesting article by Agnes Denes on a piece of work she created. I love this mainly because of the sense of scale and the way the pattern is used to make such a large thing seem so attainable to something so small as a human. I hope some day I can create something huge. There is a lot to be found in the creation of something huge and the power that it would give to the creator. Size can equate timelessness. Click the picture for more info.