NATURAL DISORDER
Uncultivated clutter in the city of Bangkok
After picking the examination title ‘natural disorder’, I decided to take a trip around the city I live in to find inspiration from my surroundings. I noticed that natural disorder is inherent in each corner and crevice, through the cracks in a wall to a green smear sprouting on a surface.
By exploring the imperfections of this developed environment, I have discovered the persistence of disorderly nature in a city that is increasingly planned and formulaic.
4B/6B pencil drawing
For my starting point, I went on a trip to Chinatown where I began gathering visual stimuli through photography. I found this by looking closely at rust and urban decay.
The aesthetic qualities of these object are compelling as they contrast the shiny surface world of this urbanised environment.
In cities like these, many structures that are more pronounced have been made gregariously appealing by design and layers of unblemished paint, while more inconsequential surfaces, hidden from public view, have been left for processes like growth and rot.
4B/6B pencil drawing
On my journey around the city I found these switches on a wall next to a beautifully painted house. I decided that a tonal drawing of these structures would allow me to consider the switches and the encompassing dirt, a combination which jarringly contrasting the colourful painted houses. The switch that was once brand new is now layered with grime.
EE/6B/4B pencil drawing
Sketchbook work to develop my thoughts
After looking at corrosion, I found that the flow of the dirt and rust matches many of the formations found on the coastline near Bangkok. The curves and form and are created haphazardly, formed by natural movement over time to form a cluttered amalgamation of fauna and erosion. Progressing through the project, I became increasingly interested in scrutinising the formations produced by these shell-like structures emerging from the sand and silt of the beach.
4B/6B pencil drawing
Colour pencil drawing
Observational blind drawings
These drawings are inspired by organic materials that I collected during a trip to the beach.
The observational line (blind) drawings have been layered many times to achieve the curvature and depth inherent in the objects.
Photoshop/ Editing
This is a photograph that I have taken of shell formations. I have edited the photographs using Photoshop. My aim was to reduce the prominence of the background so that the shells were the main focal point in each scene. I achieved this through a process of layering.
Using my edited photograph, I applied wax onto the back of a sheet and created an interesting image. Using another sheet, I printed a separate picture that I took and drew shapes and forms on top of it with wax which then produced white spaces that made the image of the shells darker. I then decided to collate the two pieces together and was pleased with the results, choosing to apply what I'd produced to other facets of my work.
Drypoint etching
To explore form and shape, I created a print using the dry-point etching technique, which involves replicating each line present in the images I took on a plate. With the use of a hard-pointed needle I was able to make concise lines and form depressions on the surface of the plate.
I have stitched print on top of this because it helps to emphasise the curvature that is so essential to the original stimulus, yet is hard to achieve using the dry-point technique alone.
This technique was created by Mark Woolbright who etches, engraves, and uses the dry-point technique on metal plates by hand. Exploring his work gave me the idea to include cross-hatching in my pieces, something that allowed me to better reproduce the nuanced light and depth inherent in the stimuli.
Experimentations/samples
These experiments were made using a wide range of media to investigate which surface would be the best to work on further into the project.
Textile samples
On this piece I have experimented with colour schemes using felt, including yellow and brown tones. I then layered it using a sewing machine, running the fabric across the point multiple times to test different styles.
For these textile pieces I have used a batik process, wherein the artist uses wax to prevent dye from penetrating the cloth, leaving blank areas in the dyed fabric. This is because by using batik I can reproduce each line using wax, and layer other fabrics to create a more abstract aesthetic piece of work. I then experimented with different shades of ink and dye and eventually settling on earthy tones. After applying the dye I decided to use the “cracking” effect caused by the batik process by dipping the fabric into pale blue and then dark blue dye, eventually resulting in three layers of colour.
Final piece
Finally, to combine all the ideas together I used the batik process, felting and mixing the brown and yellow fibres and applying them to the fabric. I also used the cracking effect and dyed three pieces of fabric in two different shades of dark and light blue. I then stuffed the fabric with pillow filler, so that when I got onto stitching by both hand and machine the piece would elicit obvious layers of depth. I used embellishment to emphasise the lines with a layer of stitching.
My final piece is ultimately about the natural disorder so inherent in the shell like formations found on the beach. I decided to use the batik process and textiles in my work as it helped to accurately reproduce the lines and curves that resemble the shell like formations in a piece that is both abstract and true to the original form.