Chocolate cast

Originally I was going to cast in chocolate but was unable to because my mold did not work. However I did experiment with it. I must admit I prefered the results with the plaster cast but I think had I been able to make another gel flex mold of the larger barbie and then cast that in chocolate I would have really liked to have submitted that as my final piece.

Because Barbie's waist it so small, it is really fragile and unstable when being taken out of the mold so it kept breaking which was frustrating. I think for the smaller pieces it looked quite effective however, and added to the distorted effect.

Green Cast

For one of my testers I cast a barbie out of gel-flex and then added plater cast to it to distort its shape, I then spray painted it green to add a sense of the obscene and un-natural to the body. I didn't do the final piece green because I felt it would have been to big to get away with that and would look ridiculous.

I also put a nail file by the piece to give the impression it was cut by this, I though a nail file was more relevant than a knife because it is a pampering tool used by a woman, which could be a sign of weakness and self destruction.

Final Pieces

Because of the problems with my cast I had to change the way i did my final piece. However, it did not matter as the means to the end were the same. I deliberately chose to put the body of the barbie black, not only to stand out but also as it would add to the "distorted" image of the barbie. I felt the black would make it less about the head and more about the body, and ridicule the typical barbie doll that has existed for years.

I used newspaper clippings to create the word "Beauty" with a question mark. A question of society, image and mass media. I used newsprint as it is a recognised image and to make it slightly more impersonal. I wanted it to be an idea, but not an apathetic one, just simply a point that could exist.

For the background I used a print of the word distortion that was back to front and upside down and also printed lightly so that it was also "distorted".

Things I would Improve

If I got to do this project again there is lots I would change. First of all I would hopefully get to spend longer on it, because I was particularly passionate about my chosen subject but really became frustrated by not being able to get as involved in it as I would have liked to have due to not having enough time. This is not because I have not worked hard enough, on average I have worked well past 9-5 every day for the past three weeks because I have had such a sheer work load for this and my other subject.

I also would obviously have redone my gel flex mold which went horribly wrong!! I would then have cast it in plaster and built on it in plaster bandage to get a similar effect I did with my final piece. I then would have made another gel flex mold for it and cast that bigger one in chocolate, I think this would have shown my development much more successfully then I did now.

Ellie

Things go from Bad to Worse

After my mold just failed miserably (very upset bout that) I had to improvise my final pieces. Luckily the idea I had was not limited to one way of doing it. Instead I used the cast from the mold as one side was ok and built up on it with plaster bandage to show the theme of my project which was distortion. I also built up on the body of a barbie using plaster bandage to make her fat. I want to print the words beauty onto her adaquate size waist, but all the printers in the university computer rooms were down "due to technical fault" from wednesday, which was excellent!

Also I tried to do a chocolate one, but it snapped in half!! Things just do not go the way I want to, I think I would have been ok if we'd have had longer but as it was, I really struggled to get painting, print, sculpture and exam preperation as well as 3000 words for creative writing done in the past two weeks. I also came in to do an alginate mold last week but there was no alginate so I had to do print as I hadn't got my barbies at that point, therefore I have just been unable to complete that and will have hand in the mold or hand of mine and Cat's piece. :(

Fat Barbie

As Barbie is such a cult image, and so well known, she is the perfect example to make a point about both obesity and anarexia, hence the adverts.

Fat Barbie Dolls

A fat barbie in an artistic pose.

Tom Forsythe

Tom Forsythe used Barbie for his work on mass-consumerism. He also put the doll in a tortilla, skewered it and placed in the over and other various kitchen appliances for his pieces. The doll's makers, Mattel, took legal action against the artist saying his sexualisation of their doll was bad for publicity. Because of the attention surrounding this, it is very difficult to find many sites about distorted Barbies on the web ( though some do remain). Sales have already fallen 15% since Barbie seperated from Ken, her partner of 42 years.

When Forsythe won the appeal he said he has "set a new standard for the ability to criticise popular brands and do so without the fear of being sued."

Amusing Barbie Anecdote

BARBIE WITH ATTITUDE

Much of the valley was upset about our daughter's Barbie, but most tried to be discreet.

"Oh," they said as Elena primped the hourglass-shaped doll in their presence. "Ahem," they coughed as she combed Barbie's voluptuous platinum hair. "So you got your daughter one of. . . those. How enlightened."

A few were up close and personal. "Trying to turn this bright little girl into a bimbo, eh? Doing your part to feed the Beauty Myth? Don't be surprised when she brings home a plastic guy named Ken."

The doll was a gift from Beyond the Valley, we explained. Should we tear Barbie out of a little girl's hands? Or should we use the primitive attachment between girls and Barbies to provide positive role models? Deeply concerned about our daughter's self-image, we opted for the wiser course.

