Visual Interpretation of The Displacement of the Face

In The Displacement of the Face I’ve decided to use a system inspired by the tree of life. The tree of life make use of the numbers 0-10 to represent the creation of the world right from the beginning when it came from a pure source of energy. The numbers 0-10 could be implemented into The Displacement of Face via coordinates. The coordinates represents the boundaries of the face where each element of the face could be moved around – distorting and abstracting it.

Found on thingsorganizedneatly.tumblr.com

An example of executing this would be having an installation piece on a peg board. Elements of the face could be scattered around, encouraging the audience to pick pieces and put them together via stacking them or changing their orientation.

Bruno Munari: Macchina Inutile

Munari’s Useless Machines are made of painted cardboard and held together with silk threads.

“The elements of a useless machine, by contrast, all rotate upon and within themselves without touching. They are geometric in origin and exploit the two sides of their rotating elements to create chromatic variations. The public often asks how this idea came to me. This is my response: in 1933 the first abstract paintings were made in Italy; they were nothing more than geometric forms painted in a realistic manner. Morandi, it was said, made abstract pictures using bottles and vases as a formal pretext. In fact, the subject of a picture by Morandi is not the bottles but the painting captured in those spaces. So, it didn’t matter whether he painted bottles or triangles – it was all the same – and the painting was born from the formal and chromatic relationship between the elements that made up the work”

– Pg 40, Useless Machines, Far vedere l’airia, Bruno Munari, Air Made Visible, A Visual Reader on Bruno Munari.

The Progression of Masks – Mapping Comparisons

Masks have evolved from being tangible in early cultures to something intangible in contemporary culture. Social uses differ in present context as compared to earlier context of time. A representation of this could be drawn from the structure of the tree of life, which laid is roots in Dogon culture and African cosmology.

Action: Mobile installation

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For this part of a project, I’d like to make a mobil installation to represent the cosmos but could still map out the comparisons between the tangible and intangible. If there are space constraints, I would probably document the process and the installation which would be housed at a bigger space via video. It would be an added bonus if I can find a special site – making the work very site specific.

Objects in Orbit by Chrissie Macdonald Collaboration with Andrew Rae.
Detroit Gallery, Stockholm, 2011

This installation has a constant object that ‘revolves’ around different elements. Instead of making it literally revolve/orbit the constant object is placed in different environments.

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Mobiles made from everyday objects by Hanna Sandin

The simplicity and elegance of the mobiles are quite an irony to the everyday objects that were used to make them. The artist has a gift of curating these objects, placing them together to create a visual symphony. From this I learn that balance is an important element for a mobile installation. It is pretty much a floating sculpture and the manipulation of air space is important. Mobiles are constantly moving so there are multiplicities when viewing the art work.

Face-O-Mat by Tobias Gutmann

Tobias Gutmann is a swiss illustrator who travels around the world with his analogue portrait machine and draw faces of people. The Face-O-Mat lets Gutmann sit on one side of the machine, taking portrait requests from strangers. Gutmann’s interpretation of these faces are far from naturalistic and are very abstract. He rearranges the facial features but they still somehow look like a face. Gutmann is able to capture the essence of the person he is drawing, focusing on the distinguishable. The reactions of the people he drew are priceless. Some of them don’t actually agree that they look so abstract but an abstract portrait could very much show accurately the true nature of a person through the spontaneous and honest strokes. 

The mask here stands for crude distinctions, the deviations from the norm which mark a person off from others. – E.H Gombrich, The Mask and the Face: The Perception of Physiognomic Likeness in Life and in Art