Welcome to the New Term!

Welcome to term 2! I have had some time to relax over the break and I am ready to begin with this term's exercise. I will be creating an art portfolio based on my progression route, Architecture. I am looking forward to making a 3D project along with 2D drawings and will be updating the process on my blog.

Over the break I looked at various 3D artworks from sculptures to clay modelling and relief, wood carvings and even installation art. Through the course of the first term, I found myself to really enjoy the 3D aspects of our 2D & 3D processes class and some my best works were the 3D projects I did. Because of that, I have gradually developed more of an interest in them and also took some time to look at some artists.

Sun Yuan and Peng Yu are Chinese contemporary artists known for creating controversial art pieces through the use of some unusual materials and pieces. I was already familiar with one of their works done in 2016 which is an installation piece called Can't Help Myself but upon further research, I took a liking to their hyper realistic sculptures.

 

Old Person's Home (2007) by Sun Yuan and Peng Yu

 

This installation is called Old Person's Home and it depicts 13 life sized hyper realistic sculptures that take a resemblance to some world leaders such as politicians, bishops, generals and so on. These figures are portrayed in a sickly manner, also appearing to be falling asleep on a wheelchair. I like that they have added movement to the sculptures, the wheelchairs are electric and when left alone the sculptures bump into each other at random. My interpretation of the piece is that it is a criticism of the inaction of world leaders and the use of wheelchairs and the figures being in a sleepy state or tired position adds to the fact, "Sun Yuan and Peng Yu’s controversial and unsettling large-scale installations critique the structures of political and social power. Working with unorthodox materials and technological components, they criticize the application of political systems such as democracy and authoritarianism" (Artsy, n.d.). Others seem to interpret it in the sense that eventually old age will catch up to us and even leaders in charge of making powerful decisions will reach a point in life where  they will need assistance too, "This work presents the absurd humanity of those who are given the power to make complex, important global decisions and how they, too, will eventually grow old and need assistance, just like the rest of us." (Irpino, 2024)

 

Icebreaker Exercise

For our first lesson of the term we were tasked with recreating an artwork. Myself and Nikita decided to work as a pair and we chose to do a painting by Diego Velázquez titled 'Two Young Men Eating At a Humble Table'

Two Young Men Eating At a Humble Table (1599-1660) by Diego Velázquez

The image depicts two men on opposite sides beside a table with an arrangement of still life on it such as the vases, plates, the fruit and so on. Because of our lack of these objects we tried to focus on the gestures and positions of the men, also the arrangement of the objects and the dark background in order  be able to replicate the balance of these components seen in the painting. Instead of the vases and plates, we added a basket of fruit and a glass to be able to show that we were at least eating at the table just like the men in the painting. Below is the final recreation

References

Artsy (n.d.). Sun Yuan & Peng Yu | Old People’s Home (2007) | Artsy. [online] www.artsy.net. Available at: https://www.artsy.net/artwork/sun-yuan-and-peng-yu-old-peoples-home [Accessed 2 Apr. 2024].

Irpino, L. (2024). Sun Yuan and Peng Yu. [online] ArtRKL. Available at: https://artrkl.com/blogs/news/sun-yuan-and-peng-yu [Accessed 2 Apr. 2024].