The bricks are placed back into a mould, roughly the same size as the original brick. Although these bricks were salvaged from my neighbors back yard i feel that more historically significant materials would tell a more interesting story. My ultimate goal for this project would be to have many more of these bricks and in a manner of speaking, rebuild a fallen wall. I think using the actual fallen materials, with varying amounts of wax/brick and then placed in its original setting would be quite moving. Maybe after some time in the sun the wax bricks will somehow collapse and become its own ruin once again.
I feel that this is only the beginning. I could vary the type of materials, using large cmu or even old termite ridden wood beams. Questions, comments, suggestions? Most of comments i have heard have been rather positive so more critical eyes are welcome to as well. More bricks are on the way.
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Awesome nice pics! Totally enjoy the idea about letting the elements transform the artwork, installation over time - you have an ongoing ruin, or deterioration of the object that had been reformed again. Check out Gaetano Pesce and his silicon house.
ReplyDeleteWhat other objects could you use? Would you always use them as infill to recreate the orginal? would you use existing pieces as part and complete the brick with wax instead of casting into it?
I think that at the moment i want to focus on the idea of using "fallen" materials and then use the wax to put them together again. I want to try a concrete CMU, and a "brick with holes in it". I think it would be cool down the road to get an old termite ridden table and reconstruct it with wax. Maybe that would look cool if it was set out in the sun to melt. For the moment i am drawing up ways to mass produce these things.
ReplyDeleteI am going to start by just making a simple brick wall (maybe 100 bricks) then letting that melt and fall down into a blob of bricks and wax. The next step is to find a site with broken walls wax a few of the broken bricks and place them into the open space in the wall thereby reconstructing the wall.
I have thought of using acrylic but in my opinion a clear substance would take away from the concept. In my opinion the delicacy of the wax as well as its light translucent qualities add to the depth and complexity of the concept. When the light is infront of the wax it is white, but almost clear when it is backlit.
I'll make a few more examples to work out the kinks, but i would like to move to a larger numbers soon. Does anybody know where i can get 100 nice old bricks?
i think you are wise to question other casting mediums, although I am still in question of the wax.
ReplyDeletewhy are you recreating a brick [solid] with the aide of wax [liquid]?
i raise this question because it begins to critique your intentions in further extrapolations of the piece. it does not make sense to me for a piece about repair to fail again, in less time no matter. if the intention is to truly comment about repair / regeneration, then you need to question the durability of the casting medium.
assuming the brick has disintegrated under natural causes, how does wax add to the commentary of ruin / repair? i think the answer to this question does not validate the use of wax as an agent of repair, instead an agent of reproduction...
if you are striving for commentary on repair, can you use a medium as cheap / available as mud [considering today's waste streams] to repair this brick?
I do have to admit that i have been getting ahead of myself when trying to explain my initial reasons. The project started in a Vogler studio II project. I was using wax as a material because of its translucent qualities that allowed me to gauge the depth and form of a surface. I was trying to cast the wax onto a verticle wall, which i found out is almost impossible.
ReplyDeleteI think at the most basic level I am trying to illustrate the material of the brick. Brick is a solitary unit of a larger grouping. It therefore most be seen in conjunction with other units which make up the larger fabric of how brick is used/perceived.
Wax is very easy to work with. Less than 180 degrees on a kitchen stove. I don't need any special tools. I have a special tin pot i use to melt the wax and i make the molds from foam-core and craft glue. (i am designing something that would make it easier and less wasteful to mass produce) Wax is also relatively inexpensive and easy to come by. I think there is room to explore with different materials, but i dont have many resources/money. I do see the viability of using a more resourceful material in the long work but for the moment the wax allows me to get the project off the ground and gives me room to make mistakes as i figure out exactly what i am doing.
on a side note i first started by melting "jesus candles" to get my wax. If you want to think that at least now they are serving an actual purpose then i guess that might be seen as resourceful.
I think you are on a good track. I am just trying to add some more thoughtful critique about materiality. Also interesting to note is your use of candle wax instead of mold wax...
ReplyDeletei really appreciate it... keep the comments coming.
ReplyDelete