Sarah Sze 

What I find fascinating about Sarah Sze’s work is that these objects are almost fragments of materials’ such as: steel, stone and plastic. This is very familiar to my work because my sculptures are made out of scrap material of bitesize pieces of acrylic, steel cases, aluminium wire, scrunched up wrapping paper and nails. What is ironic is that Sze's  large scale structure is made from tiny fragments of materials people waste (likewise like my sculptures which ended up as prototype building structures) but these fragments or particles are used to make a large scale structure which blurs the lines of “one’s perspective of space and architecture” because they are essentially scrabble which can be seen as nothing but collectively connect and coexist with each other using like and unlike materials. For instance, stone and metal. Stone is more of a natural material whereas  steel is hard, strong industrial, chemically orchestrated, bent, deformed and man made. Obviously, iron ore is from the ground and stone. I love how the materials juxtapose each other but still have earth like similar qualities. This gives her structure energy and a charismatic flair. These fragments have to rely within each other to create a structure of a sculpture, because as seen in the sculpture there is more than one component within this structure to change the perspective of one’s individuals space and time. In my opinion the scale and nature of the structure gives the illusion it should be outside due to the scale and the nature of the sculpture because it seems like it's an architectural building  and should be seen by the public but if the sculpture were to be placed outside, the sculpture would lose the illusion of time and space because in the space it may appear the sculpture is trapped and confined and made to adjust to its surroundings make it adaptable. If the sculpture were to be placed outside it takes away the privacy of the piece. It would contradict its purpose  and this idea plays with who is entitled to what space and why and where. Consequently, by doing this Sze encourages us her viewers to think about space and entitlement. Also, her work makes me think of comfortability in terms of personal space, private and shared space because she speaks about her work being about how we “navigate and locate ourselves in a ‘perpetually disorienting world’. In order to do this in my opinion we have to know ourselves first. In order to do that, you have to be comfortable within yourself. You have to know yourself to locate yourself because to locate yourself means you need to know yourself well enough to give yourself direction to occupy a new or pre-existing space because you have to understand the space you are occupying and why and the purpose and boundaries- territories. For instance, is a person entitled to a space because they bought it, they have a right because they are born there. In addition, what I find alluring about her work is her process of making. In an interview I watched she speaks about how you can spend hours thinking conceptually and planning out how your work will look but it is the actual experimentation, mistakes and learning through making that makes your work interesting and this relates very much to my sculptures because I did not have a preconceived notion of what I was initially going to make I just kept trying to bend my wire a bit more, rotate shapes round, use metal wires as a frame and pour hot glue and maybe add nails. The actual production of my work made my work whole.

Heidi Bucher- Taken by me 

What I find alluring about Heidi Bucher’s sculptures is that her Prasol Unit is about memories, which are past related events but she enforces them into the present as if to say the past and the present collide at a stage. Furthermore, her work uses scraps of material, or materials in my opinion that do not hold that much significance similarly to my sculptures because before they were constructed they were scraps of material before they were developed into a miniature scaled buildings.

"Well known for her latex casts of room interiors, objects, clothing and the human body, which she herself referred to as Häutungen (skinnings), Bucher’s process invariably preserved a haunting imprint of an architectural surface or an object which was simultaneously both a physical encapsulation of and a liberation from the memories these things held for her. To create her skinnings, Bucher first covered her chosen surface with gauze, pressed liquid latex into it, then when it was almost dry she peeled it off. Bucher dealt with the body and architecture in the same manner, an indication that these concepts are fully intertwined within her work. Her complex working technique was often physically demanding and carried out with great vigour and conviction."

Another interest I find in Heidi's work is her manipulation of material, she lets the pprocess control her work and it involves physicality and it shows the manual labour that goes into creating. She also demonstrates the combination of production in my opinion through her work.

 Taken by me at the Tate Britain  

What I find particularly fascinating about Henry Moore's  work is how organic and fluid his sculptures are. For example, the sculptures  above imitate slobs, which are loose and uncontrollable. The fact that Moore is using bronze makes it feel as if he is catching the hybrid in its primary state before development as it were made as a snapshot before the hybrid could develop any further. The use of bronze is permanent almost like a hult of movement. Like the creature was contained almost with brass likewise my sculptures are in the primary stage of it's growth even though it is not because it was once simplified into flat pieces of acyclic and just branches of aluminium/ brass. I feel as if my work is in the primitive stage of growth before my architectural building structures are a prototype for modified large scaled buildings to come.

Ana Lupas 

 Tate Modern - picture take by me.

What I find intriguing about Ana Lupa’s work is that her work intertwines the community together. It is obvious that she does not have any skill sets along the lines of  wreathing and firmly relies on the help of others such as; “ villagers.”Lupa does not have to place all the responsibility of creating and constructing her vision alone. This could suggest Lupa could communicate and share her burden between local people ranging FROM DIFFERENT BACKGROUNDS AND AGES IN THE LOCAL COMMUNITY. Essentially, “creating a bridge between the ancestral and the future. 

In addition, I find it interesting that she is accepting that she may have a lack of understanding for the skills needed to wreath because this reflects her personality. It shows she is reflecting and meticulously thinking and calculating her next step. It demonstrates to me her thought process it could be insinuated that she is thinking conceptually but thoughtfully. Obviously, Lupa made a conscious decision because in the article, it clearly states “she enlisted the help of villagers who used weaving techniques “traditionally employed” to make wreaths for harvest festivals. She knew what she was doing because by that statement alone, she indirectly infers that only specialist helped her wrath her “large straw structures” because they are equipped enough to construct her straw structures..”

Finally, I find it fascinating the “large straw structure” which is enclosed within metal were once vulnerable but the vulnerability of this material is stripped away for protection using the metal surrounding it. It is like she is rebranding one purpose for another because at first she wanted to display her artwork around the local community but from displaying them she goes to sheltering them. IT IS IRONIC THAT SOMETHING THAT WAS SUSPPOSED TO BE SHOWCASED IS BEING PROTECTED AND MAY BE TOO HEAVY NOW  TO DISPLAY IN THE MANNER SHE WANTED TO BEFORE. Furthermore, the fragility of the large straws is covered with something so solid and firm. With this being the case Lupa creates a softness and harshness and in my opinion the harshness of the metal in comparison to the softness could be not only used as protection(in order to increase the longevity of the piece) but could be used as a reflection of the social changes in rural Romania in the mid 1970’s. Lastly, I find it her work thought provoking because by shielding her straw structures she is creating another piece of art within itself. For example, her art being protected formed an installation on its own creating peace. In my opinion she creates separation at the same time because as you can see there is space between each metal casing, as if to say each individual piece of art speaks for itself but at the same time works collectively as a group because they are all somewhat related and in a sense rely on each other  to work together.

Research notes taken in Tate Modern- Notes and picture taken by me

Carrie Mae Weems

Carrie Mae Weems collected ancestral heritage / linage portraits in relation to slavery.