Sure the leggy doll gives a distorted picture of female bodies, but we're actively fighting that image. That's why, while most Barbies wear bathing suits and prom dresses, Elena's is the first Grunge Barbie.
First we mashed Barbie's jeans in a garlic press and slipped her slim legs into the shreds. Then we smeared Barbie's white sneakers with composted soil. How her sky-blue eyes sparkled in contrast with the grimy sludge on her shoes. But that bust!
To take the silicon shape out of Barbie, we draped her figure in flannels that reeked of the '70s. Next we dyed her voluptuous platinum hair purple, spiked it, and pierced one eyebrow. Then we handed her back to our impressionable daughter.
Even though Barbie never looked so Grunge, Elena didn't quite catch on. She was all set to send Barbie shopping for a new Corvette like the ones her friends' Barbies drive. But as Image Conscious Valley Parents, we found alternatives to such conspicuous consumption. It just took a little imaginative role playing.
Most mornings, Elena's Barbie drives her Volvo to her Past Life Regression workshops. In their past lives, other Barbies were mere pools of plastic, but Elena's started out as an eco-feminist warrior who freed Roman slaves. During the Renaissance, she was a goddess responsible for keeping paganism alive. Later she served as an hourglass on the Santa Maria and most recently, she was an androgynous second baseman for the 1927 Yankees. Recovering past lives doesn't just turn Barbie into a history lesson; it offers rich father-daughter quality time.

When Elena started to make her Barbie dance, we put a stop to it. None of that Karaoke Barbie for our daughter. Instead, we smeared chocolate up and down the doll's body, turning her into Performance Artist Barbie with an NEA grant and an attitude. When Barbie screamed "Die, American crypto-Nazi puppets!" Elena decided she wanted to be a performance artist, too. It just takes the proper role models.
Role models like Ken, the aromatherapist. Yes, every Barbie has her Ken. Elena's, also a gift, changed his name to Kenneth R. and is into essential oils and essences that center the soul. Elena's Barbie has weekly sessions with Kenneth R. and is making progress toward full healing. Most Barbies marry their Kens but Elena's is co-habitating with hers and doesn't care who knows it. Regardless of what happens between them, this is one Barbie who will be keeping her last name, whatever that might be. It's amazing how children learn, soaking up lessons like a sponge.
No Barbie would be complete without a full line of accessories. Elena's came with high heels, purses, necklaces, and other chains of oppression. We set them aside. We had to make Barbie's paraphernalia ourselves, but she now faces life with a tiny cappuccino maker that spews out pretty decent lattes. She's got her own Barbie laptop computer with Internet account, a Barbie compost pile and a complete line of Barbie homeopathic products for the home and office where she works as a personal injury lawyer helping people whose self-esteem was damaged by their dolls.

Elena is already applying the lessons she has learned from Barbie and teaching them to others. Seems G.I. Joe, which her brother got from Beyond the Valley, had never gotten in touch with his Wild Man within.

Wilp

Charles Wilp used Barbie in this print in 1969

Gel Flex Mold

For my final piece I used my gel flex mold of a barbie doll to make a chocolate cast which I can layer up.

Plates

This is a print of the two other plates. I think it works fairly well but is obviously not as effective as some of the other prints using the other plates.

Blue Nude

I also really love this piece. I deliberately did it blue as the orginal is, but i wanted a changing gradient to add interest to it.

Prints

I really like this print, I have done three in similar styles. I think it worked because the two styles are different, one being poisitive and one being negative. I did two prints in the same way using similar prints, they looked good but not as effective.

Cd's

bag

An experimental piece I did for printing using plastic. I really liked the effect.

Lino

The original picture i used for this project.



a sketch of the lino plan.


Close up of one of my prints.

Plates

Prints from my sketchbook. I have done large some similar size lino prints with the view of overlapping them or using them in series. I deliberately chose to use images that are well known and so when distorted hopefully would be more obvious.

Reactions

Although I was ill for the presentation thus unable to attend, I have discussed the project with my peers who have on the whole reacted well to it, I discussed the possibilty of using the artists Mattise and Freud with Wendy and she has some very interesting ideas on this.

I also discussed much of the project with Cat and Claire aswell as various people in the group as most of us have been in most days in the sculpture studio and have got to know each other's project's quite well.

Laura, Margaret and myself are all using Barbies in our final pieces, though all in different ways, which is interesting and shows how versatile she can be!

Rachel Whiteread

Boxes by Rachel Whiteread


Hot water bottle by Rachel Whitebread

Lucian Freud

Lucian Freud's painting of Kate Moss. (a good example of the distortion of the human body).




The two pictures above are prints by Lucian Freud that inspired my final piece.

Jenny Saville

I'm very interested in the way Saville questions the way women feel about their bodies and how she portrays this through her art. In many way her art is grotesque to look at but her brushstrokes are amazing examples of painting.

Print

For my prints I used several well known images as I felt they would have more of an impact. I used Picasso's Blue Nude shown below and also Mattise's print of the same name. (above)

Distortion of the Human Body

For this project I am studying distortion of the human body, inspired by Jenny Saville, Francis Bacon and Lucian Freud amongst others. My two seperate final pieces will be based on the ever changing human body due to obesity.

I have always been interesting in the topic of the human body in art. I'm also intrigued by the possible beauty of larger bodies, particularly that of women, at a time when there is much debate about the size and shape of the "perfect" woman.

I will be using the doll "Barbie" for my sculpture piece mainly because her ideal body shape has stayed the same since it was first developed in the 60's despite the average waist line growing in reality by inches.

For my print pieces, I have developed lino prints of famous artistic nudes, such as Picasso's and Mattise's Blue Nude, and distorting them to be larger curvier ladies.

Chocolate Painting

Welcome

Hi, welcome to my new blog for the new module print making and sculpture.