SCULPTURE
Understanding Art
Chapter 11: Sculpture, Installation, Site-Specific Art, and 3D
Design
ARTS 105-2
-Not all sculpture is 3D, nor is all of it intended to be viewed
from more than one vantage point.
Categories
of
Sculpture:
1.
Relief sculpture
o
**In a relief, figures or images project to varying degrees
from a 2D plane.
o
**If the imagery does
not
project
significantly
from
the
surface, we refer to the technique as low relief or bas-
relief.
o
**High relief contains figures that project
dramatically
from
the plane.
o
Figures project dramatically from the place of the relief,
so much so that they barely seem attached to the
background.
o
As with 2D works of art, reliefs are intended to be
viewed primarily from one perspective.
2.
Free-standing sculpture or sculpture-in-the-round
o
**Sculpture-in-the-round is not connected to a 2D surface
and, it is carved or cast or assembled in three dimensions.
**Subtractive Process – material is removed from the original,
raw mass to define a figure or an image
**Additive Process – material is added or built up to reach a
desired form
CARVING
**Carving – the sculptor begins with a block of material and cuts
portions of it away until the desired form is created (subtractive)
-
Considered the most demanding type of sculpture because
the sculptor, like the fresco painter, must have a clear
connection of the final product at the outset.
-
The materials chosen – stone, wood, ivory – strongly
influence the mechanics of the carving process and
determine the type of create that will emerge.
-
**In a carving you must have a clear vision or end result.
MODELING
Modeling – a pliable material such as clay or wax is shaped into a
3D form
-
The artist may manipulate the material by hand and use a
variety of tools
-
In modeling the artist may work and rework the material until
pleasing forms begin to emerge
CASTING
**Casting – a liquid material is poured into a mold and hardens
into the shape of the mold
-
Any material that hardens can be used for casting.
-
Bronze has been used most frequently because of its appealing
surface and color characteristics.
-
Concrete plaster, liquid plastics, clay diluted with wate,
and other materials are also appropriate.
THE LOST-WAX TECHNIQUE:
**The Process:
1.
An original model is usually sculpted from clay
2.
A mold of the model is made, usually from sectioned plaster or
flexible gelatin
3.
Molten wax is brushed onto the inner surface of the mold and
forms a hollow shell
4.
After the wax hardens, the mold is removed
5.
The wax model stands as a hollow replica of the clay
6.
The hollow wax model is placed upside down in a container
7.
Wax rods called gates are connected to the wax model
8.
A sandy mixture of silica, clay, and plaster is poured into and
around the wax model, filling the shell and the container
9.
The mixture hardens into a fire-resistant mold, or investiture
10.
The investiture is turned over and placed in a kiln
11.
As the investiture becomes heated, the wax turns
molten one more and runs out – hence the tern lost-wax
technique
12.
The investiture is turned over again while it is still hot
13.
Molten bronze is poured in
14.
The bronze is given time to harden
15.
The investiture and the core are removed, leaving the
bronze sculpture
16.
The projections are removed
17.
The surface of the bronze is burnished or treated
chemically to take on the texture and color desired
-
The process uses two models and two molds: models of clay
and wax, and mols of plaster or gelatin and of silica mixture.
CONSTRUCTED SCUPLTURE
**Constructed Sculpture – the sculpture is built or constructed
from
materials such as cardboard, celluloid, translucent plastic, sheet
metal, or
wire
-
Constructed sculpture frequently creates forms that are
lighter than those made form carving stone, modeling clay,
or casting metal.
ASSEMBLAGE
**Assemblage – a form of constructed sculpture in which
preexisting, or
found, objects, recognizable in form, are integrated by
the sculptor into novel
combinations that take on a life and meaning
of their own
-
**assemblage created often with wood
KINETIC SCULPTURE
**Kinetic Sculpture – sculptures that move
LIGHT SCULPTURE
-
Natural light has always been an important element in
defining sculpture, but only in the past century did
sculptors begin to experiment with the use of artificial
light in their compositions.
TYPES OF MATERIALS
-
Different materials tend to be worked in different ways, and
they can also create very different effects.
STONE
-
Stone is an extremely hard, durable material that may be
carved, scraped, drilled, and polished.
-
The hand tools used with stone – such as the chisel, mallet,
and rasp – have not changed much over the centuries.
WOOD
-
Wood may be carved using a variety of tools and
possesses different degrees of hardness that affect its
workability and durability.
-
Wood’s tensile strength exceeds that of stone, so parts of a
wood sculpture that protrude are less likely than their stone
counterparts to break off.
-
Stone is more impervious to disintegration over time.
-
Sculptors take into consideration types of wood (hard or
soft), their grain patterns (straight or wavy), and their color.
-
Tools = gouges, saws, knives, chisels, planes, mallets,
sanders, and
polishers.
-
Strength of wood is connected to its grain
CLAY
-
Clay is more pliable than stone or wood.
-
Clay has little strength and is not considered a permanent
material – unless it is exposed to heat.
-
Clay can be fired in a kiln at high temperatures so that it
becomes hardened and nonporous, making the clay more
suitable for sculpture and ceramics.
METAL
-
Metals can be casted, extruded, forged, stamped, drilled,
filed, and burnished.
Direct-Metal Sculptures – assembled by welding, riveting, and
soldering.
-
Bronze, an alloy of copper, has been the most popular casting
material because of its surface and color characteristics.
-
Bronze surfaces can be made dull or glossy.
-
Because of oxidation, bronze fand copper surfaces age to
form rich green or greenish blue patinas.
INSTALLATION
**Installation – an artistic medium of 3D works that can be site-
specific and transform the perception of the gallery, garden, or other
artistic environment
SITE-SPECIFIC ART
**Site-Specific Art – produced in or for one location and – in
theory, at least
–
is not to be relocated
-
**Forms of site-specific art = land art, ephemeral art, public
art, and
monuments
LAND ART
**Land Art – site-specific works that are created or marked by an
artist within natural surroundings
-
These works can be temporary or permanent.
EPHEMERAL ART
**Ephemeral Art – works that have a temporal immediacy or are
built with the recognition that they will disintegrate
-
Most of this work is viewed only in photographs
PUBLIC ART
**Public Art – works created for public spaces
MONUMENTS
**Monuments – preserve the memory of a person or an event; to
institutionalize memory
INDUSTRIAL DESIGN
**Industrial Design – the design of 3D products intended for
consumer use
-
**Form follow function
-
**Form over function
In sculptural works such as Gay Liberation, George Segal produces
replicas of people. Plaster
Due to its , clay is frequently used to make three-dimensional
preparatory sketches for other sculptures. Flexibility
Of the following, which material is more commonly used in assemblages?
Wood
Sherry Levine’s Fountains after Duchamp pays homage to Marcel
Duchamp’s original Dada “ready-made” and is a classic example of .
Appropriation art
Referring to sculptures such as , art critic Robert Hughes said such
works were “everything that statues had not been: not monolithic, but
open, not cast or carved, but assembled from flat planes.” Picasso’s
Mandolin and Clarinet
