Creative things to Do in A Cemetery #5: Take a Drink

"Nathaniel Drinking form a Birdbath", David Plotnick, Photograph, 2010

I attempted to play with distance and size, and I have to personally thank Nathaniel for his participation in my little aperture experiment.  It was also really hot that day.  I also appreciate the natural tilt of the bath as he looks as if he is picking it up and drinking it like a goblet.  

Creative things to Do in A Cemetery #4: Look up at the Sky

"Untitled", David Plotnick, Photograph, 2010

I never really explored photography, until I came to VCU, and looking at the geometric branches crossing and contrasting against the sky was a beautiful perspective. 

Creative things to Do in A Cemetery #3: Walk Around and Take It In

"Pyramid at Hollywood Cemetery", David Plotnick, Stop Motion, 2010

I loved stop motion and learned it in my time studio class.  I guess it was self explanitory.

Black and White Drawing

"Knights of Haversham", David Plotnick, 30"x 44", Acryllic on Stonehenge Paper, 2010

In some ways I find it a very disappointing piece of work of mine.  The unfinished coating, weak craftsmanship, and cliche imagery contribute to what I considered a complete and utter failure of execution and an insult to my standards and my colleagues.  However, looking at it with fresher eyes, I would say this was a great teaching experience.  I knew that I would have to strive for the skill I want, I would have to pay excrutiating detail to my actions.  Within time, I plan to do another to show how far i came and also to have a stronger portfolio.    

72 Portraits, One Piece of Paper

"Self Indulgence", David Plotnick, Black Ink on Stonehenge, 24" x 30", 2010

I have done this project once before with the idea of having little versions of me tying me up like in Gulliver's Travels.  When it was finished I had troubles with craftsmanship and instantly found something I liked much better.  The idea was to be eating small heads that were me carrying different expressions.  All in all, I am much happier with this piece.

My Top Three Fields of Study

1. Craft and Material Studies

Heading there was really cool.  It was pretty much a work day for this class.  I ran into a student named Ben who showed me all the material you can work with.  You could explore Ceramics, Glass, Fiber, Wood, Metal, etc.  It was a place of 3D experimentation.  I always wanted to glass blow or do metalwork.  It seemed like the possibilities were infinite in this department and I am excited to experiment, make jewelry, work with textile, etc.  One piece of advice I got from him is relax and keep working and trying and its always possible to couple this with sculpting techniques.

2. Sculpture and Extended Media

From working on a recent project, being exposed to the Sculpture project class with Johnston Foster, and talking with Sculpture graduate students.  I was excited about this field.  There is an ineffable level of excitement and challenge in Sculpture.  Learning to cooperate with the laws of physics and fleshing out one's imagination to a 3D template is exciting.  Not to mention, VCU has the #1 sculpture program so if  I apply there I will have a wonderful educational experience.  A word of advice I got from Johnston Foster is to have fun in AFO the success will come with the discovery and enjoyment.  And yeah have some substantial all around experience in the portfolio.

 3. Kinetic Imaging

I have always had a love for music and making film and cartoons.  The fact that I can integrate all those elements into an art field and a career makes the desire to study it all the more interesting.  An animation professor, had told me to keep working and don't be afraid to experiment because this is the time to do it.  Try everything, work hard, and have fun!  Oh and attend lectures and read Artforum.

Project: Surface Research and DESTROY!!! Part 7

"Good Ol' Benjamin" David Plotnick, Mixed Media, AFO 2010

The cat thought he was safe from what would soon arrive.  Scaling the trees of the forest ripping trunks with its appendages a gigantic spider monster bites down on the cat with its tremendous fangs making the cat succumb to the poison, the spider monster wraps the cat in web as she drinks the fluids of her victim.

I had fun with this one, a cat can obviously be eaten by a dog, but I felt that my food chain needed a fantastic keystone predator.  Hence, those giant spiders that everyone sees in movies like Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, The Mist, Eight Legged Freaks, and even Arachnophobia were the perfect creatures.  Imagine a spider the size of a monster truck eating and impregnating egg sacks into everything from horses to people, building huge webs in automobile tunnels and cathedrals.  Its fantastic and terrible.

In terms of craftsmanship this was extremely taxing.  The weight was unbearable, the legs would fall over, and glue was virtually useless at this point.  Tape served to represent web in my mind. I got to finally use that deer skull in a sculpture I like.  While I truly did enjoy the process of making this and all my other creatures, this one was a twelve hour endeavor.  As a side note, I named this one after my brother, Ben, who is deathly afraid of spiders.  Being that this creature is the dominant keystone predator, it remains at the top of the food chain, nothing serves to kill it, and in turn they grow uncontrollably, and without enough food to sustain the entire population they eventually die off.  I just stomped on him because it takes less time than waiting for the thing to starve.     

Project: Surface Research and DESTROY!!! Part 6

"Molotov Cattail" David Plotnick, Mixed Media, AFO 2010

The fish was lured by a lingering paw.  Swiped with such tenacity the cat feeds.

