Peculiar Perception

I have created a work that suits my interested in terms of content. In my art I am heavily influenced by nature surrounding me, this includes many mountain landscapes. Following the theory of object oriented ontology I wanted to expand my artistic practice and explore how I could portray a mountain landscape off of the canvas, and into a more physical form. It was important that I challenged myself to play with different materials and have a combination of mixed media to enhance the physical art form.
I used wooded boards and cut them into specific triangular shapes, I then was able to cut slits into the wooden boards and insert the boards within each other. Creating the slits in the boards and sliding them into one another allowed it to become a stable sculpture with no need for extra supports giving it a more clean and two dimensional look. In order to create depth within the sculpture, as well as resemble more of a mountain colour I added a black wash onto each board. With this work I wanted to keep the decoration simple allowing the intricacy of the sculpture be the main focus. On top of the black wash I created the mountain peaks using a combination of different methods of spray painting. Directly on the boards I applied a blue spray paint gradient, and over top of the blue I used folded paper dipped in spray paint to create texture and depth to represent snow on top of the mountains. In order to add more texture and dimension to my work it was important that added an exterior material to represent snow build up on top of the mountains. With filler foam typically used in construction to fill gaps and cracks I applied it just to the tops of the mountains adding height and texture to the work. I placed the final form outside gathering leaves to fill the base in order to ground the overall work.
This work expanded my knowledge of what sculpture art can be, and also allowed me to play around with a variety of different materials to achieve a product I am proud of. It was important to me that I made the mountains from plywood pieces in order to get the 2D appearance as I feel that it juxtaposes many relationships people have with the mountains. Having them be flimsy in their 2D state creates a relationship the viewer many never have with the mountains as they are such solid and powerful landmarks. With this change in perception I believe the viewer is forced to take time with the work, perhaps allowing themselves to be uncomfortable with the change in perception. Throughout this process I was able to gather inspiration and knowledge of materials I plan to continue to experiment in future art pieces.