portrait in the form of a bust. i first sculpted
the head out of clay, trying to capture my
likeness. then i severely altered it, to align
more to the final concept i was working with.
then i created a waste mold out of plastic,
cracked the mold to release the clay, reformed
the mold, cast the head in hydrostone, then
chipped away the plaster waste mold. then
came the fun part: painting and decorating,
which basically means i went to town.
here's the final product:
the final piece is much less a self portrait,
than a caricature based on a personal anecdote.
at this point in my life, marriage is the absolute
last thing on my to-do list. i know several people
my age and younger who are married, getting
married, or very close. some are even having
babies already. when i think of these people, i
start to feel like an old maid at the age of 21, which
is absurd i know. to me, being married at such a
young age, recalls images of Suzy homemaker and
stepford wives. women embodying extremely
stereotypical roles that feel very fake to me.
because of this, i tried to make the face appear
almost mask like, and very fake and mannequin-
esque. which is odd, because it looks obviously
fake, but it also looks like it may spring to life at
any moment.
i also think about my life and the hundreds
of directions i am constantly going in, i see
that marriage is not going to realistically be
in the picture for many years, if ever. for
this reason, on the rear of the head, where
normally the spine would be noticeable,
there is an empty void because i feel for
me to willingly marry at this age, it would
require the surgical removal of my backbone.
all of this was a way to explore my own
personal feelings about the subject. i mean
in no way to judge or condemn those who
have married at a young age. in that respect,
this piece is more of a self-portrait. but, it has
also made me think about the trends in my
generation. if i look at our parents, i think in
many ways, they are the first generation to
really break away from the nuclear family.
between astronomical divorce rates and a
longer life expectancy, marriages happen later
or dissolve earlier. because of this trend, i think
children who come out of this rupture, there are
two reactions. the first is to react to the lack of
a strong family structure by forcing the creation
of one's own family as soon as possible. the
second being a strong refusal to the institution
itself because of failures witnessed first hand.
i obviously fall into the second group, but not
because my parents marriage fell apart, but
because they both had the opportunity to do
many things on their own before settling down
to start a family.
sorry about this super long and unedited
riff on a pretty simple project. just something
i've been thinking an awful lot about lately.
questions? comments? critiques?
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