Making this one was in some ways as challenging as it was rewarding.  Capturing features in the face like whiskers, pointed ears and a feline nose, was satisfying.  I felt the nature of sculpture following a trend of lying flat was starting to become boring, so placing interesting angles for the cat was an interesting journey.  I tried to make the sit sit up straight but the cat kept leaning forward and falling.  glue was becoming less helpful as the sculptures got larger, so the use of artist tape as a collar was a way of covering a flaw in design.  There was also more interesting trash like a thrown out piece of cloth, which made great fur.  This creature took a night over to Bowe Street and a late night food run to 7 eleven, so yeah it was relatively intensive.

Project: Surface Research and DESTROY!!! Part 5

"Coy Fish", David Plotnick, Mixed Media, AFO 2010

When the lizard finished his bird, he slinked over to a pond only to be gobbled by a large fish while drinking.  

When making this sculpture I was beginning to pay attention to the natural features in animals, little nuances that made them easier to differentiate from a mere conception of a generic creature.  I observed drawings and photographs of coy fish.  I noticed for instance that there were two set of whisker on these fish as well as nostrils, plated gills, a dorsal, pectoral, and anal fin.  While walking back from class I found a sushi tray tossed away, and that inspired the idea of a fish and to my luck some fish do eat lizards.  This took about four and a half hours to construct.  

Project: Surface Research and DESTROY!!! Part 4

"Terrible Lizard", David Plotnick, Mixed Media, AFO 2010

While the bird soared in the air, the bird had foolishly crashed into a tree and the wounded animal, paid for her folly as she laid there while the avaricious lizard devoured her.

Weight is starting to become a larger issue as they grow with size.  I have had to rebuild twice already from scratch with the pieces.  Part of the problem was trying to assimilate all the trash from previous animals (ie. the pencil legs of the crab, bubble wand tale, can arm, fork claws, etc.)  I started to notice a remarkable accident, the unintentional sharpness of rough cut parts, made the creature more of a threatening predator.   

Project: Surface Research and DESTROY!!! Part 3

"Bird", David Plotnick, Mixed Media, AFO 2010

The crab was picked up by a swooping bird of death... and swallowed whole.  The bird took a little longer than the crab.  As each sculpture grows in size, it also grows with complexity.  With more attention being paid on mass distribution and structural integrity.  There was a concern about using too much glue to solve problems that it stunted the imagination of creating creatures.  Simple things like bending plastic forks created talons , folding cardboard and mimicking shapes added elements of a fuller beak and coherent designs for the plumage.  Pizza boxes were used to make her wings, and the condiment container from earlier makes another appearance along with the bubble wands for tail feathers returns showing continuity.  Lastly, a return to using the materials natural colors adds a more dynamic appearance to the bird. 

Project: Surface Research and DESTROY!!! Part 2

"Trash Crab", David Plotnick, Mixed Media, AFO 2010

Originally this was going to be the first creature I would make but the food chain would not have been as exciting.  While I feel it is a very stylized version of a crab, I was starting to experiment with the weight of different materials and surfaces.  I was exploring the function of shapes and how they can be applied as characteristics of representation.  The use of bottle caps for pincers is an example of this use.  I also was debating whether to paint on these creatures.  Our bug has met a bitter end to the crushing while goofy looking mandible of a larger predator.  The materials used include: pencils, bottle caps, condiment containers, bubble wands, and screw on caps.    

Project: Surface Research and DESTROY!!! Part 1

"Battery Bug", David Plotnick, Mixed Media, 2010

The objective of this Surface Research project was to create seven pieces of artwork.  Each piece you make must be destroy in some mean and the next piece is transformed in some way from the previous piece.  Through searching half a dozen half baked ideas and many more clamoring for my conceptual attention, I turned towards the idea of making found art sculptures of animals increasing in size being consumed in a growing food chain.  To indicate their consumption and destruction each sculpture was then disassembled and parts assimilated and rearranged onto larger creatures, whether for aesthetic or structural purposes in weight.  I first start out with an infinitesimal insect made with cardboard trimming, twisty ties, fishing line, and a battery.  It was a very quick process no more than ten minutes to make with the help of hot glue.  The great start for an idea that was sure to blossom into something extraordinary. 

Patterns w/ representation

"It Only Takes One", David Plotnick, Acryllic on Stretched Canvas, 12 x 24 in, 2010

Our teacher in Surface Research encouraged us to pick a subject we enjoy.  I have always been a fan of  zombie movies, games, books, memborbilia, etc.  I just can't help myself they are just that awesome.  I felt that grabbing arms were a perfect pattern, while not necessarily consistent in same shape or direction.  I felt there was an implied pattern; the repeated element of arms just trying to take and consume. On a deeper level, the zombie is the personification of most of our deepest fears obviously one being that of death.  It also leads people to question whether we are above mindless animals concerned solely with our appetite.  The sheer number of the undead could represent how the crowd can completely overshadow our individuality.  It can represent a notion that we can be swallowed up by many and left a forgotten soul.  The idea also follows a typical zombie formula: that one zombie can be the catalyst of creating a grabbing horde of these things. One bites a human turning them into a zombie then another then another then another.   In the critique, people thought that the figures at the bottom are people.  Its funny I looked at them more as zombies.  Their anonymous, faceless appearance adds an element of creepiness as well as the illusion of a unit of the shambling corpses meeting the viewer face to face.  Perhaps this was a spacing flaw on my part, if they were above ground and near the zombie the effect would have been easier to interpret, but I feel the singularity of that one zombie's influence would be lost.  Overall, I had fun!