Response to Janine Antoni's work Lick and Lather:
This artist, Janine Antoni, definitely has her own style and technique with art which is a bit strange, but rather intriguing. I personally feel as though art becomes so much more meaningful when the piece has a connection to the artist, and means something to them as well. Her piece, Moor, I found very interesting. It honestly made me want to learn how to create a rope, and I loved how she used so many different materials to create it, not just cloth. I found it a bit strange that she used hair as well, but it just shows her story and connection to the piece that much more. Another piece she had, with the cow hyde draped over her body, I found very eerie. It had so much movement, and it creeped me out how it felt like it could start crawling at any moment. On another note, I love that she sculpted herself out of chocolate. I know that I love creating art, and it puts me in this certain frame of mind that is so relaxing, but to have the smell of chocolate all around me in the process? Sounds like bliss if you ask me. Lastly, I really like how she used the help of her family to create the ropes. I'm a very family oriented person myself, and once again, having that extra element of meaning really creates a more completed, whole piece.
From Janine's sculptures, our task was to create two soap carvings of an animal, one to perfect, and one to manipulate. For this soap carving project, I decided to carve a pig. The process was difficult to start at first, since I had no idea where to start or how to go about it. Below are some pictures of my process.
After carving the first pig, I got the hang of the process with how to unveil the pig from a block of soap. The process of carving became much faster. I was also able to change some of the proportions to make them more accurate. Unfortunately, I got a little too excited to be carving my pig so fast, and messed up two strokes which created irreversible trenches in my pig's butt and face, so therefore that ended up being the one I had to destroy. Below are pictures of my second pig that I decided to destroy, and the process in which I did so.
The imperfect pig.
Step 1: Decapitation. I cut the head off about halfway with an x-acto knife, and then simply broke off its head from there.
Step 2: Smushing. I then set the pig on top of a hard surface, and stepped on him with my bare feet. It was a really weird feeling, and the soap was oddly squishy.
Step 3: Cooking. I then microwaved the pig remains, for a total of about three and a half minutes. This was taken after one minute in the microwave, and then I decided to put it back in.
The soap had a very interesting reaction to the microwave. Parts of it created more bubbles, other sections melted, and other parts burnt. It smelt absolutely horrendous.
Step 4: Slicing. From there, I removed the paper towel, which was actually stuck to the soap, and sliced it with an x-acto knife.
Step 5: Painting. I decided to attempt to pant the strips like bacon, which was rather difficult because the paint kept sticking to my fingers instead of the soap.
Step 6: Burning. I then lit the "bacon" on fire to give it that delightful crispy look.
Step 7: Biting. Next, I bit the bacon. I put a plastic bag around it though, since soap is disgusting.
Steps 8 & 9: Gluing and Glossing. I decided to use rubber cement to attempt to glue the bacon to the plate, but the rubber cement didn't really want to adhere. In the process of gluing them though, the rubber cement gave the bacon a glossier finish, making it look a little more realistic, as if the bacon was still freshly cooked and covered in grease.
Below are the pictures of the finished product of my sculpted pig. I wasn't able to get the best pictures showing all the detail, because my camera was having a tough time trying to focus on this pig. Overall, I'm happy with the finished product.
This sculpting project was definitely a fun one. I really enjoyed working with the soap, once I was able to find a kind that worked well for the task. When trying to think of what I wanted to carve, I wanted to create an animal that would be transformed into something else in real life. I had thought of using a sheep and turning it into a sweater, and my original trial was a cow that I was going to turn into a steak. Unfortunately, with the olive soap I had been using, the soap didn't take well to the long legs of the cow, and the appendages kept snapping off. I then decided to choose an animal that was a little more compact, and I used an almond butter soap instead. It was much smoother and easier to work with. I'm very happy with the finished pig, as well as the finished bacon. The bacon doesn't look incredibly realistic, but that was fine by me since the final piece definitely says, "meat." It doesn't bother me that it could be taken as either bacon or meat in general, since the pig is used for many other kinds of meat, and in fact, just about every single bit of the pig is put to good use when slaughtered. I love meat, so this was the perfect animal for me.
Final Sketches:
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