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Title: Cozy Homes and Jagged Things
Medium: Foam, Foam core, Wood, Plastic Size: 31x31cm Date: April 2016 Exhibition Text: Inspired by Hugh Ferriss' The Metropolis of Tomorrow, this piece focuses on movement. Movement is presented to the viewer as their eye moves from the low to high buildings along with opposite diagonals that bring unity through balance on both hemispheres of the board. The arrogant skyscraper in the middle however dominates the piece as it broods over the other structures. Incorporating light, the structures are given a quality of life which takes form through perception of form and color.
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Planning: The project was introduced to me as something completely innovative and new. The idea of light on form was evident and one can observe it in their daily lives'. What made this project so interesting is that abstract forms were given life through light. I began with my own sense of a city in the future. A city that needs to be modern and modern to me resembles a quick-pace. From there I researched several modern cities in the world now and Dubai was the one I picked to analyse. I saw that the city was near water and incorporates water into its structure with several bridges and docks. From there my focus was on the tall buildings that were given a modern twist. I sketched out those buildings trying to get an idea how I can replicate such ideas on the 31x31cm board.
Process: With the materials being limited, I did not have much to choose from which definitely limited the potential I could reach with this piece. I ended up using a lot of foam because of its availability. As I got some blocks, I began to place them down, thinking to myself what a modern city would be like. I went off of my sketch and the idea of water. Water sources could be the cuts in the board but that idea did not go very far when I realized integration of the light (a pathway into the city) was not possible. Too much light would get through, illuminating almost everything, leaving little space for shadows to create depth and contrast. At this point I had nothing permanently glued down. I began to work with the foam creating a tall slender building. I believe that modern cities would house skyscrapers as we would expand into the sky. Cutting the foam with one leg of the scissors and using sand paper to sand it down I glued it close to my triangle space on the board. From there I wanted a diagonal tall building for balance. However, with an excess of modernism it was necessary something organic to be presented as well. Hence, I cut out a circle from the foam, once again using sandpaper to smooth out the jagged edges. There I placed the circle which to me represented a sort-of work place with internet connection for all the busy business-like people of the future. The plastic was used as glass as a roof to the building in times of warm rainy weather. From there my pace quicken, I began to use the wood blocks as a break from the green and black color of the foam and foam-core respectively. A park was created in the upper right corner for escape from the city life. Smaller building took up the space and created a gradual decline from tall to short. The three tallest buildings on the left are balanced out with the 3 semi-circles on the right. Further more the space between the buildings are equal. The long triangular prism is put in place as a indoors walking structure. The function of the building is to provide necessities to city life with a light ambiance since it is near the river (cut). The second to last thing I added was the large black skyscraper in the middle which is to grab the viewer's eye. The tower was made from the foam-core, cutting the foam-core with a box-cutter led to some lines being crooked and thus the foam-core did not form a neat skyscraper. Ferris has stated in his book, The Metropolis of Tomorrow, skyscrapers are arrogant symbols of power. To a certain extent I agree and Ferris, who lived through the time of The Great Depression in the United States definitely noticed the disparity between the wealthy and poor which led to his work becoming abstract with the chillness of a professional attitude.
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Critique: This piece reached a level of success that I am not entirely content with. I believe most of my design is repetitive and albeit attention is paid to design principles, more innovative ideas could have been explored and implemented. With the two longest diagonals of the piece doing in opposite direction balance is created. This choice took the harshness away from my piece and also added diversity in the form. Since most of the structures are vertical, the diagonals help take the viewers' eyes all around the piece. This is one success that I am proud of. There can be several improvements on neatness/ presentation of the piece. A better photograph needs to be taken. In hindsight, the string should have been straightened before beings added onto the wood structures for a better aesthetic look. The black skyscraper needs to be sanded down on the sides so it is presented better. The interaction with light in this piece was something of complexity. This is due to the light only coming from the bottom and through the cuts in the board. For future experimentation with light, there should be slits so the light can diffract and illuminate perpendicular to the slit. That would make for some interesting plays of light and structure. In my piece, light played the basic role of illuminating only certain structures and the other remained in the dark. I was hoping for something more extravagant but this can be due to my home-made light source structure.
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Word Count: 998