Major work advice wanted (dont know if mine will be allowed) (1 Viewer)

[esquared]

Hey guys.. im meant to be choosing some ideas for my major work at the moment.. and I was wondering if anyone could comment on my idea? I'm not sure if the BOS will accept it

My idea is to make some blank cubes out of cardboard and give them to a heap of people (i probably need either 64 or 125), have them do whatever they want on them to represent themselves, and then arrange them all into a big cube with spaces between the cubes.. if you get what i mean... to represent how we are all created equal and we all form one big "cube", but ourselves we are totally unique

The problem i think I have is that with the exception of 1 cube, they will all be made by others. The concept, construction of the whole project, ect is by me, but the input of others is crucial to it...

Obviously it has to be "our own work", but this is as deep as it goes in the syllabus as far as I can see.

Anyone have any thoughts on how likely this is to work? I suppose ultimately it depends on how they define "your own work"

Thanks in advance!

 

[Daemontreu]

Eh, never really thought about that. I suppose in some way, it could be considered quite a novel idea. But... if it was crazily-reserved-and-cautious-me: I'd be putting that idea in that particular form on the shelf just for this year. Personally, I found that I had my own idea and all it's spiffiness - which was wonderful - but I also modified it so that it fell more easily into what the BoS would want. I want the marks you see.

But, perhaps you could just modify your idea slightly? You could grab each individual cube, get the person to write about themselves, and paint from that? Or you could get them to describe what they would do on the cube, and then paint it yourself - putting your own spin onto their interpretation of themselves. That seems perfectly valid, and kind of ties the concept in a little too. Every person is individual, and they make up this "cube" as YOU call it. So it makes a kind of sense that if this is the way YOU see it, you should be the one re-interpreting their explanations. *shrug* You could include the instructions for the cube inside it - no one sees it, but that is the truth as that person sees it, surrounded by your interpretation.

I'm rambling. You should probably ask someone else who makes more sense.

Besides, you're only going to get personal opinion out of these posts from me. I'm not very objective.

Edit: What's your inspiration? Minimalism meets portraiture? Ooh, and less cubes, made out of... perspex! Clear cubes could be nifty!

 

[soso]

Its possible in the post modern frame as it challenges the established notion that art is made by the artist.

If you look at question 1B in the current exam paper youcan see the artist did not do a lot of the making. Pincinnini

May I suggest you use cut out templates that will fold into a cube. That you use a variety of materials such as paper, architects drawing paper now available in lots of colours, clear plastic etc. Allow people a choice and make hundreds. Some responses will be better than others and you will need strong selection and rejection decisions

Write lots about what you are doing. Look at the english artist who painted lots of swimming pools in LA and look at his polaroid series such as Pear Blossom Highway David Hockney

Your cubes could be a three D version of his polaroids????

 

[esquared]

Thanks for the advice guys

Thats what im worried about.. im not much of a painter... and yess i could pull together something with printmaking or digital or something but i like this idea a lot

I like your idea Daemontreu, although what I was sort of going for here is for people to make it themselves.. people with no artistic knowlege, i want it to have peoples handwriting, their staplings of pictures, etc. Doing it based on what they say sort of defeats the purpose for me... And one of my original ideas was actually to have one cube as clear... against all the others... i thought it would look really cool until I realised it didnt fit in with what im trying to say...

soso, thanks for the advice RE the postmodern frame, i'll look into that some more I was thinking of printing a template onto cardboard and literally giving to everyone i know, hoping that i will get a lot back to choose from. Even email it to people overseas and ask them to send me back a scan or some photos or instructions for making it what they want. Quantity = room for quality.
Thanks for the heads up on the artists, ill check them out.

And thanks for the advice Whitey, thats what im afraid of ive had pretty mixed reactions from different teachers and people... Im mainly trying to think of how I can be more involved with the making.. besides putting it all together, making the templates, assembling the cubes from the used templates, and making a cube for myself. Maybe some other stuff with the same theme to accompany it would help?

Thanks again, any more comments appreciated

 

[spam police]

your idea's really interesting but also ambitious (64 or 125!!)

anyway yeah, i'm pretty sure it's a definite noo to getting other people to do your artwork, even though that's the point of the artwork. what whitey said is true:

Originally posted by Whitey
Criteria marking will kill that. HSC isn't the place to challenge the notions of art, it's to tackle each criteria and display your skill in practice and the 'conceptual strength' of what you come up with.

hsc art is about showing your technical skills as well as your conceptual skills, so my suggestion would be to do the cubes yourself. and, like you said, just pretend that you're a 'non-artist' and fill out the cubes like you were a lay man. i like daemontrau's idea too- get other people to write out their thoughts and then visualise this through your cubes.

i think it's a heaps interesting idea, think about it more. talk to your art teacher- he/she should know the guidelines the best.

 

[Daemontreu]

I definitely agree with Whitey, and I also agree with you when you say that shouldn't be the only thing in your work...

Maybe you could compromise. Hold on to that concept about people, but scale down the cube idea (as you said, quantity for quality) pick just a small amount to make a cube, and come up with some other works for your body of work.

 

[Daemontreu]

Yeeeeeeeeeeah.... but it's still a pretty ambiguous topic. I say, do it yourself, get rid of the ambiguity, and the possibility of lowering your marks.

 

[esquared]

Yeah I dont want to take chances with my HSC

Im thinking now to scale it down to a 27 or 64 cube project and to do some other works in a similar style and with the same theme. Maybe find a way to asthetically link them.