A Change of Colour...

Since I was having a problem with the colour of the 'mushrooms', and wether or not I even wanted to use these pieces in my final degree show, I wanted to be satisfied with their appearance . As well as working out how I would compose them, I was considering if I should use them for a separate exhibition. Using the same flip-colour as my previous sculptures in 'Unhinged Consciousness' (2020), I experimented with different coloured bases. The image TOP RIGHT is a flip colour over the top of neon pink and green, but all the colours were blending to give this quite interesting transition. Deliberating on how I was going to apply these colours took some time, but on the two BOTTOM images you can see how I decided to apply the base that would later become like the image TOP RIGHT. A white coat was needed to cover the existing colours (TOP LEFT). I have always been drawn to neon pink and green and still believe that this is reference to raves or nights out, however loosely related. The colours are psychoactive but until they have the flip colour, tarmac and maybe spikes on them, I don't think the pieces will have that negative mind-bending undertone that I always want my work to have.

The process of colouring the work required a lot of attention to detail, using masking tape on each section and creating layers of black first to create depth and darkness.

I went to the DUMP and all I got were these shit bits of metal.

Entering crisis season where I am struggling to think of ideas or make decisions about my final degree show piece, I did have one idea - recover a bent pedestrian railing, damaged by a car crash. After hours of ringing up scrap metal and breakers yards and hours of the staff I spoke to being rude and unhelpful, I decided to try the local dump to see if I would have any luck. Even if a pedestrian railing was unavailable (being a property of the council and all) I would at least be able to find one or two things that could be interesting to work with. When I got there, the guy I spoke to was generous enough to let me have a look through some scrap (by claw-grabbing a huge pile from the metal waste container). To my knowledge, this isn't really allowed in dumps because of health and safety - there were all sorts of dangerous objects in the pile we were allowed to rummage through. Quickly finding a lot of things that could useful, as shown BELOW (plus also we brought back a safe), we carried it all home.

I had no idea what I was going to do with the metal, perhaps combine it, abstract it using expanding foam? I was hoping that something was going to jump out at me but I think I still had my mind set on acquiring a pedestrian fence. This was my next challenge.

Colour results / Composition.

Colour

Here are the results of all my experimental pigment adding. There was no thought process behind selecting the colours, I just used what was there, but I tried to stick to blue/grey with a hint of orange after a while as I thought too many loud colours would just be too predictable- they already look like magic mushrooms as it is! Overall I like the colours but I think I would like to experiment with sprays using different base colours and different sorts of flip paint - perhaps in layers or sections like in these pieces.

Composition

I originally wanted to create a structure like in my initial drawing. To me, if they are stacked like BELOW then they don't allude to mushrooms, especially if they are all one or similar colours throughout and bound to one another seamlessly with more foam (plus tarmac and resin in areas) all over. However it was noted to me that this was too predictable and that perhaps I should think a bit more about how they would be displayed. The only other thing I am thinking about doing with them is combining them with wide metal poles, much like in my last series of sculptures. This would lift them high above the ground and make them seem much heavier than they actually are - which has become a reoccurrence in my work. As I've stated before, I'm still not sure what I'm going to do with these pieces in relation to my final exhibition, they could potentially be placed around a larger centre piece. I am too fixated on the fact I don't want them to look like mushrooms to be happy with them.