In-Depth Project TOPIC #2

From a previous post We knew we wanted to approach the rest of the topic with refined Elegance in mind, while keeping it organic. The way I tried to solve this problem was by creating a very stylized pattern repeat. I found very interesting shapes in the original chair ( Plate 243. Img.5) that I believed worked very well for my purpose so I went with that.

Once I had this pattern the new problem of how to incorporate in a chair arose. My decision on it was to NOT use the pattern as a texture on the chair, but to create the chair based on that pattern repeat. Therefore the chair would use a lot of rectilinear shapes as well as curves, and the line work would be translated in a different way, in order to keep the frame of the chair as minimalist as possible. I created the four views of the chair a presented below.

Finally we had the In-Depth project. I was tasked to use the left side of the plans only.

   Here I had some issues. My original idea was to take the concept of refinement and elegance and take it to another extreme. I asked myself if I could make something not clean and calculated look elegant and refined, or change the context of those qualities to fit a different visual language. In thinking so I started an abstract painting, ink and acrylic on paper. I was halfway through this piece, just needing to mount it and finalize the detailing and was really happy with it, when after class, and input from the professors, it clicked. My artwork wasn't representing what I wanted from it. It wasn't effective as an abstraction of elegance OR refinement. my classmates loved it, and I loved it. But I knew it didn't work. Kathleen tried to help me salvage it, by counseling me with some mounting work or alterations I could do to fix it, and although the ideas were incredible, I just knew I wasn't happy with that piece anymore, at least not in the context of the assignment.

So with limited time window, I had to make some decisions. I couldn't do painting anymore, and a drawing wouldn't have satisfied me, so I wanted to create a sculpture with materials that were sleek and could portray both curves and straight angles in an effective way. Enter construction paper. I had used it a bit for the first assignment and was still learning the materials and how to mold them. Then came the question of how and what to show.

This is the solution I came up with:
What if I deconstructed the view of the chair I was given ( left triangle) and created the sculpture from it. And there it went. Some other considerations were taken to bring it above just a mere reconstruction though. Firstly, the choice of black construction paper. Black is a very elegant color and would make the paper shapes look like something else, if used correctly. The white line pattern from the painting came back in the form of actual patterns inside the shape.



 Frontal View:

 Front rectangle represents the rail where the cushion rests.
 Curved planes represent the cushion.
 Frontal pointed plane represents what can be seen of the right leg and the ornamental curve it has.
 Back triangular piece is the visible part of chair's stile (back).

 

Hopefully this is an insightful look into my thought process for this in-depth project. Good luck for next one!