2D Methods: Mixed Media

My next idea to work on is a face cut-out board. It is similar to the ones that are at zoos, carnivals, amusement parks, and even wedding receptions. In light of my desire to make something big and the inclination of making it interactive, I will be making a face cut-out board that displays a casket. I find it interesting that some people, including my family, who go through the process of picking out flower arrangements, a casket, music, what will be said, and so on that involves a funeral. But what I also realize is we may be doing these things to help us find closure and feel more human. A downside that I have also taken in is that the things mentioned above that are chosen for the deceased may not even be what they would have liked. My dad's ashes are in a tear dropped shaped urn but he could have thought that's ugly but we'll never know. I gathered some photos of caskets and face cut-out boards as reference materials. I couldn't find the angle I wanted for viewing the casket from above but I'll make do with the images I do have. It was also hard to find a blueprint for either one as well.

 

2D Methods: Mixed Media

For our mixed media challenge we are supposed to use found objects. I decided to do a box of some of the stuff that my dad left behind when he died. In the box I have an unpainted pintail duck painting kit, two hats, a Cleveland Browns flag, some pictures, and a biker vest patch. A few other things I have of his that I didn't put in the box are his stereo, record player, sweater, an old T-shirt, and lots of memories. I didn't put them in the box because I either use them or they're too big. So far, I haven't cried from looking at all his stuff which isn't actually that much stuff. My Grandpa has more of it like model racecars, even more Cleveland Browns items, and his glasses. I would love to have his glasses. It gets really hard not to cry when going through everything. My family and I didn't have much time to mourn him because we had to pack up his apartment in only a few days time. It was like flicking a switch. Even though I was going through losing a parent, cleaning out the apartment just felt like we were moving again which we've done plenty of times before. I always wonder what my life would be like if he was still around. Would I have dated the asshole in high school? Would he have finished culinary school? Would we move into a house? Would he have remarried? How would he feel when I graduated high school or moved out or met the man I'm with today? Would he like him? Would he be the one to teach me how to drive, to vote, to do my taxes? Instead I am left with tons of what-ifs and a tiny box of what he left behind.

2D Media: Mixed Media

I took a slight break from working on my human life cycle piece. I tried asking myself how to represent my notion that there is no afterlife. How can I show that I believe that when your body stops working, that's it? We are animate because we have a heart, a brain, and organs that have to work together for us to live. It's like a clock or computer. One part may stop working but it doesn't stop it entirely but one piece can also fail and the whole thing stops. I was finding it hard to represent. In light of that, I turned back to my work of the Ancient Egyptian beliefs of the afterlife. That is when someone dies, their heart is weighed against a feather to judge if they should go on to the afterlife. In their book of the dead the heart and the feather are equal on the scale which means you past the test. Although, in realistic terms the heart will always weigh heavier than the feather. This means if everyone believed in the ways of Ancient Egyptians then all of our hearts would have been fed to a God which meant our souls would be lost forever which, in their terms, is worse than death.

2D Media: Mixed Media

I forgot I was supposed to post my research images for my human life cycle work.

2D Media: Mixed Media

I have been struggling these last few days due to a very bad cold that has been a mix of headaches, a fever, and an insistent exhaustion that sleep cannot conquer. Through this cold I have not been able to do much artwork along with any other homework. Because of the positive feedback I had from my frog life cycle, I am creating a human life cycle including the fetus, infant, child, teenager, adult, and elder as the distinct stages. Each stage will have an appropriate drawing to accompany the silhouette. This is my current progress thanks to my horrible cold:

2D Media: Mixed Media

I think the Pour, Pool, Puddle Challenge was somewhat successful. I think most people liked that I was finally showing my point of view and that the piece itself was very personal due to using my own dad's obituary. I wanted to add another note that makes it more personal and use it also as to explain why I chose the suit colors I did. It is simply that my dad wore a dark blue suit with a red tie for the visitation and funeral service. I was upset that the idea of embalming was not clearly recognizable and that was a suggestion that was raise, to make it easier to understand, but I'm not sure how I'm going to do that. The actual process of embalming is injecting the chemicals into the veins but I thought trying to convey that would have been even harder to understand. Either way, I am happy with how it turned out and I was happy to be able to represent my view and I think I want to keep exploring it. I'm just not sure how. I know I believe in science and what that information tells us. I do not believe in heaven, hell, reincarnation, spirit worlds, or any sort of afterlife. I simply believe we have a organs that have to function for us to survive and if something stops working so do we. It just stops, we end, we stop being conscious, we stop living, and that's it.

2D Media: Mixed Media

Our current challenge is: Pour, Pool, and Puddle. So far, I've liked working and experimenting with acrylic paint and water which requires me to either pour it or use my brush to add have heavy pools of color. For the challenge I took on my own point of view of what happens after we die. The idea is simply that we cease to exist. I do not believe in heaven, hell, judgement, reincarnation, or any sort of afterlife. I purely believe that at one point we are alive and at some point something causes us to stop functioning. That's it. I'm currently exploring that idea through the process through which a body is prepared for a funeral service. One of these first steps is the embalming process. I include in this post some images for reference and some links to websites and a video that aided me.

Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rc_QSyWl-GA

Websites:
http://www.memorialpages.co.uk/articles/decomposition.php
http://forensicoutreach.com/library/4-terrifying-things-your-body-does-when-it-decomposes/
http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/toledoblade/obituary.aspx?n=edward-a-williams&pid=142561607