Exhibition Text
The Future is Space
Block Print
23 x 15 cm
October 2016
One of the most common dreams children have is to one day travel to space, and just 50 years ago people believed that humanity's future belonged in space. This piece is a block print meant to represent the end of optimism and dreams for the future. It was mainly inspired by Syd Mead's art which mixed science fiction with believably, DaVinci's anatomical drawings of the human skeleton representing death, and Kathe Kollwitz's block prints.
Block Print
23 x 15 cm
October 2016
One of the most common dreams children have is to one day travel to space, and just 50 years ago people believed that humanity's future belonged in space. This piece is a block print meant to represent the end of optimism and dreams for the future. It was mainly inspired by Syd Mead's art which mixed science fiction with believably, DaVinci's anatomical drawings of the human skeleton representing death, and Kathe Kollwitz's block prints.
Inspiration
This print was inspired by three different artists, Syd Mead, Leonardo DaVinci, and Kathe Kollwitz. Syd Mead is an American artist described as a futurist, creating conceptual art for movies like Tron, Bladerunner, and Elysium. He tries to blend futurism with believability to make art that looks like something that most people would describe as the future of humanity. The piece I used as inspiration is called Drilling and depicts several astronauts that appear to be doing some sort of mining work in the future. The astronauts helmets are what I used to represent the future in my print. I also used one of the most famous artists in history, Leonardo Da Vinci, as inspiration. He is most known for The Mona Lisa but also has many fantastic drawings of the human body. He would wait for elderly people to die before opening them up to make extremely detailed drawings of the internal organs and other components of the body not visible on the outside. The specific drawing I used for inspiration was of the human skeleton. In my block print I included a skeleton to represent death and the passing of time rotting away everything except for the bones. I also used Kathe Kollwitz's The Widow as my final piece of inspiration. Kathe Kollwitz created block prints showing her experiences with World War 1 and its aftermath. Many of her prints display scenes of grief and sadness. In The Widow a woman who most likely lost her husband is huddled in a corner. I attempted to use this pieces composition and Kollwitz's detailed carving style to create an overall visually stimulating print.
Process
Brainstorming
1.) I started this project intending on creating a piece centered around retro-futuristic space art. I also wanted to incorporate the idea of fading dreams so I decided to make my print show the decline of optimism for a future in space, and to center it on the work of Syd Mead. |
Planning Sketches
2.) When creating these sketches I fully intended on creating a piece that had some kind of science fiction or futuristic element; this ended up being a helmet which I used in all of my sketches. I tried to make the sketches with large black and white spaces so it would be easier to carve on the linoleum block. |
Experimenting
Below are two of the prints I made during the project, on the left is the first print that I made, it was not printed very well and had many white patches and I did not have enough of the block cut out. On the right is the print I made before creating my final one, I printed it after taking out much more of the block but it still had many white spaces because I did not place enough ink on the roller. During the project I mainly used a larger curved tool to do most of the carving even though I should have used a v-shaped tool to get a much more detailed cut, this gave the piece a much messier look than I wanted.
Below are two of the prints I made during the project, on the left is the first print that I made, it was not printed very well and had many white patches and I did not have enough of the block cut out. On the right is the print I made before creating my final one, I printed it after taking out much more of the block but it still had many white spaces because I did not place enough ink on the roller. During the project I mainly used a larger curved tool to do most of the carving even though I should have used a v-shaped tool to get a much more detailed cut, this gave the piece a much messier look than I wanted.
Block Printing Process
To create this block print I first created several detailed planning sketches to choose from. When I had choosen which sketch I was going to use I put graphite on the back of the paper and outlined the skeleton and helmet directly onto the linoleum plate. When I had the outline completed I began to use several different carving tools to take out large chunks of linoleum. Once all of the linoleum had been cut out I began to print them, this involved rolling ink onto the block and then taking a piece of paper and putting it onto the block and using a flat thing to push the ink onto the paper.
To create this block print I first created several detailed planning sketches to choose from. When I had choosen which sketch I was going to use I put graphite on the back of the paper and outlined the skeleton and helmet directly onto the linoleum plate. When I had the outline completed I began to use several different carving tools to take out large chunks of linoleum. Once all of the linoleum had been cut out I began to print them, this involved rolling ink onto the block and then taking a piece of paper and putting it onto the block and using a flat thing to push the ink onto the paper.
First print, not enough of the block is cut out
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Second print, not enough ink
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Final print design
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Final print design detail
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Reflection
Overall I am pleased with how the print turned out. I was able to keep my piece looking pretty close to my original sketch and I believe that I was able to incorporate the artwork of Syd Mead into the print in an appropriate manner. My final print was also fairly clean and I didn't have many areas that didn't have ink that should have. I did cut out too much linoleum in the background and it looks different from how I wanted it to but it still looks acceptable. My meaning was acceptable though I think it was rushed and I could have included more of a historical background to improve it.
ACT Questions
Clearly explain how you are able to identify the cause-effect relationships between your inspiration and its effect upon your artwork
Syd Meads work depicts astronauts with helmets similar to the ones in my print and in DaVinci's sketches there is a skeleton similar to mine.
What is the overall approach (point of view) the author (from your research) has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
The information about Syd Mead was mainly autobiographical and did not discuss his work in depth, rather his life story and how he came to create that art.
What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
Many people in the 60s and 70s believed that in the future many people would live in space.
What was the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
That dreams and hope don't last forever and that the future is always changing and is never certain.
What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
I assumed that people believed that the future would be in space because that dream seemed promising at the time and that their lives were not great on Earth so the prospect of leaving would be amazing.
Syd Meads work depicts astronauts with helmets similar to the ones in my print and in DaVinci's sketches there is a skeleton similar to mine.
What is the overall approach (point of view) the author (from your research) has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
The information about Syd Mead was mainly autobiographical and did not discuss his work in depth, rather his life story and how he came to create that art.
What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
Many people in the 60s and 70s believed that in the future many people would live in space.
What was the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
That dreams and hope don't last forever and that the future is always changing and is never certain.
What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
I assumed that people believed that the future would be in space because that dream seemed promising at the time and that their lives were not great on Earth so the prospect of leaving would be amazing.