Wax/Skin (e)

Wax Skin

So I've started to create a wax skin with the ironing fabric from the paper making kit. The paper I'd made wasn't very translucent and I had wanted the skin to be clear enough to see the tumours inside. 

Overall I would of liked a latex style of skin but I don't have the stuff to create the idea I had originally envisioned and I think a textile style is more suited to my portfolio for the next level of my studies. 

To hold the skin up I thought a spine inside would help to support the stucture of the skin. I wanted it to be a natural colour as not distract from the skin and tumour itself. I was going to colour the fabric to look like skin but I decided that I liked the more organic look. Sometimes you can do too much and I'm trying to do less is more when it comes to my thinking and work. It had been a little bit for a head ache to be honest and I wish it was easier to have a cast in place instead of having to create this from the unknown/unsure point of working.  Its frustrating and draining sometimes trying to find solutions to the simple problems I find myself having. 

wire for paper mache

my paper mache spine 

I do like the texture and finish of my spine, it isnt exact as how the spine of humans are but I like the idea of a designer spine. More of a style rather.

skeleton in class 

The tumour below, I used red and green batik ink mixed with pistachio shells and hot wax. The shells I had kept as I had thought they were interesting enough to used for something. Funny the things you keep for no reason! However it has worked a treat. Plus I get to eat more nuts!

my tumour

As I'm writing this blog I've decided to search on google for Human Skin artists. Some of the results are pretty weird and wonderful and to the level I would of like my own skin to ended up being like. However, I did seem to be onto something using wax as many of the object had actually used wax.

Art Made Flesh: 35 Sculptures Rendered in Human Skin & Hair. 

https://weburbanist.com/2015/07/15/art-made-flesh-35-sculptures-rendered-in-human-skin-hair/

Felix Deac

 

Romanian artist Felix Deac creates amorphous blobs of flesh replete with veins, moles, wrinkles and hair. While some might look like deformed human body parts, most are just abstract shapes reminiscent of nightmarish tumors that have taken on a life of their own.

The controversial Australian artist Patricia Piccinini creates sculptures of fantastical creatures with extremely human-like skin and hair.





The skeletons within these sacks of flesh by Francesco Albano seem to be melting piece-by-piece, leaving behind some fully-formed body parts while the rest become no more than a pile of leather.





If human flesh can be grown in a laboratory for purposes like medical prosthetics, could it – and should it – also be used for other applications, like art? Artist Jason Hopkins explores this idea with ‘posthuman structures,’ ‘biostructures’ and ‘human reconfigurations.’





New technology and art is something that really interests me. This idea above excites me and I have in the past thought the idea of art and medicine should come together. I like the idea of children designing they own prosthetic limps or casts. Torso and limps to reflect a mood or outfit/style. Cancer patiences designing head gear or expressing the journey that living with with cancer has had in an art form.... Scars sewn up and tattoo with an image of refection and courage etc. individual and a memory of  strength, sorrow or whatever. Art therapy is another interest but I'm definitely not doing psychology to try and understand someones mind. Hell my own mind is enough at times for me to study.