c1) Exquisite corpse

size: real size medium: acrylic tool: brushes paper: xuan
(painted part-painting part): head-mouth; shoulder and chest-armpits; hands waist and elbow-right hand; thighs-knees; calves-right popliteal fossa; feet-right foot



"This self portrait was the first way of creation I tried. I folded the paper evenly, divided by the length of my head; only 6 folds fitted the paper the knees had to be bent. I think it successfully created a range of very physical mark-makings, the splashes and spots were made from when I lost balance as painted on the floor, and I like the chipped look of it; the physical struggles almost makes it an imprint of myself.

"not a logic of contemplative distance ... but rather an account of a nervous system interfacing with a continually transforming external environment" (‘Sensational Subjects: The Dramatization of Experience in the Modern World’ by John Jervis)



d1) I accidentally used my hands because I disliked parts of the painting and hurried to change them; the background is also very difficult to colour otherwise, so I used my hands as well. Although I quite like the marks my hands made due to frustration, I accidentally destroyed the purpose of this work (fell to habit) so this was the first method of destruction.

I was dissatisfied with the destroyed version, because it covered the outline of the figure; and I disliked its head; So I added an inked embossing stencil I made during an embossing induction, to give it a more comical character. It has its own presence (it's cool that it makes sounds occasionally from the tape) so it's a bit better."

I'd like to recreate this with better anatomy (though it was purposefully distorted, it looks very rigid) on a piece of textile.

(class exercise)
8 ways of creation and destruction
(2021)

c2) Umosquillo

"The top picture on the right is its original form, a machine producing and consuming its eggs; the bottom one is the destroyed version (an insectile creature?)
I made this by using the skeleton of an abandoned umbrella I found on the street and wrapping it with masking tape.

d2) It was originally designed to self-destruct, but I got carried away and obstructed its paths... (destruction of destruction?)
so I reconstructed it and made this insect model as a symbol of future destruction.

It was difficult to mimic the way insects fly... I leaned more towards the way moths and beetles fly with this, and also tried to make it more natural by moving it following the way this one is structured. It would be less dynamic to mimic mosquitos and flies because their bodies remain still and I can't move its wings the way they create spiraling leading edge vortices, I should do my research first next time.

c3) Spiegelmann
(It means mirror man but it's a German surname and it just sounds cooler.)

"The third creation was the character Spiegelmann. The mirror mask was made by cutting a useless piece of mirror from high school with a cutter knife and burning it from the back with the left eye."

I was interested in the reflected image and how the person interacts with their surroundings. The one who puts on this mask is more to be watched than to watch, and ideally you would be able to see your own face in Spiegelmann's face, this way Spiegelmann can become anyone. Maybe Spiegelmann wears this mask to blend in with others.

d3) When Spiegelmann looks at themselves in the mirror, infinite mirrors appear and this mechanism collapses, seemingly creating an uncrossable distance between themselves, but Spiegelmann seems to enjoy this sight. (destruction of mechanism)"

SIMILAR PROJECTS >>

d4) "Cutting a hole on the tea bag book (on the right) to form a line between it and the eye of the mirror mask, destroying by taking away the mirror's reflective purposes and for the eye to see. These two both share the bathroom-ish and feminine theme, (like a wedding shroud? floral, sorrowful, pure-ish), and an oval shape."

c4) "It reminds me of the quote “Holes were not gaps, they were connections."
by Jeanette Winterson, on Barbara Hepworth. She mentions the conventional concept of the woman being the "negative" (space), the lack, is transformed into part of the Whole in Hepworth's work. While the temporality of this combination reminds me that destruction can also be momentary, it's more so creative. It's also like a hardcover book."

c5) "I often see this type of subject being explored by female artists, I did this to face my own fascination towards femininity more directly, which I've always avoided because of its political associations, its emotionality and physicality. I used red and white threads and my hair (black thread at the side), and learned to sew by hand.
It also was a fun exploration of texture and softness.
The idea of "book" making with different materials is also relatively new to me. Sewing soft things as sculptures could also be a future exploration."

d5) "I washed this book as the fifth method of destruction. It's a predictable method for its theme because I wanted to show its association with predictability, a kind of sameness, and lack of authority and identity (a misogynic association of mine which I want to get rid of… maybe like this explosive shape?)"

"The watcher believes this superposition to mean true understanding, and admires Spiegelmann/themselves in the mirror mask. But as they stare longer, they feel a sense of separation, as they realize the image they are face to face with can only ever be built on a impenetrable mirror, never being able to truly communicate. Hoping to finally see a foreign eye staring back.

Another thing I was thinking about when I was cutting the mirror was how I always escape to the self to escape cliches, however I keep forgetting that it is the origin of all cliches; I should develop a new view on cliches."

c7) Max

"I covered the xuan paper with candle wax and made it into a mask, with candles as its eyes.
The texture of the waxed paper was interesting to me, especially when I played around with the lighting.
Then I lighted the candles to melt the wax, hoping the finished product would have stalactite-like structures formed around its eyes (which succeeded when I experimented with another piece of wax paper)

d7) but there were some area that wasn’t properly waxed and the mask was burned before the candle could melt through the paper.
However the wax tears were captured in the video, and so the crying mask still somewhat worked.

The two masks have completely different characters, the first one looks more stoic to me, and the second one seems to be quite unhinged, looking more like its own face rather than a mask."

c6) Untalented artist (who uses onion paint)

"artists inflict pain; secondary pain; go to a gallery to view pain at a safe distance, but the artist punches you in the eye"

d6) "To visually show that the smell faded, and that the work was only successful in making people cry for a moment, I stamped the outcome with this wind-up toy (feet covered with red ink). I think it's fitting because it's also time-based. Its random route was added by the crumbling surface (which shows how it’s soon discarded), and fits well with the uncontrollability and nonchalantness of the passing of time."

c8) "The last way of creation was very lazy: this collage was created by a friend. I was inspired by how they are disassembled and reassembled in a harmonious way despite being from different photographers and of different subjects.
By sharing the same 3D space with the viewer, it gives off a stronger claustrophobic feeling. The unstableness of objects being stuck and bent also gives the room a sense of precariousness.

d8) Then I reconstructed her creation; The medium links well with the theme of childhood and transition, the colour scheme fits the motif of eating, with its cake-like outline. By engaging with found materials and collaboration, the element of chance and communication had brought more vitality towards the image.
(de-ego-ize?)"