Behind the Veil

In many cases, when I start a piece with a simple idea, it blossoms into something entirely different that inspires me to push the envelope. I can only achieve this when I don't limit myself. That, is how I create great art. With this piece, I started with a simple sketch. For this, I try not to think to hard about what I am sketching. I just hold onto a thought, idea or a feeling and let it flow. In many cases half a drawing will suffice.  I like perfect symmetry and will flip it in Photoshop.

  I usually do a few sketches and gravitate to making whatever feels right to make. Originally this was going to be a base for my Shiva figure but after I established the size and was well underway, my wife Erica, pointed out that most people wont have a shelf or area large enough to fit my 18"x 24" base, not to mention the materials would cost more than the Shiva figure. My wife will tell you I don't admit this enough, but she was right. Then I thought, well I could stop here and start over, but I was really starting to get into the piece. Sorry Chris, I will be doing the base next :)

I love organic shapes and free flowing forms, but the idea that kept me focused on this particular sculpture was a revelation I had on making it translucent. For years I have been creating pieces with PVC tubing, resin parts and lights which are fun, free-form model building exercises in my patience. My fingers were constantly caked with glue and I was getting head aches from the fumes. I knew for my next art piece, I wanted to put aside the glue and the thousands of parts I constantly dig through and DIVE INTO SOME FUCKING CLAY! The wonderful thing about clay is that I have so much more freedom to make the shapes and things I see in my mind. The trick is how to convey my vision in the proper material without it looking like every other sculpted piece I've made or seen. This is when I started thinking about vacuum form. I fell in love with vacuum forming in 1995 at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh when I threw together a crotch piece for a creature I made using a dinner plate and some tubing. Since then I have done countless masks,  chest pieces, and a myriad of other parts on this odd machine of heat and suck. So I coughed up the dough (OUCH) to get my own. I haven't fired her up yet but I hope to this week! I've already molded the piece pictured above, now I am sculpting an under piece (pictured below) that will be seen through the vacuum form. I only have half of it completed so far, the image is flipped.

I have a LOT of work to do to get to where I want it to be, but you can see my mock up Photoshoped image of the two combined below. I can't wait to see how this turns out! Especially with a good paint job and internal lights :)